Study identifies potential cougar habitats

27 Feb 08

By Tim Crosby 

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Don't try to sell Clay Nielsen on the idea that a breeding population of cougars has taken up residence in Southern Illinois. Despite the occasional reported sighting, the science just doesn't back it up, and science is where Nielsen puts his faith.

But some recent research by Nielsen and a graduate student at Southern Illinois University Carbondale does show the cougar might continue moving back toward the Midwest, where only about a century ago it thrived in the tall grass of the undisturbed prairie and thick cover of the forest.

Nielsen's two-year study looked at potential cougar habitat in nine Midwest states: Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa. Since 1990, researchers with the non-profit Cougar Network have confirmed more than 150 cougar presences throughout this region, he said.

The researchers did not include Illinois or any state east of the Mississippi River because cougar confirmations there are almost non-existent, said Nielsen, an assistant scientist with the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory at SIUC. Only two such confirmations were in Illinois — one in 2000 in Chester and one in 2004 in Mercer County — and Nielsen was involved in investigating both.

"Sightings don't count," said Nielsen, who previously did a project that looked at cougar confirmations in the Midwest. "We're using hard science, and that involves real proof, like a cougar carcass, DNA or a photo where you can make a positive identification."

What Nielsen's research does reveal, however, are several large areas in the Midwest that offer ideal habitat for the tan, carnivorous cats, which typically weigh in between 100 and 150 pounds and can grow as large as 200 pounds.

It turns out that Arkansas, Missouri and Minnesota have substantial areas that could attract and support cougars. About 19 percent of Arkansas, for instance, is highly suitable, with 16 percent of Missouri and 11 percent of Minnesota.

"One of the first questions we have about cougars in the Midwest is where is the potential habitat," Nielsen said. "Cougars, like bobcats and wolves, are very adaptable, and juvenile males are capable of dispersing from western populations to the Midwest."

The Shared Earth Foundation, along with the Summerlee Foundation and the wildlife laboratory, funded the research, which Nielsen and former SIUC graduate student Michelle LaRue, of Hudson, Wis., will publish this year in the science journal Ecological Modelling.

LaRue and Nielsen conducted the project in a somewhat unusual way for a wildlife research project. Instead of heading out into the wilderness, the project involved surveying nationally known cougar experts for their opinions on what makes ideal cougar habit and then mating those responses with geographic computer modeling using layered data sets from the National Land Cover Database.

Nielsen and LaRue asked experts to rank how important each of several criteria is in the big cat's habitat. Such factors included distance to water and the density of human population, among others. Of the 20 they sent out, 11 experts returned the surveys.

Then the pair used computers to overlay satellite imagery and databases cataloging land cover, road density, human population density, distance to water and topography. By combining the existing geographic conditions with the expert's rankings, they identified areas with the most potential habitat in units of 90 square meters.

"Ideally, if there were lots of cougars around, we'd put radio collars on them, determine their locations on the landscape and the cougars themselves would be informing us about critical habitat," Nielsen said. "However, there aren't many cougars present in the Midwest. So when the animals can't inform us as to what's important, the experts will.

"We also overlaid the model with cougar confirmation locations — where their presence was determined by carcass or photographic evidence — to see if our model made sense, and it did," he said. "We observed that cougar confirmations existed in areas of good habitat as predicted by our model. Most cougar confirmations occurred in forested areas with low human influence and rugged topography. Most folks who know anything about large carnivore biology would know that the corn desert is not the best place for cougars and wooded areas with steep topography are going to be good for wild animals that like secretive areas and require some cover year-round."

While the study points to the potential for cougars to live in certain Midwest regions, Nielsen says it's important to note that the existence of ideal habitat does not mean those areas are currently playing host to breeding cougar populations.

"This is a first look only," Nielsen said. "This is the first large-scale model of potential habitat for cougars in the Midwest. It is not current cougar distribution in the region."

Overall, about 8 percent of the Midwest offers highly favorable habitat for cougars. In general, more forest cover and rugged terrain is good habitat for cougars, Nielsen said, while areas with high human influence, row-crop agriculture and lots of roads are inhospitable.

