Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 14 December 2020 | 12(16): 17203–17212
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6145.12.16.17203-17212
#6145 | Received 13 May 2020 | Final received
18 September 2020 | Finally accepted 30 October 2020
The Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus
(Bennett, 1833) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in Shuklaphanta
National Park, Nepal
Bhupendra Prasad Yadav 1 ,
Angie Appel 2, Bishnu Prasad Shrestha
3, Bhagawan Raj Dahal
4 &
Maheshwar Dhakal
5
1,3 Department of National Parks and
Wildlife Conservation, PO Box 860, Babar Mahal, Kathmandu, Nepal.
2 Wild Cat Network, Auf dem Dörnchen 14, 56470 Bad Marienberg, Germany.
4 Zoological Society of London
Nepal, Bishal Nagar Marg, Kathmandu, Nepal.
5 Ministry of Forests and
Environment, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal.
1
bhupendra.dnpwc@gmail.com,
2 angie@wild-katze.org (corresponding author), 3 bishnu_stha@yahoo.com,
4 bhagawanraj.dahal@zsl.org, 5
maheshwar.dhakal@gmail.com
Editor: Shomita Mukherjee, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and
Natural History, Coimbatore, India. Date
of publication: 14 December 2020 (online & print)
Citation: Yadav, B.P., A. Appel, B.P.
Shrestha, B.R. Dahal & M. Dhakal
(2020). The Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus
(Bennett, 1833) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in Shuklaphanta
National Park, Nepal. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 12(16): 17203–17212. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6145.12.16.17203-17212
Copyright: © Yadav et al. 2020. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Zoological Society of London, Nepal.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The camera trap survey was
conducted by Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation in
partnership with Department of Forests, National Trust for Nature Conservation,
Panthera, and Zoological Society of London
Nepal. We thank these organisations for technical and financial support. We are indebted to the management team and
all the field staff of Shuklaphanta National Park for
their support during the survey. We
thank Meraj Anwar and Abishek
Harihar for providing unpublished photographic records of the Fishing Cat in
the Indian Terai. We highly appreciate the constructive
suggestions and comments of three anonymous reviewers.
Abstract: The Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus
is known to occur in the Terai region since at least
the late 1920s. Contemporary locality
records of the Fishing Cat in this region are widely spaced, and the knowledge
about the connectivity between these localities is still deficient. We present the first photographic evidence
for the presence of the Fishing Cat in far western Nepal. In spring and winter 2016, we obtained 30 notionally
independent events of the Fishing Cat in the floodplain of Shuklaphanta
National Park at elevations of 181–221 m.
This population unit may be connected to units in Indian protected
areas. Further targeted surveys in
adjacent wetlands and wildlife corridors are warranted to clarify its range in
the Indian and Nepal Terai.
Keywords: Camera trapping, small wild cat,
Terai, wetland, wildlife corridor.
Introduction
The Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus
has an extensive but discontinuous geographic range in subtropical and tropical
Asia, as it is strongly associated with inland and coastal wetlands (Mukherjee
et al. 2016). These ecosystems have been
imperilled since the early 20th Century
due to large-scale conversions for agriculture, aquaculture, industry,
hydropower plants (Gopal 2013; Davidson 2014; Dixon et al. 2016) and
construction of brick kilns (Chakraborty et al. 2020a). The Fishing Cat is negatively impacted by
this loss of natural wetlands and is consequently listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species, since populations are thought to have declined in all range countries (Mukherjee
et al. 2016). Outside protected areas,
Fishing Cats have been killed for consumption, in retaliation for preying on
livestock and for damaging fishing nets (Miththapala
2006; Mukherjee et al. 2012; Chowdhury et al. 2015; Cutter 2015). At several sites, Fishing Cats have been
victims of road collisions (Miththapala 2006; Thudugala 2016; Prerna et al.
2016; Palei et al. 2018). Fishing Cat populations are detrimentally
affected by increased anthropogenic disturbances and destruction of mudflats
and crop fields (Chakraborty et al. 2020a).
Little is known about the
contemporary status of the Fishing Cat in Pakistan, where it was photographed
in just one locality in the Indus River basin (Islam et al. 2015). In India, the Fishing Cat is present in and
around several albeit widely scattered protected areas (Singh 1982; Mukherjee
et al. 2012; Nair 2012; Sadhu & Reddy 2013; Naidu et al. 2015; Malla 2016; Prerna et al. 2016;
Talegaonkar et al. 2018). The
Ganges-Brahmaputra River delta and Sri Lanka are presently considered Fishing
Cat strongholds because of multiple locality records both inside and outside
protected areas (Miththapala 2006; Mukherjee et al.
