It’s a bear, it’s a cat; no it’s a binturong and it’s threatened

The binturong is unique; part bear, part cat it is rare across its range that encompasses many South Asian countries. The bearcat, as it’s also known, is also threatened by the rapid expansion of agriculture in its forest habitat and hunting for bushmeat and traditional medicine.

S.P.E.C.I.E.S has designated the binturong as one of our focal species and the first step to conserving it is understanding how it is adapting to the changes to its ecosystem. The species was recently profiled in an article on mongabay.com, featuring an interview with our founder and director, Anthony Giordano.

Read the full article at mongabay.com

Fishing cat’s cradle

The world’s only wetland cat species, the fishing cat, is elusive and endangered. Its wetland home is quickly disappearing across its range as urban and agricultural expansion quickens. Compounding this is the fact that little is known about the species.

Recently S.P.E.C.I.E.S founder and director discussed fishing cats and their conservation with Biographic magazine. Read the full story here.

Connecting landscapes with Mountain Lions

Like the wolf and grizzly bear, the mountain lion, cougar, or puma, North America’s largest cat, was once vilified as a pest to the livestock industry. Historically ranging from coast to coast, puma populations today continue to push eastward and reclaim areas they formerly inhabited, and as they do, they are nothing short of an ongoing conservation success story. Today however, no state has more of them than California. As encroachment of development into our wild spaces, increased demand for dwindling water supplies, and expanding transportation infrastructure, all threaten to further fragment (or separate) the state’s landscapes, can we look to the puma as a tool for implementing logical conservation strategies, and to protect wildness, water, and the ecological foundation that is essential to healthy human and wildlife communities alike?

Join Anthony Giordano, local conservation biologist, wildlife ecologist, and founder and director of S.P.E.C.I.E.S, on Wednesday, November 2nd from 7 – 8pm for a FREE open-to-the-public presentation to learn about the ways humans and mountain lions can peacefully coexist.

The event will take place on Wednesday, November 2 at 7pm at the Poinsettia Pavilion in Ventura. To reserve a place visit www.venturahillsides.org/events and click on the RVSP button.

The Javan Fishing Cat

A fishing cat spotted in Singapore. Photo by Shiny Things / Flickr CC

In 2008, the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) was declared “Endangered” by the IUCN. This was due in part to the extreme lack of records for the species despite wildlife surveys across much of its purported distribution. It is also due to the rapid disappearance of sensitive freshwater and coastal habitats across south Asia. Fishing cats are distributed unevenly across their range, with many populations isolated. Most isolated are those on Java, where the only recognized subspecies of fishing cat occurs more than 2000 km away from the next nearest population .

In the mid-1990’s a survey of otters on Java  recorded signs of fishing cats at a number of locations along the western part of the island. Although the findings of this survey characterized the status of the Javan fishing cat as “critically endangered”, this urgent call for action has been met with silence over the past 20 years, as no specific strategy for protecting the cat has ever emerged.

Given that during this time Java’s coastal ecosystems and wetlands have suffered dramatic changes due to intensive development and a soaring human population, it is imperative that the status of the Javan fishing cat be re-assessed. Its unique genetic and evolutionary context relative to other fishing cats, and the serious threats it faces, likely makes this cat the most endangered on earth.

S.P.E.C.I.E.S plans to conduct the first thorough assessment of the status of the Javan fishing cat, which is probably the most endangered cat in the world.

The first objective is to conduct semi-structured interviews in seven human communities across western Java to assess familiarity with fishing cats and document records. We will also distribute educational brochures to promote public awareness about the uniqueness of Java’s fishing cat, and how to report observations. Based on the results of these interviews, we will conduct sign surveys in potentially suitable habitat to record further evidence of fishing cat presence. We will also identify threats to areas where evidence suggests cats are present, and propose a strategy for their mitigation. Our primary goal is to use the information we collect to assess the Javan fishing cat’s status, and inform the Indonesian government and conservation community as to immediate conservation actions needed.

Rarest cat in the world? Assessing the Status of the Javan Fishing Cat from Experiment on Vimeo.

The Clouded Leopard

Photo by Tambako the Jaguar/ FlickrCC

The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is one of nature’s shyest creatures. The smallest of the big cats, they prefer to remain hidden and out of sight. This presents significant challenges when studying the species, and as a result, much of their behaviour remains a mystery.

Their range includes the Himalayan foothills of Nepal, into Southeast Asia and China, and a population exists in the southeastern parts of Bangladesh. There is also a separate species, the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), found only on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Both species are considered vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN.

Deforestation and the wildlife trade present the greatest threats to the clouded leopard. They prefer closed forest and dwell mostly in primary, undisturbed forest, although they have been found in secondary forest in some locations. Forest areas where they are found are currently facing some of the fastest rates of deforestation around the world. They are also hunted for their body parts and uniquely patterned coat, which is covered in distinctive cloud-like markings.

Read more S.P.E.C.I.E.S.’s work on the clouded leopard at Project Neofelis.

The Ocelot

Photo by Tom Smylie

Distributed extensively across the Americas, the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is somewhat similar to the bobcat, with fur not too different from the clouded leopard or jaguar. The ocelot likes to live in places with thick vegetation, so they are found in tropical forests, mangroves, and savanna regions.

Ocelots are primarily solitary animals; males scent-mark territories which can span up to 46 square kilometers while females range up to 16 square kilometers. Within these territories, the ocelot preys on small mammals, birds, fish, insects, and reptiles.

S.P.E.C.I.E.S works with ocelots on the island of Trinidad where the most isolated population dwells. The Trinidad Ocelot Project is the first effort to study this population, which despite the species’ overall designation as Least Concern by the IUCN, may be in decline due to human activities. The project investigates how human impacts through deforestation, hunting, and urbanization are affecting ocelot habitat suitability.

The Jaguar

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is the largest cat in the Americas and the third-largest feline in the world, behind only the tiger and the lion.

The jaguar roams a variety of habitats. Although it prefers densely wooded areas and thick rainforests, it can also be found in scrublands and deserts. Its range stretches from Southwestern United States down through Mexico and Central America to the South of Paraguay and Northern Argentina.

As an apex predator, the jaguar is at the top of the food chain. Within its habitat, it isn’t a particularly fussy eater . Known as a dietary generalist, the jaguar will eat a wide range of species including large animals such as caiman, deer, peccaries and tapirs, and smaller critters like monkeys and sloths.

Unlike other felines, the jaguar employs a particularly distinctive method to dispatch its prey. Along with the common deep throat-bite, which other cats use, the jaguar pierces the skull of its prey with a sharp bite between the ears, thus piercing the brain and killing their target.

Throughout its range, the jaguar is considered “Near Threatened”. Despite still being considered an abundant species, the loss and fragmentation of habitat, conflict with farmers, and illegal hunting are all contributing to its decline in the wild. Within its range, studies have shown that the area best suited to jaguar survival is the Amazon basin rainforest and parts of the Pantanal and Gran Chaco.

For this reason, S.P.E.C.I.E.S launched the Chaco Jaguar Conservation Project in 2008, the first and only program committed to the long-term conservation of the species across the Gran Chaco. The project seeks to map the jaguar’s range, reduce jaguar-human conflict, and raise public awareness of jaguar conservation issues and more.