ISSN 1027-2992

CAT
news
N° 58 | SPRING 2013

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CATnews 58 Spring 2013

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CATnews is the newsletter of the Cat Specialist Group, Editors: Christine & Urs Breitenmoser
a component of the Species Survival Commission SSC of the Co-chairs IUCN/SSC
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is pub- Cat Specialist Group
lished twice a year, and is available to members and the Friends of KORA, Thunstrasse 31, 3074 Muri,
the Cat Group. Switzerland
Tel ++41(31) 951 90 20
For joining the Friends of the Cat Group please contact Fax ++41(31) 951 90 40
Christine Breitenmoser at ch.breitenmoser@kora.ch <u.breitenmoser@vetsuise.unibe.ch>
<ch.breitenmoser@kora.ch>
Original contributions and short notes about wild cats are welcome
Send contributions and observations to Associate Editors: Keith Richmond
ch.breitenmoser@kora.ch. Brian Bertram
Sultana Bashir
Guidelines for authors are available at www.catsg.org/catnews Javier Pereira

CATnews is produced with financial assistance from Friends of Cover Photo: First photographic evidence
the Cat Group. of a Pallas’s cat in Bhutan. The animal
was captured in Jigme Dorji National
Design: barbara surber, werk’sdesign gmbh Park on 17.11.2012
Layout: Christine Breitenmoser Photo: Jigme Dorji National Park
Print: Stämpfli Publikationen AG, Bern, Switzerland

ISSN 1027-2992 © IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group

The designation of the geographical entities in this publication, and the representation of the material, do not imply the expression of any
opinion whatsoever on the part of the IUCN concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or its authorities, or concerning
the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

CATnews 58 Spring 2013

 Andean cat in central Bolivia

inferences on two sympatric and enigmatic
Andean cat species using genetic identifica-
tion of faecal samples. Molecular Ecology 17,
678-690.
Nowell K. & Jackson P. 1996. Wild Cats. Status
Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/
SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Swit-
zerland. 382 pp.
Ribera-Arismendi, M.O. 2008. Contexto general
de la minería. In: Estado Ambiental de Bolivia
2007-2008. de Morales C. B. & Ribera Arismen-
di M.O. (Eds). LIDEMA. La Paz, Bolivia. pp. 3-8.
Reppucci J., Gardner B. & Lucherini M. 2011. Esti-
mating detection and density of the Andean
cat in the high Andes. Journal of Mammalogy
91, 140-147.
Taucer Monroy E. 2008. Impactos ambientales de
la actividad minera. In Estado Ambiental de
Bolivia 2007-2008. de Morales C. B. & Ribera
Arismendi M.O. (Eds). LIDEMA. La Paz, Bolivia,
pp. 13-23.
Torrico J. O. 2009. Distribución, Abundancia Re-
lativa de Rastros y Dieta de Carnívoros Alto
Andinos en dos Zonas de la Reserva Eduardo
Avaroa, Potosí-Bolivia. Tesis de Grado para
obtener el Título de Licenciada en Ciencias
Biológicas. Universidad Mayor de San Andrés
La Paz, Bolivia.
Villalba M. L., Huaranca J. C. & Alfaro F. 2008.
Distribution and conservation status of the An-
dean cat (Oreailurus jacobita) in the Cordillera
Oriental of the Bolivian Andes. Unpublished
Final Report to Wildlife Conservation Network.
La Paz, Bolivia, 17 pp.
Villalba M. L., Alfaro F., Huaranca J. C. & Gallardo
G. 2009a. Leopardus jacobita. in Ministerio de
Medio Ambiente y Agua. (Editor). Libro Rojo de
la Fauna Silvestre de Vertebrados de Bolivia,
La Paz, Bolivia, 451-453 pp.
Villalba M. L., Delgado E. & Berna M. 2009b. Ac-
tivity patterns and home range of an Andean
cat and Pampas cat in Southern Bolivia. 10th
International Mammalogical Congress. Men-
doza, Argentina.
Villalba M. L., Bernal N., Nowell K. & Macdonald
D. W. 2012. Distribution of two Andean small
cats (Leopardus jacobita and Leopardus colo-
colo) in Bolivia and the potential impacts of tra-
ditional beliefs on their conservation. Endange-
red Species Research 16, 85–94.
Viscarra M. E. 2008. Distribución, Densidad y Dieta
de Carnívoros en Cuatro tipos de Hábitat en un
Área de la Provincia Sud Lipez (Potosí-Bolivia).
Tesis de Grado para obtener el Título de Licen-
ciada en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad
Mayor de San Andrés La Paz, Bolivia.
Walker R. S., Novaro A. J. & Perovic P. G. 2008.
Comparison of two nethods for estimation of
abundance of Mountain Vizcachas (Lagidium
viscacia) based on direct counts. Mastozoolo-
gia Neotropical 15, 135-140.
1
Alianza Gato Andino-Bolivia
<jchuaranca@gmail.com>
2
Instituto de Ecología - Colección Boliviana de
Fauna, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La
Paz, Bolivia
3
Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, La Paz-
Bolivia
4
Centro de Estudios en Biología Teórica y Aplica-
da (BIOTA), Bolivia
5
Centro de Biodiversidad y Genética, Universidad
Mayor de San Simón Cochabamba-Bolivia

