{"id":2175988,"date":"2024-06-21T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T05:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2175988"},"modified":"2024-06-15T09:12:40","modified_gmt":"2024-06-15T08:12:40","slug":"in-brazil-conservationists-try-to-save-one-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/in-brazil-conservationists-try-to-save-one-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-cats\/","title":{"rendered":"In Brazil, conservationists try to save one of the world\u2019s most endangered cats"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pampas grasslands, spanning southern Brazil, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina, are home to a wildcat so rare that researchers consider it the most endangered of its kind in the Americas, and possibly the world. Most sightings of this domestic cat-sized feline come from camera-trap images that have documented its distinctive fawn-colored coat, fluffy fur and black-striped legs. It\u2019s the elusive Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat, also known as the Uruguayan Pampas cat (Leopardus munoai).<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an estimated 100 individuals or less left in the wild,\u201d F\u00e1bio Mazim, an ecologist from Pr\u00f3-Carn\u00edvoros, a conservation nonprofit that focuses on carnivorous mammals in Brazil, told Mongabay. \u201cIt\u2019s a species that, I believe, will be extinct in five to 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

So little is known about Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat that scientists can\u2019t even agree on whether it\u2019s a distinct species, Leopardus munoai, or a subspecies of the Pampas cat, Leopardus colocola. Although L. munoai isn\u2019t yet recognized by the Cat Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, scientists began to acknowledge it as a distinct species in 2021.<\/p>\n

\"Little<\/a>
Little is known about the Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s pampas cat. Experts say it lives like a nomad wandering around the grasslands looking for suitable habitats. Image \u00a9 F\u00e1bio Mazim, Paulo Wagner, Maur\u00edcio Santos, Mois\u00e9s Barp, Yan Rodrigues\/Bichos Raros do Pampa projeto (Rare Animals of the Pampas).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Conserving the cat hasn\u2019t been easy. Recent floods in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, among the worst natural disasters in the country\u2019s history, have submerged almost the entire state and abruptly interrupted all conservation efforts to protect Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat.<\/p>\n

Plans had included building a conservation alliance across the three countries where the cat occurs, educational visits to local universities and schools, meetings with state representatives, a capture campaign to fit the felines with tracking GPS collars, and monitoring 60 camera traps installed across the state \u2014 although researchers lament the possible loss of cameras in the floods.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything needs to be replanned,\u201d Felipe Peters, a biologist and small cat researcher at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, told Mongabay.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The map shows the distribution region of the five pampas cat species across South America. The Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s pampas cat roams a small pocket of land across the southernmost tip of Brazil, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina. Image \u00a9 Jim Sanderson\/Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Much of the little that\u2019s known about this elusive cat comes from sporadic sightings. In an independent project spanning 25 years, camera traps monitored by Mazim and four friends \u2014 veterinarian Paulo Wagner and biologists Maur\u00edcio Santos, Mois\u00e9s Barp and Yan Rodrigues \u2014 snapped just nine records of four individual cats. Their findings include the first recorded case of melanism in Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat, a condition in which the fur is completely black, spotted in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to install camera traps over 50% of the area of the [Brazilian] Pampas, which covers 17.6 million hectares [43.4 million acres], demonstrating how rare this feline is,\u201d Mazim said.<\/p>\n

Overall, 32 records, including footprints, camera-trap images, observations, and dead individuals of Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat have been obtained in Brazil since 1997. More than half of these records were road kills. Despite long-term efforts to monitor the remaining cats, researchers have yet to detect a resident population.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The vast Pampas grasslands contain immense biodiversity with more than 12,500 wildlife species documented within the biome. Image \u00a9 Markus Mauthe\/Greenpeace.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt seems that this cat lives like a nomad, wandering the Pampas in search of territory,\u201d Mazim said.<\/p>\n

Other researchers have collected four records in Argentina, representing two adults and one young individual, as well as two in Uruguay since 2000. Since the species was first described in the mid-1920s, just over 200 records have been compiled across the entire Pampas biome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe secretive nature and elusive behavior of small cats make them difficult to study and monitor effectively,\u201d Wai-Ming Wong, director of small cat conservation science for Panthera, the global wildcat conservation NGO, told Mongabay.<\/p>\n

Dwindling habitat<\/h2>\n

The main threat to Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat is the loss of habitat in the Pampas, the largest grassland biome in South America. It sprawls across more than 1.2 million square kilometers (463,000 square miles), an area one-seventh the size of Brazil, with two-thirds of it lying in Argentina and the rest spread over Uruguay and the southern tip of Brazil. It\u2019s home to more than 12,500 wildlife species, representing 9% of Brazilian biodiversity<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also considered one of the most altered biomes on the planet. Over the past five decades, the native vegetation has been rapidly cleared for vast monocultures of soy, rice and eucalyptus, leaving just 43% of the Pampas\u2019s original vegetation intact. Research and conservation in the region are often overshadowed by efforts to protect forests like the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest, which are deemed more valuable, experts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pampas has been somewhat forgotten. The idea that a grassland is complex and biodiverse is something strange for a lot of people,\u201d Gerhard Overbeck, vegetation ecologist and professor of botany department at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, told Mongabay. \u201c[Society], including decision-makers and politicians, has a big forestry bias in conservation, seeing diverse environments, such as forests, [as] more deserving of protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

With its habitat dwindling to small pockets of vegetation, Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat is increasingly exposed to human-associated threats, including from domestic dogs, retaliation for preying on poultry, and being struck by motor vehicles. All of these push the cat closer to extinction. \u201cWhen there are such few individuals, any death can represent a large percentage of loss,\u201d Mazim said.<\/p>\n