2012; Chowdhury et al. 2015; Das et al. 2017; Mukherjee et al. 2016; Kolipaka et al. 2019; Chakraborty et al. 2020a, b). Records of the Fishing Cat in Thailand,
Myanmar, and Cambodia are, however, highly localised
(Cutter & Cutter 2009; Rainey & Kong 2010; Thaung
et al. 2018; Chutipong et al. 2019; Naing Lin &
Platt 2019).
In Nepal, the Fishing Cat
was listed as nationally Endangered in 2011, as the population was thought to
comprise no more than 200 mature individuals (Jnawali
et al. 2011). Since then, the Fishing
Cat was recorded at several sites in the lowland Terai
region (Fig. 1): in the Babai River valley in Bardia National Park (Yadav et al. 2018), in the
surroundings of Jagdishpur Reservoir (Dahal 2016), in Chitwan and Parsa
National Parks (Karki 2011; Mishra et al. 2018; Poudel et al. 2019) and in and
around Koshi Tappu Wildlife
Reserve (Pandey & Kaspal 2011; Taylor et al.
2016).
Here we report the first
photographic evidence for the presence of a Fishing Cat population in Shuklaphanta National Park obtained during two monitoring
surveys targeting the Tiger Panthera tigris.
Study area
Shuklaphanta National Park (ShNP) is a 305km2 large protected area in the Terai of southwestern Nepal (Fig. 2), ranging
in elevation from 174m in the south to 1,386m in the north-east (Bhuju et al. 2007). ShNP is bordered by farmland and settlements
in the north, the Syali River in the east, and the Mahakali River in the south and west (Bharal & Inskipp 2009).
In the south, ShNP is connected to Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in India through the Laggabagga corridor (Talukdar & Sinha
2013). The Kilpura–Khatima–Surai corridor to the west of the Mahakali River also connects ShNP to Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (Anwar & Borah
2020). The climate in this area is
tropical savannah (Karki et al. 2016a) with temperatures ranging from 7–21 °C
in January to a maximum of 37°C in May and 25°C in July (Timilsina & Heinen 2008). The area receives an annual rainfall of
1,055–2,843 mm, with more than 90% falling during the monsoon season between
July and August (Pokheral & Wegge 2019).
The protected area consists of about 35%
mixed deciduous forest, 30% Sal Shorea robusta forest and
35% open grasslands interspersed with wetlands (Pokheral & Wegge 2019).
Grasslands called phantas
occur mainly in the south-central part and are dominated by tall grasses such
as Imperata cylindrica
and Heteropogon contortus;
Phragmites karka and Saccharum
spontaneum grow around marshes and seven small
lakes (Bharal & Inskipp
2009; Image 1). The national park hosts
a diverse fauna including 28 fish species (Bhuju et
al. 2007), 423 bird species (Bharal
& Inskipp 2009), and Mugger
Crocodylus palustris (Bhatt et al. 2012; Image 1).
Nine turtle, 15 amphibian, 16 lizard, and 30 snake species have been
documented to date (Rawat et al. 2020).
Mammals are represented by Asiatic Elephant Elephas
maximus, Greater One-horned Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis (Talukdar & Sinha 2013), Hispid Hare Caprolagus hispidus
(Yadav
et al. 2008), Rhesus Macaque Macaca
mulatta, Terai Gray
Langur Semnopithecus hector, Chital Axis
axis, Hog Deer A. porcinus,
Indian Muntjac Muntiacus muntjak, Nilgai Boselaphus
tragocamelus, and Wild Boar Sus
scrofa (Pokheral & Wegge 2019). The phantas provide prime habitat for Nepal’s last remaining
Swamp Deer Rucervus duvaucelii
herds (Pokheral
& Wegge
2019). Since
December 2008, cats recorded during camera trap surveys include Tiger, Leopard Panthera pardus (Pokheral & Wegge 2019), and
Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus (Lamichhane et
al. 2016).