The study identified six large, contiguous areas of highly favorable habit that are equal to or greater than 2,500 square kilometers in size. Those areas include northeastern Minnesota; Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri; Ozark National Forest in Arkansas; and Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas and Oklahoma. It also includes Badlands, N.D., and Black Hills, S.D., where there are known breeding populations of cougars, Nielsen said.

The study also identified much smaller areas of highly suitable land scattered throughout the nine-state region. Nielsen said such oases might act as "stepping stones" for animals dispersing from west to east. These areas tend to run along major rivers, and Nielsen said it is well known that cougars use river corridors to travel.

Although parts of Southern Illinois might have some characteristics that are favorable to cougars, Nielsen said there are also important differences. The Shawnee National Forest, while large by some standards, may not be large enough to support a cougar population. "Compared to the Ozarks or the Black Hills, the Shawnee is drop in the bucket, considerably smaller and not nearly as contiguous," he said. "It is pretty wild, but not nearly so as some of the places we assessed in our habitat model."

The Shawnee also is a long way from the next nearest population of cougars in west Texas, Nielsen said. And despite some confirmed sightings there, there's no guarantee a breeding population of cougars will even make it as far as the Ozarks.

Nielsen said he hopes the study will enable other researchers to further study cougar distribution and dispersal trends.

"Someday we may have cougars in these potential habitats, but it's going to take a lot of movement west to east for that to happen," he said. "If we have increased cougar dispersal in the future, and if that will happen, we don't know. This study depicts potential habitat for these animals. Most dispersers are juvenile males, and it will require more females to travel into the Midwest for any breeding populations to eventually occur."

Proposal expands critical habitat for Canada lynx

CATHERINE TSAI
The Associated Press

DENVER - Federal wildlife managers have dramatically increased the amount of land they want to designate as critical habitat for the Canada lynx, a threatened species.

Wildlife advocates were cautious as they waited to see whether the proposal would stick, while some were upset no area in the southern Rockies was included.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday it wants to designate 42,753 square miles in six states, including Washington, that could come under tighter federal oversight as critical habitat.

That's more than 20 times the 1,841 square miles in three states the agency designated in late 2006.

A final decision might not come until next year. Fish and Wildlife said it was accepting public comments on the proposal until April 28.

The agency reconsidered its earlier rulings about the lynx and seven other species after allegations that Julie MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary of the interior, interfered in the decisions. She has resigned.

States where land would now be designated as critical lynx habitat are Maine, Minnesota, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming.

Colorado, where state wildlife officials have been reintroducing lynx, was not included. The Fish and Wildlife Service said it was uncertain whether Colorado's population would sustain itself.

In 2007 state biologists found no new kittens, down from 11 in 2006 and 50 in 2005. Lynx trapped in Canada were released in southwest Colorado beginning in 1999.

Joshua Pollock, conservation director for Center for Native Ecosystems, said a critical habitat designation was crucial to lynx recovery in the southern Rockies.

"Their habitat continues to get logged, cut up by development. Lynx are run over on highways, accidentally trapped and shot. We need to see critical habitat taken seriously in the southern Rockies. Today's proposal is definitely a blow to that need," Pollock said.

Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Tyler Baskfield said the lynx already is considered a "species of concern" in Colorado, and populations of the long-haired mountain cat are closely monitored.

The Kettle range in Washington state wasn't included either. Fish and Wildlife said there was no evidence of a reproducing lynx population in the past 20 years.

Michael Senatore, director of the biodiversity program of the Center for Biological Diversity, said it would take time to review the proposal but that it was a step in the right direction.

"What's unclear is whether this is sufficient," he said. "It looks like they have left out important areas. There's nothing in the southern Rockies. That's problematic given there are lynx there. It also looks like for the most part they have focused on what may be an overly narrow definition of 'occupied habitat.' "

He was also concerned the proposal could change within the next year.

"If they exclude most of what they're proposing, it's not going to mean much for the lynx," Senatore said.

The 2006 designation of critical habitat for lynx was for Voyagers National Park in Minnesota, Glacier National Park in Montana and North Cascades National Park in Washington.

