2023-08-09 06:32:54
Just as the lion is representative of Africa and Asia, the jaguar and the puma are for America. Even for the first, great efforts have been made for its conservation in Latin America. However, very little is known regarding other species in the region –especially medium and small ones. And on that Mongabay Latam will publish the special report “The small and forgotten felids of Latin America”, which will be available starting tomorrow on the El Comercio website.
Before continuing: why felines and not felines? The felids (family ‘Felidae’) are carnivorous mammals and are divided into two subfamilies: the pantherines (‘Pantherinae’) and the felines (‘Felinae’). While the first ones roar and are big, the second ones meow and are smaller. READ
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Within those subfamilies are genera. Cats are of the ‘Felis’ genus, while lions, jaguars, tigers and so on are of the ‘Panthera’ genus. For example, the jaguar (‘Panthera onca’) is a felid of the panterine subfamily and genus ‘Panthera’.
On alert
Going back to the Mongabay Latam report – to which I had early access – very little is known regarding other medium and small species typical of the region: the ocelot, the margay, the Andean cat, the pajonal or pampas cat, the huiña, Geoffroy’s cat, the margay, the tirica, the jaguarundi and the bobcat. But not only that, but there are five species that have not been evaluated.
Seeing an Andean cat is extremely difficult.
Why should we care? In the words of José Fernando González Maya, scientific director of the Land and Water Conservation Project and co-chair of the Small Carnivores Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, “because, in addition to being seriously threatened by deforestation, , which leads to habitat loss, are also faced with hunting.” However, the common problem of small cats, the object of this journalistic investigation, is the loss of habitat, although in each case they have particular threats.
big unknown
The journalistic report focuses specifically on the situation of the Andean cat, whose habitat is distributed between Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Peru.
The ‘Leopardus jacobita’ generally lives at 3,600 meters above sea level, in rocky areas with sparse vegetation. Its main prey is the vizcacha. Each specimen can weigh between four and six kilos.
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Mining and the use of dogs for herding are pointed out as the main threats to the Andean cat. In the same way, although the hunting of the Andean cat for rituals has been declining, the killings of the animal continue with a superstitious nature. In addition, the cases of run overs of this cat continue to increase.
The absence of an updated record on the total number of Andean cats deepens the degradation of their natural ecosystem and makes their conservation very difficult.
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