IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Grassman Jr., L.I. | |
| Thailand Cat Project | |
| 2003 Full Book | |
The carnivore community of Southeast Asia remains largely unstudied and widely misunderstood. To date, most of the ecological information on carnivores in this region comes from anecdotal and captive accounts. Thailand supports a diverse carnivore community in central Southeast Asia, partly because it bridges the Indochinese and Sundaic zoogeographic subregions (Lekagul and McNeeley 1988). Of the 39 threatened and 21 endangered mammals in Thailand, 15 carnivores are listed as threatened and 8 as endangered (Humphrey and Bain 1990). Only 14 of the 36 carnivore species in Thailand have been scientifically studied. In contrast, the majority of carnivores in the United States are well represented in the scientific literature. The natural history and ecological requirements of this diverse and important Order are necessary to understand if effective conservation and management practices are to be implemented (Nowell and Jackson, 1996; Humphrey, 1996). Nine wild cat species occur in Thailand. Of these, natural history research using radio telemetry exists only for the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), (Rabinowitz 1990; Grassman 2000, Austin 2002), leopard (Panthera pardus) (Rabinowitz 1989; Grassman 1999) and clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) (Austin 2000). The other 6 species, tiger (Pathera tigris), golden cat (Catopuma temmincki), fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata), jungle cat (Felis chaus), and flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps), prior this study, had not been studied in the wild. Clearly, there is a substantial deficiency in baseline ecological data for the felids of Thailand. This report describes the findings of a field study on the ecology of 4 wild felid species conducted from February 1999, through March 2003 in Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. These species were: clouded leopard, Asiatic golden cat, marbled cat, and leopard cat. The objectives of this study were to gather information on cat movements as pertain to home range size and intraspecific overlap, activity, daily movements, and to determine prey selection. Radio-telemetry, camera trapping, and fecal analysis were the primary vehicles used to gather these data. Secondary objectives included the collection and analysis of chemical immobilization data and the identification of ectoparasites collected from the study animals. In this report I present the results of a > 4 -year field study of wild felids in Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. For brevity I present tables and figures only for clouded leopard, golden cat and marbled cat. I also have not included a discussion section, but do comment on the conservation of felids. Complete analysis of the ecology of species mentioned in this report will be made available in scientific publications during the next 6-12 months. |
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