[lashinala]

Rockfowl,
Please correct your cougar data....it's from 2010. Since then expansion has been inhibited due to expanded hunting in the Dakotas. The males that roam the midwest are not indicative of a breeding population in most cirumstances.

[Bird_Bill]

[Rockfowl,
Please correct your cougar data....it's from 2010. Since then expansion has been inhibited due to expanded hunting in the Dakotas. The males that roam the midwest are not indicative of a breeding population in most cirumstances.[/QUOT

Here, we've had 14 confirmed sightings in about the last year for cougars. Going back 10 years previous to that, are app. 14 confirmed sightings spread out over that 10 year period. Its believed cats are following missouri river down from dakotas mostly, as the one found in oklahoma had. Here in missouri its the ozark plateau their confined to. Personal thought is, catastrophic flooding last year in upper missouri and red river valleys and robust population there has conspired to force younger males to wander.

[rockfowl]

India to ban tiger tourism?
July 2012. The Supreme Court of India has ordered an embargo on tourism in the "core zones" of India's government run tiger reserves. There is a further hearing on 22 August, at which Travel Operators For Tigers (TOFT) will present an argument to the Supreme Court for a review petition, allowing for the continuation of sustainable tourism in India's National Parks and reserves - http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news...ourism.html#cr

Cheetah sighting reported in Kazakhstan - http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news...heetah.html#cr

[lewis20126]

Originally Posted by rockfowl

India to ban tiger tourism?
July 2012. The Supreme Court of India has ordered an embargo on tourism in the "core zones" of India's government run tiger reserves.

I've no doubt this would accelerate the local extinction of the species within these reserves. As many have pointed out, the tourists create a local incentive to preserve the tigers. Without this incentive they will be quickly poached with near impunity.

cheers, alan

[Sam.Jones]

Some news from the excellent 'Highland Tigers' project- http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=3423
Encouraging, but lots still to be done.

[rockfowl]

Some good news from Iran also -
A family of Asiatic cheetahs has been photo-trapped for the first time in north-eastern Iran - http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news...h-cubs.html#cr

And Lions in Ethiopian cloud forest - http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news...-lions.html#cr

[Sam.Jones]

Various news from Panthera here
Including some interesting updates from the Jaguar corridor in Honduras and also on 'Arabian' Caracal from Yemen with some gripping camera trap shots.

[Farnboro John]

Originally Posted by Sam.Jones

Some news from the excellent 'Highland Tigers' project- http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=3423
Encouraging, but lots still to be done.

The latest analysis of the project data suggests things are even worse than previously projected: the proportion of pure wildcat sightings to hybrids is such as to suggest there are fewer than 100 (possibly as low as 35) pure wildcats left.

Personally I doubt its quite as bad as that: the project's data is skewed becuae most of the records are from an area with lots of people and lots of domestic/feral cats. The wilder parts of Scotland are probably better. But overall, the picture is appallingly bad.

John

[Sam.Jones]

Very true, and as you say, the wilder parts of Scotland are likely to hold the key.
Interestingly, studies on skins over time by Mike Tomkies suggested that they have been hybridising for considerably longer than we might have thought so the 'pure' gene pool we know may actually be significantly diluted already.

[Farnboro John]

Lets face it, they're banjoed.

John

[jurek]

This article from Scotland seems too pessimistic or alarmistic. Photos are not a good way to detect Wildcats and identify hybrids.

In Germany, there was recent nationwide research using valerian baits with automatic cameras, hair traps combined with DNA testing. It was found that Wildcats hold their own and proportion of hybrids is just a few percent. Moreover hybridization is in direction of large male Wildcats mating with female domestics, rather than swamping gene pool of Wildcats. Wildcats were found in many forests in C Germany where they were supposed extinct for over a century.

From my own 0,03EUR worth, domestic cats are often white, black or rufous. There is no reason why Wildcats would mate only with wild type tabby domestics creating animals very difficult to identify. If hybridization was common, one should encounter many rather distinctive animals looking like Wildcats plus white or black patches, diluted color etc.

[Farnboro John]

Originally Posted by jurek

From my own 0,03EUR worth, domestic cats are often white, black or rufous. There is no reason why Wildcats would mate only with wild type tabby domestics creating animals very difficult to identify. If hybridization was common, one should encounter many rather distinctive animals looking like Wildcats plus white or black patches, diluted color etc.

I can confirm that this does happen as the local cat at Resipole on Ardnamurchan looks like a black and white domestic but when hit with a big photo-flash, rings can be seen on the "black" tail.