Materials and Methods
Three camera trap models
were used during surveys: Reconyx 550, Bushnell
Trophy Cam and Panthera V4. Each camera trap had a unique identification
number for data recording and maintenance purposes. ShNP and adjacent
forest corridors were superimposed with a grid of 2x2 km2
cells that were searched for Tiger signs to determine suitable camera trap
locations. Two camera traps were
deployed as pairs facing each other at a distance of 6–12 m, henceforth termed
station. The camera traps were mounted
45–60 cm above ground without any attractant.
They were active for 24 hours and set to take between three and 12
photographs within an interval of one second followed by a video. Stations were placed between 1.5km and 2.9km
apart from each other. The coordinates
of locations were determined using a Garmin eTrex 64s
device set to WGS 84 datum, and their elevations using the digital elevation
model generated by the Space Shuttle Radar Topography Mission version 3 dataset
that provides a 90-meter resolution (NASA JPL 2013). Inside ShNP, the
stations were kept at locations for at least 15 days and were then moved to new
locations. In the forest corridors outside of ShNP,
they were kept at locations for six to seven days as local people collected
firewood during the survey period.
Habitat type and site parameters were collected at each location. Records of the Fishing Cat within an interval
of 30 minutes between consecutive photographs are considered a notionally
independent event.
Results
The first survey session
was carried out from 27 January to 26 April 2016 in 95 cells within the
national park and in 67 cells in two forest corridors located to the northwest
and east of the national park. The
second survey session covered 85 cells from 23 November 2016 to 11 December
2016 inside the national park. The total
survey effort during both sessions amounted to 3,404 camera trap days (Table
1).
The Fishing Cat was
recorded at nine locations in 12 notionally independent events (NIE) during the
first survey session (5.55% of locations), and at 15 locations in 18 NIE during
the second survey session (17.65% of locations) (Table 2). These 24 locations range in elevation from
181m to 211m and encompass an area of about 144km2 in the
southwestern part of Shuklaphanta National Park. Seven locations were in proximity of less
than 10m to a waterbody; 10 were between ~40m and 250m away from a waterbody;
and the distance of seven locations to a waterbody was between ~500m and
2km. All photographs show solitary
individuals that were recorded between early evening at 18.44h and early
morning at 06.30h in 28 NIE. Two NIE
were recorded in mid-morning, both at the same location in a grassland.
Discussion
The
survey sessions in 2016 yielded the first photographic evidence for the
presence of a Fishing Cat population in ShNP. Solitary Fishing Cats were recorded at 24
locations in the south of the national park.
These records contribute to reducing the information gap about the cat’s
distribution in the Terai.
In
2011, the Fishing Cat was not yet suspected to inhabit this protected area (Jnawali et al. 2011).
As documented by the opportunistic records obtained in spring and winter
2016, the floodplain below the elevation of 250m provides suitable habitat for
the cat. It was photographed foraging in
the vicinity of stream banks, but also while wandering between shallow
waterbodies in grassland and forest patches.
These records are consistent in the Fishing Cat’s habitat use with those
in the similarly water-rich Dudhwa and Chitwan
National Parks (Nair 2012; Mishra et al. 2018).
Elsewhere in its range, it was also observed in a matrix of grass cover
and shallow edges of waterbodies (Mukherjee 1989; Cutter 2015; Islam et al.
2015; Taylor et al. 2016; Angie Appel pers. obs. 04 February 2016; Malla et al. 2018; Naing Lin & Platt 2019).
The
survey effort inside ShNP was concentrated on the
floodplain in the south. We, therefore,
emphasize that the absence of records of the Fishing Cat in the hilly landscape
in the north does not indicate its absence there. For comparison, Bardia
National Park extends over an area of 968km² in the Nepal Terai;
since 2008, camera trapping surveys have been conducted annually to bi-yearly
for a duration of 2–3 months in 197–295 locations spread across the entire
national park (Thapa & Khanal 2014; Thapa et al.
2015; Thapa & Sherchan 2016; Karki et al. 2016b; Bajracharya et al. 2017).
Despite these extensive surveys, the Fishing Cat was recorded only in
late 2016 in just one location in the vicinity of a riverbank (Yadav et al.
2018). The survey effort in the two
forest corridors adjacent to ShNP was very likely too
short to record the Fishing Cat. Furthermore, local people collected firewood
in both corridors, which is why camera trapping was discontinued after a few
days.
A
Fishing Cat targeted survey in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve yielded 5.94 notionally independent
events per 100 camera trap nights with cameras set up only at night (Taylor et
al. 2016). The rather low encounter rate
of 0.88 notionally independent events per 100 camera trap days in ShNP during the two survey sessions is possibly due to the
camera trapping design that was employed.
