ISSN 1027-2992

CAT
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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
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CATnews 58 Spring 2013

 original contribution

RIDDHIKA KALLE1*, THARMALINGAM RAMESH1, QAMAR QURESHI1 AND ricultural and settlement areas while it is
KALYANASUNDARAM SANKAR1 unlikely to be present in evergreen forests

The occurrence of small felids

(Patel 2006, Vyas et al. 2007, Pillay 2008,
Athreya 2010). Information available on the

in Mudumalai Tiger
ecology of Indias small carnivores is scarce
bringing an urgent need for a focused re-

Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India

search program to achieve many successes,
challenges and identify a range of future
work.
Systematic camera trapping surveys were conducted to study elusive small cats in We present preliminary results from came-
Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats in 2010 and 2011. A total effort of 7,380 trap- ra-trap surveys to investigate occurrence
nights in an intensive sample area of 114 km2 yielded 89 photographs of small cats of and distribution of small wild cats in Mudu-
which 72 were of jungle cat Felis chaus, 6 leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis, and malai Tiger Reserve. We also discuss pos-
11 rusty-spotted cat Prionailurus rubiginosus. Photographic captures were highest sible threats to the small felid community.
for jungle cat compared to the other two species. Results from this study revealed the The present study is a part of a doctoral
distribution of small wild cats and the ecological importance of the reserve for future research by the first author who is investi-
conservation planning of small felids. gating the ecology of sympatric small carni-
vores in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve including
Effective conservation of small cats requires Anecdotal evidence suggests that they in- their habitat use, occupancy, activity pat-
detailed knowledge on their current dis- habit savannas, tropical dry forests, reed- tern and suitability modeling.
tribution, population status and ecological beds along rivers and lakes in the lowlands,
requirements. Although our understanding adapt well to different types of agricultural Material and Methods
on their ecology has increased (Mukherjee land and forest plantations while they are Study area
et al. 2004, Mukherjee et al. 2010, Nixon thought to be rare in rainforests (Khan & Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (1132 - 1143
et al. 2010, Gupta 2011), comprehensive in- Beg 1986, Duckworth et al. 2008). Its pre- N; 7622 - 7645 E) is Indias few Protect-
formation at a regional scale in most parts dators include larger felids and canids such ed Areas with minimal human disturbance
of the country is still lacking. The extreme as tiger, leopard and dhole (Ramesh 2010). and less exploited forests (Fig. 1a). It is a
difficulty in physically observing them and The leopard cat is widespread in Asia (San- part of a large contiguous forest tract with
32 inaccessibility of their habitat is one of the derson et al. 2008), occurring in a broad Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary on the north-
common issues in small cat research due spectrum of habitats from tropical rainfo- west, Bandipur Tiger Reserve on the north,
to their elusive behavior and rarity which rest to temperate broadleaf and marginally in the south and the east with Singara and
makes it most difficult to study them in the coniferous forest, shrub forest, succession Sigur Reserved Forests forming the bounda-
wild. All that is left of them is interesting grasslands, dense secondary growth, inclu- ry of the Nilgiri North Division. Champion &
anecdotal information (Patel & Jackson ding logged areas, agricultural lands and Seth (1968) classified the vegetation types
2005, Kumara & Singh 2007) providing little forest plantations (rubber tree, oil palm, su- as tropical dry thorn forest, tropical dry
concrete evidence on their abundance. Eco- garcane; Nowell & Jackson 1996, Rajarat- deciduous forest, tropical moist deciduous
logical data on small cats is lacking even nam et al. 2007). The rusty-spotted cat, one forest, tropical semi-evergreen, moist
from the most critically conserved Protected of the smallest members of the Felidae and bamboo brakes, and riparian fringe forest
Areas of India. endemic to India and Sri Lanka is believed (Fig.2, Supporting Online Material SOM
The jungle cat is widespread and common to occur in moist and dry deciduous forests, Fig. 1a-e). Overall, the terrain is undulating,
in comparison to other small cats of India. rocky regions, scrub jungles, grassland, ag- interspersed with hills, valleys, ravines, wa-

a) b)

Fig. 1 a). Locations of camera-trap stations in three habitats for capturing small carnivores in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (2010 and
2011). b) Zones of human activity influence around villages in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