I'll try and post it after a bit of playing with contrast, later.

However there is the question of fitness for the environment which is pretty rough in Scotland: hybrids with more domestic characters are not going to survive the climate let alone compete with more wildcatty hybrids for territory. Nevertheless the proportion of "lost" matings is bound to move the goalposts over time.

John

[MarkGelbart]

Jaguars may have roamed North America east of the Mississippi as recently as 1886.

http://markgelbart.wordpress.com/201...north-america/

[Jos Stratford]

Originally Posted by Farnboro John

However there is the question of fitness for the environment which is pretty rough in Scotland

At the same time however, it could be said the Scottish environment is pretty soft and easy-going compared to more easterly parts of Europe, the latter tending to have far lower temperatures and, probably more critical, longer periods of snow cover.

[Farnboro John]

Originally Posted by Jos Stratford

At the same time however, it could be said the Scottish environment is pretty soft and easy-going compared to more easterly parts of Europe, the latter tending to have far lower temperatures and, probably more critical, longer periods of snow cover.

Yeah, I was pondering that later yesterday. Probably that actually does explain why e.g. German population has less introgression. So climate being less of a factor has led to greater hybridisation in Scotland.

You can also see how relentless persecution in what the experts describe as the best areas for Wildcats has continually taken the purest, wildest cats out of the core areas and left the fringing ones that get by closer to human habitation and compounded the problem.

John

[rockfowl]

2000 leopards poached in India in 10 years - http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news...oached.html#cr

[jurek]

Originally Posted by Farnboro John

why e.g. German population has less introgression

This discovery was a surprise, actually. Wildcats in Germany were until rlast years considered very rare, and there was also a persistent meme that there is no purebred animals left. Besides, there was a confusion over identification characters even among foresters and naturalists. It changed with organized, large scale, DNA-based survey. Maybe similar study is needed in Scotland?

[Farnboro John]

Originally Posted by jurek

This discovery was a surprise, actually. Wildcats in Germany were until rlast years considered very rare, and there was also a persistent meme that there is no purebred animals left. Besides, there was a confusion over identification characters even among foresters and naturalists. It changed with organized, large scale, DNA-based survey. Maybe similar study is needed in Scotland?

The problem in Scotland is there is no large to survey....

Corpses are DNA'd fairly routinely now but the difficulty of generating sightings let alone capture means camera trap survey is probably the most effective means we have.

Several pix have been shown/linked to on BF and I am afraid they all seem to show hybrid structural/pelage characters. This bodes ill as I doubt photos of cats showing grossly domestic characters (e.g. the one I posted which only had dim tail rings through mostly black pelage with large white areas) reach publication - after all, they are the problem not the solution. Published pix are probably the best looking cats photographed, and they all showed thin tail tips, uneven rings (tapering dorsally to ventrally) and stripes broken up into spots.

John

[jurek]

Germans found that sticks with bait of baldrian (valerian extract) are the best way to get hair samples for DNA. Here is an example:
http://www.wilde-katzen.eu/de/wk/die...eundforschung/

BTW, on the German front: a young Lynx was twice seen in Juni in the forest at Mönchbruch, directly under the airplane take-off corridor from the Frankfurt airport. It must have been wearing earplugs under it's tufts.
http://www.luchs-in-hessen.de/

[Sam.Jones]

First camera trap shots of Andean Cats in Chile as well as other small felid news from ISEC!
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/W...id=4x1lIeyMtd8

[gandytron]

Tiger-human conflict in the Sundarbans:

http://www.news.com.au/world/tiger-b...-1226511864935

[Sam.Jones]

Pretty big news for Pantanal Cat from Bolivia, albeit a little backdated!

Particularly relevant given the updates on the Leopardus genus being undertaken soon/currently! http://www.sarem.org.ar/archivos/rev.../nota_diaz.pdf

[Sam.Jones]

Wonderful news for Sumatran Tiger on the back of more dedicated work from ZSL and in-country counterparts- http://goo.gl/rM7xq

[Sam.Jones]

A very interesting Kitten indeed- news from the Highland Tiger programme- http://www.highlandtiger.com/latest_news.asp

A great record of Pampas Cat in Bolivia from a friends expedition this summer- http://www.worldlandtrust-us.org/?pa...m_medium=email

[Isurus]

Originally Posted by Sam.Jones

A very interesting Kitten indeed- news from the Highland Tiger programme- http://www.highlandtiger.com/latest_news.asp

That is a seriously ticked-off looking kitten. If looks could kill eh.