The small cats nobody knows: Wild felines face intensifying planetary risks

[UngulateNerd92]

• Around the world, there are 33 species of small wild cat that often fly under the conservation and funding radar. Out of sight, and out of mind, some of these species face the risk of extreme population declines and extinction.
• But small cat species are reclusive and notoriously difficult to study. In some cases, basic ecological knowledge is lacking, hindering conservation efforts. Their failure to garner the public attention achieved by the more charismatic big cats has left small cat research severely underfunded.
• These species, many of them habitat specialists with narrow ecological niches, face a wide array of threats including habitat degradation and loss, poaching, human-wildlife conflict, and increasingly, pollution and climate change.
• Despite these global challenges, many conservationists and researchers, hampered by low funding, are fighting to conserve small cats by partnering with traditional communities to build public awareness and reduce immediate threats.

When we think of mammals at risk, the big cats of the Felidae family — especially the tiger or snow leopard — may jump to mind. But few will think of one of the 33 species of small cats. Fewer still might recognize these species of the Felinae subfamily or be able to name them.

Scattered across diverse ecosystems around the world, the small cats are overshadowed by their charismatic cousins, the big cats of the Panthera genus. But they face similar deepening threats from biodiversity loss, land-system change, pollution, and climate change — four planetary boundaries that humanity has dangerously overshot, putting our world’s “safe operating space” in peril.

Small cats are often habitat specialists, ideally adapted to where they live, which puts them at particular risk. They are also experts at evading researchers, leaving much to be discovered about them, and often frustrating conservation efforts. Currently, 14 of the 33 small cat species are listed as vulnerable or endangered on the IUCN Red List. Seven of them are found in Asia.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...elines-face-intensifying-planetary-risks/amp/

 

[Swampy]

Did not know the situation for the fulvidina subspecies of jungle cat was so dire- or that its habitat preferences were so restricted.

 

[Zoofan15]

Small Cats in Australasia

It’s been sad to see so many species of small cat disappear from Australasia’s zoos. Many of them are reclusive and don’t make good display animals, which in turn makes them unappealing to the general public.

Unless they’re endangered or critically endangered, there’s been little argument for keeping them in zoos and so we’ve lost Temminck’s golden cat, Leopard cat, Bobcat and Ocelot from the region.

In addition to Cheetah (if we’re classing them as a small cat), Australasia currently has three small cat species:

- Caracal
- Serval
- Fishing cat

The former two are least concern, but are charismatic felids; while the latter is endangered and held by two zoos, who have tried (unsuccessfully) to breed them in recent years.

 

[Dassie rat]

The following is a list of ‘small’ cats. In each case, the first figure is the number of ZTL zoos with the cat; the second figure is the number of ZTL no longer with the cat.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED: Northwest African cheetah (0;4)

ENDANGERED: Andean cat (0;4); Bay cat (0;1); Chinese golden cat (1;2); Flat-headed cat (0;6); Iberian lynx (7;11)

VULNERABLE: African golden cat (0;12); Black-footed cat (0;25); Central American jaguarundi (0;1); Chinese mountain cat (0;3); Fishing cat (49;43); Kodkod (0;6); Oncilla (3;28); South African cheetah (124;81); Southern oncilla (4;3); Sudan cheetah (16;9)

NEAR THREATENED: Arabian sand cat (28;21); Asian golden cat (0;18); Central American margay (1;0); Marbled cat (1;13); Margay (0;31); Pampas cat (0;9); Sri Lankan rusty-spotted cat (20;11); Yucatan margay (22;17)

LEAST CONCERN: Amur leopard cat (24;57); Bobcat (30;50); Brazilian cougar (1;1); Canadian lynx (15;30); Caracal (67;113); Central American cougar (0;2); Central Asian lynx (11;8); Common caracal (14;21); Cougar (111;259); Eastern serval (0;2); Eurasian lynx (130;100); European wild cat (143;116); Geoffroy’s cat (33;43); Indochinese leopard cat (16;45); Jaguarundi (28;39); Jungle cat (33;104); Leopard cat (6;49); Ocelot (54;139); Serval (175;129); Siberian Pallas’s cat (42;31); West African serval (0;6)

NOT EVALUATED: Gordon’s cat (10;14); Southern jaguarundi (0;3)

?: African wild cat (1;9); Amur lynx (2;1); Andean oncilla (0;2); Argentine cougar (0;4); Asiatic cheetah (0;5); Bolivian margay (0;1); Bornean leopard cat (0;1); Brazilian margay (0;2); California cougar (0;1); Carpathian lynx (48;26); Caribbean ocelot (0;2); Caspian steppe wild cat (0;6); Caucasian jungle cat (2;2); Caucasian lynx (6;0); Caucasian wild cat (0;2); Central American ocelot (0;4); Central Asian Pallas’ cat (0;1); Cheetah (1;44); Chilean cougar (1;3); Chinese cougar (0;4); Damara caracal (0;5); East African cheetah (0;3); East African wild cat (2;12); Ecuador ocelot (0;1); Egyptian jungle cat (1;2); Indian desert cat (0;10); Indian jungle cat (0;2); Irkutsk lynx (0;12); Javan fishing cat (0;1); Javan leopard cat (0;5); Kalahari wild cat (0;1); Kashmir jungle cat (0;1); Margay – vigens (0;1); Missouri cougar (2;7); North African caracal (0;2); Northeastern oncilla (0;1); Northern lynx (219;96); Nubian caracal (0;2); Oregon cougar (0;2); Pakistan sand cat (0;2); Palawan leopard cat (4;4); Palestine jungle cat (4;4); Palestine wild cat (2;4); Pallas’ cat (0;14); Pearson’s puma (0;2); Russian jungle cat (0;1); Saharan sand cat (0;1); Schmitz’s caracal (4;10); Scottish wild cat (31;25); Siberian lynx (61;11); South American ocelot (0;6); Southeast Asian golden cat (3;34); Southern African wild cat (0;4); Southern serval (0;17); Sumatran leopard cat (0;1); Tibetan golden cat (2;8); Turkestan sand cat (0;1); Turkmanian caracal (0;7); Venezuelan ocelot (0;4); West African wild cat (0;1)

With most of the listed cats, fewer zoos hold them than in the past.