\"Road<\/a>
Road kill is a serious issue for the Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s pampas cat population. Road signs are aimed at encouraging road users to reduce speed in the feline\u2019s habitat. Image courtesy of Felipe Peters at Wild Cats of Pampa Conservation Project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saving Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat is both critical for the species itself and to protect the Pampas biome. \u201cConserving small cats is important for biodiversity as they play unique roles in maintaining ecosystem balance,\u201d Wong said. \u201cThey regulate prey populations, control pest species, and contribute to ecosystem dynamics and resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall cat presence indicates a healthy ecosystem, and their disappearance can lead to cascading effects on other species and ecosystem functions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Saving the species<\/h2>\n

A rewilding project could boost Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat numbers to protect it from extinction, but it\u2019s a complicated process. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about a species for which there is no information except that it is in critical danger of extinction,\u201d Augusto Distel, a biologist from Rewilding Argentina, told Mongabay. \u201cThe first thing we must do is find the animal to begin studying it and be able to propose captures and placement of satellite collars.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Brazil, researchers are exploring the idea of returning to extensive cattle ranching \u2014 a practice used for centuries in the Pampas before intensive crop farming. Unlike the latter, ranching preserves and maintains much of the original habitat. This time around, the idea is to focus on preserving the specific natural habitat that Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat typically lives in. For this to work, however, it must guarantee an income for rural landowners, \u201cotherwise there will be no justification for maintaining the fields given the greater profitability generated by [growing] soybeans,\u201d Mazim said.<\/p>\n

One way of making extensive cattle ranching more profitable is to certify beef produced on native grassland as being \u201cgreen\u201d or \u201cecological,\u201d Mazim said, which would give it added value. Yet switching from croplands to extensive cattle ranching isn\u2019t an easy transition. A 2018 study found that cropland can yield up to 29% more profit than cattle ranching in the Pampas biome, meaning soy is far more lucrative than beef. \u201cThere is currently a lack of public policies that support extensive livestock farming,\u201d Overbeck said.<\/p>\n

Experts are also exploring the possibility of captive breeding of the cats until their numbers can recover, a process called ex situ management. But there are no Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cats currently in captivity in Brazil, and attempts to breed individuals in Uruguay have proved unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe creation of an ex situ breeding program is urgently needed. Even if we lose the species in the wild, we can\u2019t let it become extinct,\u201d Mazim said. \u201cThe Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s Pampas cat can no longer save itself; it needs help from people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citations:<\/h2>\n

Do Nascimento, F. O., Cheng, J., & Feij\u00f3, A. (2020). Taxonomic revision of the pampas cat Leopardus colocola complex (Carnivora: Felidae): An integrative approach. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 191(2), 575-611. doi:10.1093\/zoolinnean\/zlaa043<\/p>\n

Mazim, F. D., Wagner, P. G., May-Junior, J. A., Stefanello, S., Kuester, P., Spiazzi, D. A., \u2026 Oliveira, T. G. (2023). First record of melanism in the critically endangered Pampa cat (Leopardus munoai), an endemic species of the Pampa grasslands. Biota Neotropica, 23(3). doi:10.1590\/1676-0611-BN-2022-1456<\/p>\n

Mazim, F. D., Carniel Wagner, P. G., Fox-Rosales, L. A., da Rosa Bo\u00ffink, A., & Gomes de Oliveira, T. (2023). The critically endangered Pampa cat (Leopardus munoai) on the brink of extinction in Brazil: The little we know and an action plan to try to save it. In Endangered Species \u2014 Present Status. doi:10.5772\/intechopen.112162<\/p>\n

Distel, A., Di Bitetti, M. S., Cirignoli, S., Di Blanco, Y. E., & Pereira, J. A. (2023). The last stronghold of Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s pampas cat (Leopardus munoai) in Argentina? Journal for Nature Conservation, 74, 126449. doi:10.1016\/j.jnc.2023.126449<\/p>\n

Andrade, B. O., Dr\u00f6se, W., de Aguiar, C. A., Aires, E. T., Alvares, D. J., Barbieri, R. L., \u2026 Overbeck, G. E. (2023). 12,500+ and counting: Biodiversity of the Brazilian Pampa. Frontiers of Biogeography, 15(2). doi:10.21425\/F5FBG59288<\/p>\n

Ziliotto, M., Kulmann-Leal, B., Roitman, A., Bogo Chies, J. A., & Ellwanger, J. H. (2023). Pesticide pollution in the Brazilian Pampa: Detrimental impacts on ecosystems and human health in a neglected biome. Pollutants, 3(2), 280-292. doi:10.3390\/pollutants3020020<\/p>\n

Piquer-Rodr\u00edguez, M., Butsic, V., G\u00e4rtner, P., Macchi, L., Baumann, M., Gavier Pizarro, G., \u2026 Kuemmerle, T. (2018). Drivers of agricultural land-use change in the Argentine pampas and chaco regions. Applied Geography, 91, 111-122. doi:10.1016\/j.apgeog.2018.01.004<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> by Sarah Brown was first published by Mongabay.com on 13 June 2024. Lead Image: A rare sighting of the Mu\u00f1oa\u2019s pampas cat (Leopardus munoai or Leopardus fasciatu as it\u2019s known in Uruguay). Image courtesy of Felipe Peters at Wild Cats of Pampa Conservation Project.<\/i><\/p>\n

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