A spacing between camera traps of 1.5–2 km placed along roads and
wildlife trails is the usual design for documenting large carnivores (Pokheral & Wegge 2019). Apparently, the Fishing Cat does not frequent
these beaten tracks and is therefore less readily recorded at such
locations. The encounter rate of the
Fishing Cat will probably increase by adjusting the survey design to focus on
waterbodies, an experience also shared by Chakraborty et al. (2020b). Nair (2012) recommended a spacing of less
than 1km between camera traps with increased emphasis near water for a Fishing
Cat targeted survey. Mohd-Azlan
& Thaqifah (2020) also advised to place camera
traps closer to potential hunting grounds of a cat that exhibits a preference
for waterbodies as well, the Flat-headed Cat Prionailurus
planiceps.
On the other hand, we recognise that such a survey design is more
challenging to implement, especially in tall grasslands and marshy grounds.
Placing camera traps in the many pools, puddles and lakes in ShNP is a rather adventurous endeavour due to Muggers and
Greater One-horned Rhinoceroses hiding in these habitats.
In
June 2010, the Fishing Cat was recorded in three locations in the adjacent Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in India ( in
Fig. 1; Meraj Anwar in litt.
27 May 2011). We, therefore, consider it
likely that the Laggabagga corridor provides
connectivity for this population unit across the Mahakali
River. Colour-marked Greater One-horned
Rhinoceroses were repeatedly recorded in this corridor moving between ShNP, Pilibhit Tiger Reserve and
up to Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Dudhwa National Park, latter two located about 60km farther
southeast (Talukdar & Sinha 2013; Thapa et al. 2013). Two male Tigers were also identified in both ShNP and this corridor (Chanchani
et al. 2014). To
the west of ShNP, the
Fishing Cat is potentially present in the Kilpura–Khatima–Surai
corridor (Mukherjee et al. 2016). Both
Rusty-spotted Cat and Jungle Cat Felis chaus were
recorded in this corridor in the late autumn seasons of 2012 and 2014 (Anwar
& Borah 2020).
In light of these circumstances, we would like to encourage surveyors to
watch out for the Fishing Cat when working in these corridors.
In the late 1920s,
Champion (1933) obtained one of the earliest camera trap records of the Fishing
Cat in the Indian Terai, specifically in the area
where the Ganges River leaves the Siwalik Hills and meanders into the Gangetic
plains. Since then, several contemporary camera trap records of the Fishing Cat
were obtained as by-catch during surveys targeting the Tiger in the Indian and
Nepal Terai (Table 3).
To date, camera trap
surveys targeting the Fishing Cat in the Terai were
carried out only in the vicinity of Jagdishpur
Reservoir (Dahal 2016), in Chitwan National Park
(Mishra 2016; Mishra et al. 2018) and in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (Taylor et al. 2016). All these records shed important light on the
Fishing Cat’s distribution and habitat use.
Some of them (Talegaonkar et al. 2018; Yadav et al. 2018) indicate that
its range is wider than estimated
by Mukherjee et al. (2016). Yet, little
is known about its ecology and conservation needs in these sites and beyond the
borders of protected areas.
The Terai
is a water-rich region with innumerable small seasonal streams and perennial
rivers passing through; most of the streams originate in the Siwalik Hills
north of the Terai (Champion 1933; Bhuju et al. 2007; Anwar & Borah 2020). The Nepal Terai
alone harbours 163 wetlands (Bhuju
et al. 2007). Mukherjee et al. (2016)
collated unsurveyed areas across the Terai that are potentially suitable for the Fishing Cat
(Fig. 1). In one of these areas, its
presence was corroborated by Poudel et al. (2019) in the very south of Parsa National Park.
Still, large wetland areas
and waterbodies remain to be surveyed in the region to determine the population
size, survival rate and conservation needs of the Fishing Cat. As a large part of these areas is situated in
human-influenced and -dominated landscapes, we strongly recommend to also
assess the quality of wetland habitats and use by local people, especially in
the vicinity of aquaculture sites. As
documented by Haque & Vijayan (1993) inside a
protected area, the Fishing Cat preys mainly on fish, but also on birds, small
mammals, amphibians and reptiles. Fundamental aspects of the Fishing Cat’s diet
and trophic relations in human-dominated landscapes are still lacking and
urgently need to be updated through in-depth investigations in future survey
sites.
