Jungle Cat Felis chaus Schreber, 1777 (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) at high elevations in Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

• Main Authors: Bikram Shrestha Shrestha, Naresh Subedi, Ram Chandra Kandel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wildlife Information Liaison Development Society 2020-02-01
• Series: Journal of Threatened Taxa
• Subjects: alpine habitat; camera trap; himalaya; small wild cat
• Online Access: https://www.threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/article/view/5580

To date, the Jungle Cat Felis chaus has been recorded in the lowlands and mid-hills in Nepal. Photographic evidence, however, is scarce, particularly in alpine habitat.  Here we present the first photographic records of the Jungle Cat in an alpine habitat in Lower Mustang of the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal.  It was recorded by camera traps at elevations of 3,000–3,100 m in 2014 and 2016 in 10 detections during 2,755 trap days.  In July 2016, one individual was sighted at an elevation of 3,300m.  The habitat of these records comprised riverbed, a poultry farm adjacent to agricultural land and shrubland of Juniper and Caragana species.