CATnews 58 Spring 2013

 small felids in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, India

ter courses, and swamps. An ongoing study Table 1. Independent photocaptures of three small felids in different habitats of
on small mammal trapping revealed high Mudumalai Tiger Reserve 2010 and 2011 during the dry and wet season. - = no pictures.
densities of white-tailed wood rat Cremno- Deciduous Deciduous Dry thorn Dry thorn Semi-evergreen
mys blanfordi, spiny mouse Mus platythrix, Year
dry wet dry wet dry
house rat Rattus rattus rattus and little In-
dian field mouse Mus booduga. Other small Trapping effort 750 750 780 780 630
mammals present are black-naped hare Jungle cat
Lepus nigricollis, three-striped squirrel Fu- 2010 1 - 26 11 -
nambulus palmarum, lesser bandicoot rat 2011 - 2 14 17 1
Bandicota bengalensis, Indian gerbil Tatera Leopard cat
indica, highland shrew Suncus montanus, 2010 1 1 - - -
Bonhotes mouse Mus famulus, house mou- 2011 - 3 - - 1
se Mus musculus and common Metad Mil- Rusty-spotted cat
lardia meltada, indicat-ing the availability 2010 1 1 1 - -
of sufficient prey base for the persistence 2011 - 1 4 3 -
of small felids. Threats to this area include
enormous biotic pres-sure (cattle grazing,
cultivations, settlements, collection of fuel sampled for 30 days. Cameras were appro- 2010 and 2011 and 1,530 trap-nights for
wood, non-timber forest products, etc.) ximately 25 cm above the ground and set to wet season in 2010 and 2011 (Table 1).
exerted by the ever-expanding human popu- be active for 24 h/day. No bait or lure was
lation (Fig. 1b). used at any location to attract animals. The Jungle cat
photo-capture delay was set to 1 min and Overall jungle cats were detected in 25%
Field sampling sensitivity was set to high. Sampling sta- of camera stations (SOM Table 2). The sex
The camera-trap surveys were designed to tions were checked on an average, every 3 ratio male (M):female (F) estimated was
photo-capture terrestrial small carnivores. days to ensure continued operation and the 1:1.5 in 2010 and 1:1.2 in 2011 (Fig. 3). Alt-
We selected 114 km2 of intensive study batteries and film were replaced when ne- hough no cubs or sub-adults were camera-
area which was divided into three intensive cessary. Sex was identified from the robust- trapped, we had a direct observation of a
sampling zones; deciduous (35 km2), semi- ness of the head region and observation of mother with two kittens. It was in the year
evergreen (40 km2) and dry thorn forest genital features. 2011, on a sunny afternoon we were scan-
33
(39km2) to conduct camera-trap surveys ning the forest during sign surveys. It was
for two years (2010 and 2011). Camera-trap Results 1:30 h when an adult female jungle cat ap-
survey was conducted in the dry and wet Our survey yielded 89 photographs of small peared from a trail, glanced at us, trotted in
season in deciduous and dry thorn forest cats of which 72 were of jungle cat, 6 le- our direction and later vanished into a trail
while the semi-evergreen forest could be opard cat, and 11 rusty-spotted cat. The beside us. Just a few seconds later two of
sampled only in the dry season due to lo- survey produced a total effort of 7,380 trap- her kittens emerged from the same trail. On
gistic constrains and inaccessibility in the nights; 2,160 trap-nights for dry season in sensing our presence, they could not follow
wet season. We divided the survey area
into 1km2 grids and systematically chose
grids for camera locations based on preli-
minary sign surveys. We selected the most
suitable camera locations (along trails,
forest roads, near stream beds and water
holes) which were likely to trap small cats
based on preliminary sign surveys of their
tracks, scats (SOM Fig. 2a,b), carcasses, in-
terviews of local people and park guards.
Within a grid, we deployed passive-infrared
camera-traps Deer-cam DC300 (DeerCam,
Park Falls, USA) and Stealthcam (Bedford,
Texas, USA) along suitable sites. Each sta-
tion had a pair of independently operating
cameras which were mounted opposite to
each other to obtain pictures of both flanks.
The mean inter-camera trap distance was
1.31 km. Every year we set up 25 camera-
trap stations in the deciduous forest, 21 in
the semi-evergreen forest and 25 in the dry
thorn forest. Each of the forest types were Fig. 2. Tropical dry forest in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (Photo R. Kalle).

