Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 12 March 2019 | 11(4): 13506–13510

First photographic record of the Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1831)  (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in Horton Plains National Park, Sri Lanka

Thilina Sudarshana Nimalrathna^1*, Yan Ru Choo ^2*, Enoka P. Kudavidanage ³, Thakshila Ravindra Amarasinghe ⁴, Udamulle Gedara Sumith Indika Bandara ⁵, Wanninayaka Aarahchilage Charitha Lakmali Wanninayaka ⁶, Piyal Ravindrakumar ⁷, Marcus Aik Hwee Chua ⁸  & Edward L. Webb ⁹

^1,3,4Tropical Ecosystem Research Network, 30c, Temple Road, Hadigama, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka.

^2,9Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117558.

³Department of Natural Resources, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuloya 70140, Sri Lanka.

^5,6,7Department of Wildlife Conservation, 811A, Jayanthipura, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka.

⁸Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117558.

⁸Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, 4400 University Dr, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.

^1,3,430c, Temple Road, Hadigama, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka.

^{2,9 14}Science Drive 4, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117558.

^5,6,7Horton Plains National Park, Department of Wildlife Conservation, Ohiya, Sri Lanka.

^8,2Conservatory Drive, Singapore 117377.

¹tnimalrathna@gmail.com, ²dbscyr@nus.edu.sg, ³enokakudavidanage@gmail.com (corresponding author), ⁴ravindraamarasinghe@gmail.com, ⁵sumith86317@gmail.com, ⁶charithawanninayaka@gmail.com, ⁷bpravindra@gmail.com, ⁸marcuschua@nus.edu.sg, ⁹ted.webb@nus.edu.sg (corresponding author)

*These authors contributed equally to the work.

Abstract: This research paper is an account and analysis of English media reporting on wildlife conservation and protected areas (PAs) in Maharashtra, India, between 1994 and 2015.  It is based on 269 articles that first appeared in the media and were then edited for publication in the ‘Protected Area Update’.  The analysis attempts to draw out significant themes that the media deems important in matters of wildlife conservation.  Themes that emerge prominently are related to issues of land, displacement of people, development projects, and tourism.  We also discovered that some PAs like the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve receive disproportionately large media space, while a third of the PAs were not reported on at all.  This does not imply that these areas were not reported in the larger media that the newsletter draws upon, but points to the skewed coverage and (limited) importance these PAs get.  We argue that media content analysis is a useful tool because the media is the first interface for the general public on issues of wildlife conservation and plays an important role in shaping public opinion.  To our knowledge, this is the first such state-wide study of media reporting of wildlife conservation issues; it provides important insights into the wildlife conservation discourse in the country as well as the concerns, priorities, and challenges of the media.

Keywords: Conservation, media, media content analysis, protected areas, Protected Area Update, national parks, wildlife, wildlife sanctuaries.

The Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1831) is native to India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka (Nekaris 2003; Mukherjee et al. 2016).  It is currently listed by the IUCN as Near Threatened (Mukherjee et al. 2016) and is considered nationally Endangered in Sri Lanka (Ministry of Environment 2012).  Its main threats are habitat loss and fragmentation (Mukherjee et al. 2016).

In Sri Lanka, the Rusty-spotted Cat is thought to be present in most forested areas (Philips 1980 cited in Nekaris 2003).  Direct evidence of its presence below 170m in arid scrub forests, dry forests, and monsoon forests was presented by Nekaris (2003) and Kittle & Watson (2004).  Indirect or anecdotal evidence suggests its presence in wet forests near montane regions (Nekaris 2003).  Photographic evidence, however, is scarce, particularly in the montane region.  Here we report the first photographic record of the Rusty-spotted Cat above 2,000m in Horton Plains National Park (HPNP), located in Sri Lanka’s montane zone, from a series of photo-captures made over a 15-month period.

Study area

HPNP is a protected area covering 31.6km² of grassland and montane forest; it was designated as a national park in 1988 (IUCN 1990) and is part of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka World Heritage Site (World Heritage Convention 2018).  It is located within the wet and cool highlands (Fernanado 1968) between 6.783–6.833 °N and 80.767–80.850 °E at an altitude of 2,100–2,300 m (Fig. 1).  It receives an annual rainfall of 2,000–5,000 mm (Werner 1988).  The vegetation consists of tropical montane forest interspersed with a mosaic of large grasslands and forest patches; extensive grasslands and terraces indicate areas of former farmland (Padmalal & Kikuchi 1993).  HPNP is surrounded by natural forests, pine and eucalyptus plantations, and tea plantations with an associated village.

Material and Methods

During the initial phase of a camera trapping project focusing on Sri Lankan Leopard Panthera pardus kotiya in HPNP, we established 18 survey points in the core of the national park, next to and surrounding the grassland (Fig. 1).  Survey points were located within each cell of a 1km² systematic grid.  At each survey point, paired Reconyx^TM HC500 camera traps were set up facing each other 45cm above the target level.  The cameras were deployed from 3 December 2015 to 3 March 2017, for a total of 5,538 camera trap days.  Each camera was in operation for 24 hours daily in Rapidfire^TM mode, with no delay between image sets, taking three images per trigger.

The retrieved images were sorted into incidents; we define an incident as an image or a series of images of a species or individual separated by intervals of less than one hour.  The timings of the incidents were analysed using the overlap package (Ridout & Linkie 2009) in R v. 3.5.1 (R Core Team 2018).  The Rusty-spotted Cat was identified by its reddish-grey fur in daytime images, reddish-brown spots that ran longitudinally along its body and head, and by the dark stripes on the inner sides of its front legs (Sunquist & Sunquist 2009).  Because of the poor contrast between the cat’s spots and coat in our infrared images, we were not able to distinguish among individuals.

Results

Over the survey period, the Rusty-spotted Cat was captured in 15 incidents at five locations, of which two incidents (13.3%) occurred during the day (Table 1; Image 1).  These locations were separated by distances of 0.8–5.1 km.  In the first incident on 26 March 2016, two adult individuals were recorded in the same image.  The last incident was recorded on 16 October 2016.  One notable incident shows an adult female with a kitten during the day on 16 June 2016.  On 22 July 2016, an adult individual was photographed with a rodent in its jaws.  Overall, most photo-captures occurred between sunset and sunrise (Fig. 2).

Table 1. Records of Rusty-spotted Cat in Horton Plains National Park, Sri Lanka, in 2016.

Discussion

Our findings make an important extension to the documented range of the species, as previously it was only documented below 2,100m (Nekaris 2003; Kittle & Watson 2004).  Further, the record of an adult female Rusty-spotted Cat with a kitten indicates the presence of a breeding population in Horton Plains National Park.  This also indicates that the Rusty-spotted Cat possibly maintains a reproductive population in montane forest regions.

Given the nationally Endangered status of the species, these findings highlight the conservation value of HPNP and may have implications for managing tourism in the national park.  HPNP is one of the most highly visited national parks in Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka Tourist Board 2017) with strict legal protection and enforcement; therefore, the wildlife populations therein are likely adequately protected.  Outside HPNP, however, the montane forest is one of the most threatened habitats in Sri Lanka (Kittle et al. 2017).  More research needs to be carried out in high-altitude habitats throughout Sri Lanka to determine the importance of montane forest habitats and to assess the impact of forest fragmentation and land use change for the cat’s survival.

For images / figures – click here

References

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