Table 1. Survey sessions and survey blocks in Shuklaphanta National Park and adjacent forest corridors,
Nepal. The term ‘camera trap day’ refers
to a 24-hour period.
|
Survey session |
Survey block |
Elevation
range |
Camera trap
days |
|
27 January–26 April
2016 |
Inside ShNP Brahmadev forest corridor Laljhadi forest corridor |
174–917 m 245–809 m 179–361 m |
1,503 465 465 |
|
23 November–11
December 2016 |
Inside ShNP |
174–244 m |
1,436 |
Table 2. Details of notionally independent events of
Fishing Cat obtained in Shuklaphanta National Park
between January and December 2016.
|
Date and time |
Coordinates |
Elevation and habitat |
|
30.i.2016, 02.57h; 8.ii.2016, 06.19h |
28.790°N & 80.211°E |
182m; open riverine forest, resting on a wooden
bridge over a creek (Image 2) |
|
31.i.2016, 21.20h; 9.ii.2016, 19.33h |
28.817°N & 80.139°E |
185m; open grassland, <140m to a marsh |
|
2.ii.2016, 19.03h |
28.867°N & 80.185°E |
202m; Sal
forest, <140m to a creek |
|
2.ii.2016, 21.09h |
28.797°N & 80.190°E |
189m; open riverine forest, <200m to a marsh |
|
4.ii.2016, 05.37h |
28.892°N & 80.127°E |
198m; riverine
forest, <4m to bank of Mahakali River |
|
4.ii.2016, 10.02h; 7.ii.2016, 09.22h |
28.784°N & 80.209°E |
182m; open grassland, on a stream bank (Image 3) |
|
5.ii.2016, 06.30h |
28.840°N & 80.224°E |
192m; dense Sal forest, <50m to a stream bank
(Image 4) |
|
6.ii.2016, 03.12h |
28.855°N & 80.145°E |
188m; forest road passing through a grassland
interspersed with forest patches, <2km to Mahakali
River |
|
9.ii.2016, 18.44h |
28.782°N & 80.200°E |
181m; riverine forest interspersed with grasses,
~185m to a creek |
|
25.xi.2016, 05.33h |
28.891°N & 80.126°E |
198m; mixed deciduous forest on bank of Mahakali River |
|
26.xi.2016, 18.58h |
28.812°N & 80.224°E |
184m; forest patch in grassland, <1.5km to a
marsh |
|
26.xi.2016, 19.21h |
28.909°N & 80.193°E |
213m; Sal forest, <1km to a creek |
|
26.xi.2016, 21.16h |
28.804°N & 80.229°E |
191m; riverine
forest, <1.2km to a marsh |
|
28.xi.2016, 06.17h; 29.xi.2016, 05.25h; 6.xii.2016, 23.13h |
28.824°N & 80.195°E |
186m; mixed
deciduous forest patch, <500m to a marsh (Image 5) |
|
29.xi.2016, 05.25h; 9.xii.2016, 23.19h |
28.855°N & 80.145°E |
189m; Sal
forest patch in grassland, ~250m to a creek |
|
30.xi.2016, 02.50h |
28.784°N & 80.209°E |
182m; riverine
forest on bank of Mahakali River |
|
1.xii.2016, 20.49h |
28.893°N & 80.252°E |
210m; Sal
forest, ~250m to a creek |
|
2.xii.2016, 20.10h |
28.812°N & 80.224°E |
184m; riverine
forest on bank of Mahakali River |
|
5.xii.2016, 02.40h |
28.821°N & 80.255°E |
190m; Sal
forest, <40m to Syali River |
|
6.xii.2016, 02.59h |
28.909°N & 80.193°E |
213m; Sal
forest, ~40m to a stream |
|
6.xii.2016, 04.07h |
28.888°N & 80.204°E |
206m; Sal
forest, ~890m to a marsh |
|
7.xii.2016, 03.19h |
28.926°N & 80.173°E |
221m; Sal
forest, ~800m to a marsh |
|
10.xii.2016, 21.29h |
28.804°N & 80.261°E |
193m; Sal
forest on bank of lake |
|
11.xii.2016, 04.47h |
28.791°N & 80.214°E |
185m; riverine
forest, ~80m to a marsh (Image 6) |
For
figures & images - - click here
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