Leopard Cats Likely To Exceed Asian Leopards In Margallas Ideal Habitat

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Feb, 2022 ) :The Margalla Hills National Park's (MNHP) ideal habitat is ready to welcome relocation of new leopard cats from Karachi and animal experts believe they would exceed the biome's Asian leopards in near future.

The leopard cats are currently the second largest predators of the MHNP and due to their 92 percent survival rate, ability to co-exist with common Asian leopards and Park's ideal environment are likely to become the largest predators in number.

The leopard cats are native to MHNP that are totally different from a leopard as the former is relatively smaller in size as compared to the common leopard with a limited range or area to survive in the national park, Manager Operations Islamabad Wildlife Management board (IWMB) Sakhwat Ali told while briefing on the endangered cat species on Sunday.

The Sindh Wildlife Department recently rescued two male cubs of leopard cats and decided to shift them to the IWMB Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre established in the national park.

Sakhawat informed that the leopard cats remained in quarantine of over 7 days as per the protocol and released after the process. "A leopard and leopard cat share their territory due to communal feeding niche (profession of a predator or its habitat to feed on specific preys). Leopard feeds on larger animals whereas the leopard cat feeds on household chickens, small rodents in the wilds and Kalij pheasants," he informed.

The IWMB Manager Operations told that earlier in 2019, the Wildlife Board had released one leopard cat rescued from a poacher. In 2018, the IWMB rangers had found a dead leopard cat that was killed by AAA cartridge of shotgun rifle. "After that incident, a detailed study by PMAS Arid Agriculture University and the IWMB team was done to study the routes, feeding behavior and movement of the cat in the national park that helped to develop good resource data on its conservation," he added.

To a question, he said that the number of offspring of animal or bird species facing threats were relatively larger as compared to those having favorable breeding conditions.

"Similar is the case with leopard cats and also there is no conflict to occur between the leopards and leopard cats due to different volumes of prey", he added. Sakhawat mentioned that the number of leopard cats was likely to be higher than the leopards as birth and survival rate was above 90 percent among the former.

According to the International Society for Endangered Cats (ISEC), "After a gestation of 65 to 70 days, one to four, usually two or three, young are born in a hollow tree, rocky crevice or burrow. Weight at birth is around 80 grams; their eyes open in 5 to 15 days. Sexual maturity is reached around 8-12 months. Captive animals have been known to live over 15 years." The study titled Spatial Distribution and Dietary Niche Breadth of Leopard Cats (Prionailurus bengalensis) Inhabiting Margalla Hills National Park, Pakistan, carried by Department of Wildlife Management, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi student Hira Fatima alongwith her coauthors Tariq Mahmood, Lauren Mae Hennelly, Muhammad Farooq and Faraz Akrim, and Muhammad Sajid Nadeem investigated the leopard cat's habitat in detail.

"The leopard cat is distributed throughout the Himalayan foothills in Pakistan and occurs in moist temperate and dry coniferous forests. We recorded direct (field observations, camera trapping) and indirect signs (scats) of the species on 23 trails and tracks in the study area." It added that the leopard cat was recorded at 13 different sampling sites in the park, with an altitudinal range between 664 to 1441 meters.

Its diet comprises 10 wild and four domestic animal prey species, along with some plant matter that might have been consumed secondarily. Small mammals (five different species) are the main prey species of the leopard cat; the species has also been shown to eat Asian palm Squirrels, birds and insects. It also preys on some wild meso mammal including small Indian mongoose, grey mongoose, and cape hare, and scavenges on wild boar, the study revealed.

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