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Wildlife experts thought leopards were locally extinct in Afghanistan, but this one was captured snarling at a camera trap in September. The camera trap, set by the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Afghan central highlands, also caught pictures of lynx, wild cats, wolves, red foxes, stone martens, and even a pair of poachers. See them in a gallery at National Geographic. Link
(Image credit: WCS Afghanistan Program)
The Scottish wildcat, also known as the Highland tiger, is so reclusive that scientists don’t know much about it. Camera traps set in the Cairngorms National Park are now yielding pictures of the cats that may help conservationists protect the animal.
The research is being led by Dr David Hetherington of the Cairngorms National Park Authority.
He told BBC Scotland: “Wildcats are very shy, secretive animals. They are active mainly at night and it’s really difficult for people to get close enough to watch them properly.
“These camera traps are an excellent way of us getting a much better insight into where wildcats live, when they’re active, and what habitat they’re using.
“We can also get an idea of where they don’t live and, of course, that’s also really important information.”
Experts believe the Scottish wildcat population has fallen to about 400, and work is under way to prevent the species becoming extinct.
The biggest threat to the wildcat’s survival as a species is their tendency to interbreed with domestic cats. The Scottish wildcat is the last wild feline predator in Scotland. Link -via ForteanTimes
(image credit: Neil Anderson)
Go Jaguars!
Photo by Octavio Monroy-Vitchis/SINC, via National Geographic News
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