CATnews 58 Spring 2013


Fig. 3. A female jungle cat camera-trap-
ped near the Moyar gorge in the thorn fo-
rest on 11 April 2011 at 21:41 h.
34
Fig. 4. Leopard cat along a trail next to a
man-made water hole, 1.5 km from Thep-
pakadu village in the dry deciduous forest
on 19 November 2011 at 2:10 h.
Fig. 5. Rusty-spotted cat along a narrow
trail alongside the edge of a cliff towards
the Moyar gorge in the thorn forest on 31
December 2010 at 7:12 h.
Kalle et al.
their mothers path as they retrieved back
into the dense shrub. On another occasi-
on we sighted a jungle cat crossing a dirt
road in the thorn forest on a late afternoon.
Sightings like these indicate that they could
be active even during the day. Interestingly
both the aforementioned sightings happe-
ned to be close to our camera sites, yet the
cameras failed to detect much of their mo-
vements during the day. Jungle cats were
captured most often in the night with only
a handful of captures during the day. In
another camera-trap photo it was observed
holding a three-striped squirrel in its jaws.
We recorded a road-killed jungle cat along
the Moyar road which runs parallel to the
Marvakandy dam, a crucial water channel
for animals.
Trapping encounters were highest for jun-
gle cat. The species was captured most
often in the thorn forest than other forest
types which was not surprising to us since
they are known to frequent jungles or open
country, often in the neighborhood of vil-
lages, agricultural fields and areas having
sparsely scattered bushes (Duckworth et al.
2005).
Leopard cat
Overall leopard cat was photographed in
6.94% of all camera locations, suggesting its
lowest occupancy of the habitats surveyed
(SOM Table 2). This species was captured
most often in moist deciduous forest except
for a single capture (Fig. 4) in the semi-ever-
green forest. Its hard to draw any conclusion
pertaining to its preferred habitat given the
low captures. During the study we found a
dead female leopard cat resulting from a
road-kill along the highway NH-67 towards
Gudalur, the nearest town. This site was sur-
rounded by plantations of tea, coffee, spices
like pepper, cardamom, ginger, clove, and tu-
ber crops like tapioca. Examination of its gut
contents revealed the presence of porcupine
quills, rodent hair and feathers.
Rusty-spotted cat
Both rusty-spotted cat and jungle cat appear
to be sympatric in the study site, however
the former appears to be well distributed in
areas with short shrubs, steep or rocky ter-
rain along the fringe of the reserve in the
thorn and dry deciduous forest (Fig. 5). Over-
all, it was captured in 15.27% of all camera
locations (SOM Table 2). The species was
captured often in the night except for one
capture during the day.
Discussion
Our results show the effectiveness of ca-
mera-traps to assess small cat presence;
however, given the low sample size of rusty-
spotted cat and leopard cat, it would be
desirable to maximize the trapping effort and
spatial coverage for future surveys on these
species. Camera trapping is well-suited to
evaluate communities of sympatric felids, if
research protocols are designed appropriate-
ly. It would be beneficial if spot-light surveys
are conducted in the night as it would help
researchers maximize occurrence records
for secretive species. From interviews with
local people, it was learnt that jungle cat
and leopard cat are regular visitors to small
livestock inside village homes. Small cats in
the region are named as kattu poonai by
the local people including the tribes. Based
on questionnaire surveys, the local masses
showed no interest in hunting any of the-
se species and do not blame small cats for
predation on domestic animals. No evidence
of any other kind of commercial trade was
found.
We recorded the highest level of human
disturbance in the thorn forest. Therefore,
for future analyses it would be beneficial
to measure the response of small cats to in-
creasing presence of humans and livestock
(Fig. 6, SOM Fig. 3). People living in settle-
ments include Moundadan Chetties and
tribes; Kattu Naickers, Paniyas, Kurumbas,
and Irulas. Moundadan Chetties primary
occupation is to perform agricultural practi-
ces in swamp vayal habitats and rear cattle.
There are fairly a few villages abutting the
eastern and southwestern part of the park, to
name a few; Mavanhalla, Chemmanatham,
Masinagudi, Bokkapuram, Singara, Thora-
palli and Bospara. Hunting of deer, rodents,
ground-dwelling birds like quails, partridges
and stealing meat from fresh animal carcas-
ses by local villagers and tribals are sporadic
in the reserve. Villagers from Masinagudi
often use domestic dogs to hunt wildlife
and such activities could be detrimental to
small mammals. Although small wild cats
are known to frequent agricultural farmlands
due to the high availability of rodents, they
could be victims of poisoning due to the high
pesticide load.
Our team is continuing to analyze this two-
year data set in different ways to try and
bring out its ecological aspects. We will
apply capture-recapture models to estima-
te densities of jungle cat. Future analyses
could raise several questions concerning
CATnews 58 Spring 2013