07

JUAN REPPUCCI1,2*, CINTIA TELLAECHE1,2, ESTELA LUENGOS VIDAL1 AND et al. 2009). Thus, because of the wide geo-
MAURO LUCHERINI1,2 graphical overlap and the similarities in their

Cats captured in the High

ecological characteristics (Walker et al. 2007,
Lucherini et al. 2009), most conservation and

Andes close a door to poten-

research projects work on both species simul-
taneously.

tial monitoring programs

The above-mentioned morphological similari-
ties have been often an obstacle for the study
of these species. A difference in the shape of
Because of their similarities, pampas cats Oncifelis colocolo and Andean cats their feet was identified by Yammil Ramirez,
Oreailurus jacobita are usually studied simultaneously in areas where they overlap, published in a handbook of surveying tech-
but these similarities have been often an obstacle for researchers. The foot morphol- niques for high Andean carnivores (Cossíos et
ogy was reported as useful to differentiate these species and potentially develop al. 2007b) and recently reported by Iriarte &
monitoring programs based on footprints. With the objective to attach radio-collars, Jaksic (2012). According to these authors, the
two Pampas cats and one Andean cat were captured in the Argentinean High Andes. leading edge of the heel pad has two lobes in
This enabled us to observe a high variability in the Pampas cat foot and conclude that the Andean cat and only one in the Pampas
a monitoring program based on footprints would be unreliable at least until a more cat (Fig. 1) and the hind edge of the heel pad
detailed study on foot morphology is carried out. has three well marked lobes in the Andean
cat that are less discernable in the Pampas
Pampas cats and Andean cats share mostly characteristics, these felids are frequently cat (Fig. 1).
the same threats, at least where their distri- confused across their ranges, and local peo- In their handbook, Cossíos et al. (2007b) sug-
bution ranges overlap, which is the complete ple use a single name for both species in gested that the difference would be useful to
Andean cat distribution (AGA 2011) that co- most places (García-Perea & Hamilton 2002). design a monitoring program based on their
vers the high Andes from central Peru to cen- Although the Andean cat has a more delicate footprints, especially using track stations gi-
tral Argentina plus a portion of the Argenti- conservation status (Endangered according ven the characteristics of the soil of the areas
nean Patagonian Steppe (Villalba et al. 2004, to IUCN whereas the Pampas cat is listed as where these cats occur. This is a simple and
Cossíos et al. 2007a, Novaro et al. 2010). Be- Near Threatened), both species are poorly inexpensive technique that could be easily
cause of their similar sizes and morphological known to science (Pereira et al. 2008, Acosta replicated in multiple locations and is suita-

CATnews 58 Spring 2013

 foot morphology of the cats in the High Andes
Fig. 1. Diagram of foot morphologies of pampas cat (left) and Andean cat (right), modi-
fied from Cossíos et al. (2007b) and Iriarte & Jaksic (2012).
08
Fig. 2. Foot of both pampas cat captured. Two lobes in the front edge and three lobes in
the hind edge of the heel pad are clearly visible. (Photo: left, J. Reppucci; right, E. Galetto).
ble to be used as a sampling method in an
occupancy analysis framework (MacKenzie et
al. 2006). Additionally, the differences in foot
shapes could potentially be used to confirm
Andean cat presence in areas where they
have not been detected; thus improving our
still imprecise knowledge of their distribution
range.
With the aim of attaching GPS radiocol-
lars to study the space and habitat use by
both species, three cats (a female and a
male Pampas cat, and a male Andean cat,
all adults) were captured in NW Argenti-
na. Both specimens of Pampas cat showed
a foot morphology (Fig. 2) that resembled
more closely the structure previously descri-
bed as typical for the Andean cat (Cossíos et
al. 2007b, Iriarte & Jaksic 2012), with two
clearly visible lobes in the leading edge of
the heel pad and three well defined lobes in
the hind edge of the heel pad. The Andean
cat foot structure was similar to that previ-
ously described (Cossíos et al. 2007b, Iriarte
& Jaksic 2012).
The morphology of Pampas cat feet that we
observed in our study area makes the use of
footprints to differentiate this species from
the Andean cat unreliable. We conclude that
in order to produce a reliable description of
Pampas cat feet, a quantitative study should
be made based not only on museum skins
but also on live animals covering a larger
portion of this felid’s known distribution.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Adrian Mutlow, Daniel Cossíos,
David Kenny, Pablo Perovic, Zara MacDonald and
two anonymous reviewers for advice and assis-
tance. The project was funded by Wildlife Conser-
vation Network and Panthera. The authors were
supported by CONICET.
Bibliography
Acosta G., Cossíos D., Lucherini M. & Villalba L.
2009. Leopardus jacobita. In: IUCN Red List
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iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 10 July 2012.
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1
GECM (Grupo de Ecología Comportamental de
Mamíferos), Bioquímica y Farmacia, Universi-
dad Nacional del Sur. Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
AGA (Andean Cat Alliance)
* <juanreppucci@gmail.com>
2
CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones
Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina)
CATnews 58 Spring 2013