the persistence of small cat populations in a
reserve with high density of large carnivores
(Ramesh 2010, Kalle et al. 2011). Localized
monitoring mechanisms are suggested whe-
rever necessary to minimize surprise cases
of extinction. Systematic field monitoring
across protected and unprotected regimes
and implementing conservation interventi-
ons will critically improve our state of know-
ledge on small wild cats for development of
theory on their social structure, behavior,
and habitat use.
Acknowledgements
Authors would like to thank the Director and
Dean, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the
Chief Wildlife Warden, Tamil Nadu for granting
research permission in Mudumalai as a part of
the project, A study on sympatric carnivores in
Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. Financial support for
the research was provided by Wildlife Institute
of India. We wish to thank the editors and two
anonymous reviewers for their constructive com-
ments which helped us improve the manuscript.
We thank our field assistants C. James, M.
Kethan, M. Mathan and the forest department
officials for their assistance during field work.
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Supporting Online Material SOM Table 1 and
SOM Figures 1a-c, 2a, b and 3 are available at
www.catsg.org.
1
Wildlife Institute of India, P.O. Box 18, Chandra-
bani, Dehra Dun-248 001, Uttarakhand, India
*<riddhikalle@gmail.com>
Kalle et al. 2013. The occurrence of small wild cats in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India.
Cat News 58, 32-35. Supporting Online Material.

SOM Fig 1a. Tropical dry deciduous forest in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (Photo R. Kalle).

SOM Fig 1b. Tropical moist deciduous forest in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (Photo R. Kalle).
 SOM Fig 1c. Tropical semi-evergreen
forest in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve
(Photo R. Kalle).

SOM Fig 1d. Moist bamboo brakes (Photo R. Kalle).

SOM Fig 1e. Riparian fringe forest (Photo R. Kalle).
SOM Fig. 2a. Track of a small felid recorded during sign surveys (Photo R. Kalle).

SOM Fig. 2b. Scat of a small felid recorded during sign surveys (Photo R. Kalle).
SOM Fig. 3. Swamps are converted to paddy fields (locally called vayal) by the Moundadan Chetties, a tribal
community from the Kapur Village in the Tiger Reserve (Photo R. Kalle).
SOM Table 2. Locations of camera-trap stations with records of small felids in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve for 2010 and 2011.
Camera No. Latitude Longitude Jungle Leopard Rusty-spotted Site type Remarks
(N) (E) cat cat cat
1 113513.8 763753 4 Forest road 2 km from Masinagudi village
2 113529.3 763911.9 6 Trail

3 113433.1 76400.3 1 Trail

4 113333.6 763922.3 1 Forest road

5 113342.1 764043.5 13 1 Trail 500 m from a stream

6 113427.1 764222.2 1 Trail

7 113430.3 76419.1 7 1 Forest road

8 113535 764057.1 5 1 Forest road

9 113630.5 764051.3 1 Forest road

10 113521.9 76425.2 9 Cattle trail 100 m from agricultural field

11 113344.3 763959.9 1 Trail Beside a check-dam
12 113414.5 763922.5 1 Trail Beside Marvakandy dam
13 113417.4 764030.3 11 Trail

14 113539.3 76408.3 1 Cattle trail

15 113454.1 764140.7 3 1 Trail 300 m from a stream

16 113554.4 764129.7 1 Trail Behind the agricultural field
17 113557.5 764223.4 4 Forest road

18 113621.8 763324.6 1 Stream bed

19 11361.3 763243.5 1 Forest road

20 113548.7 763353.7 1 1 1 Trail 50 m from a stream bed

21 113517.1 763154.2 2 Forest road 50 m from natural water-hole
22 113452.7 763414.4 1 Forest road 100 m from a stream
23 113416.3 763418.2 1 Forest road

24 113332.8 763233.5 2 Trail Swamp (vayal)

25 113322 763344 1 1 Forest road

26 113449.4 762335.1 1 Trail

27 113723.1 762531.4 1 Trail Next to man-made water-hole

1-17 = Dry thorn forest, 18-25 = Deciduous forest, 26 & 27 = Semi-evergreen forest