The Center for Biological Diversity contends some of the best lynx habitat is on U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management land.

In the latest proposal, about 58 percent of land is on federal land, 30 percent on private land, and the rest on state, tribal or other ownership, Fish and Wildlife said. On the Web

Fish and Wildlife Service proposed rule: http://tinyurl.com/yo3msp

Three More Iberian Lynx Born

3-24-08 
Saliega, who was the first Iberian Lynx to give birth in captivity three years ago, gave birth to three more kittens this weekend, who were born in the El Acebuche captive breeding centre in the Doñana Nature Park in Huelva. They were born at 64 days gestation on Saturday, but one of the young was rejected by the mother, and was reported by the Junta de Andalucía’s environment department on Monday to have died.

There were two more births last week, to Brisa, the first lynx born in captivity to become pregnant. One was born dead and the surviving kitten was ignored by the mother and is now in a critical condition. It is said to be suffering hypothermia and breathing problems and is being cared for by staff at the centre.

Another seven lynx have copulated this season as part of the recovery programme for the threatened species at the Olivilla centre in Jaén, at Jerez Zoo and in El Acebuche itself. Three new captive breeding centres are currently under construction in Córdoba, Extremadura, and in Silves, on the Portuguese Algarve.

Leopard caught from Junagadh sheep pen

2-25-2008

Indian Express By Sibte Hussain Bukhari

Junagadh, February 24 A Leopard took shelter in the sheep-pen of a shepherd in Fareda village, some 20 kms from Una town in Junagadh district, on Friday. It stayed there the whole night, preyed on a goat, before being caged and shifted to the forest area, the next morning.

According to reports, a leopard, which was roaming in the village around midnight, entered Bhana Parmar's house and preyed on a goat in the adjoining shed. Hearing some commotion Parmar went inside the pen and saw the big cat preying on a goat. He somehow gathered courage and closed the door of the room.

He then immediately informed the forest officials.

In the morning, foresters from the Babaria range reached the spot and managed to trap the animal. It was shifted to a safer place in the Gir forest later. However, before the big cat was safely caught, Parmar and his family had to spend a sleepless night what with a leopard lurking in their premises.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, three lions reportedly preyed on a donkey in Aambecha village near Malia town of Junagadh district. Sources said that the lions killed a donkey belonging to one Bhanabhai, a potter. Forest sources said that owners of the dead animals, in both cases, would be compensated.

African Leopard

A Feline First Embryos

Implanted In Zoo's Pallas' Cats

BY KARA RHODES

Published: February 28. 2008 6:50AM

The eggs came from Cincinnati. The sperm came from Mongolia.

They combined to create a worldwide first at the Erie Zoo.

The Erie Zoo's three Pallas' cats were implanted Wednesday with embryos that originated with eggs from captive cats in Cincinnati that had been inseminated, in vitro, with sperm from wild cats in Mongolia.

A team from the Cincinnati Zoo conducted the in vitro fertilizations and implantation surgeries -- believed to be a first for mammals in captivity.

The team's goal: to foster the survival of Pallas' cats kept in captivity by making sure their offspring are genetically diverse.


They chose Erie's Pallas' cats -- three sisters that arrived in Erie from San Diego Zoo in 2007 -- because their gene pools are over-represented in the captive population.

That over-representation makes the three Pallas' cats less-than-ideal candidates to bear kittens of their own, but ideal candidates to carry the offspring of other Pallas' cats. Each of the cats was implanted with five embryos in Erie.

"They're perfect as surrogates," said Bill Swanson, director of the Cincinnati Zoo's Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife. "They aren't recommended for breeding, but they can still provide genetically valuable kittens."

Swanson said the gene pool is limited for captive Pallas' cats, which are native to Central Asia and are named for Peter Pallas, a German naturalist who first described the species 200 years ago. Swanson said there are only 45 Pallas' cats in 15 zoos in North America.

The success of the surgery is important not just for the future of Pallas' cats, but also for other threatened or endangered animals, Swanson said.


"It's important that the captive population maintain genetic variation," he said. "That's hard to do when you have a limited captive population."

In the past, zoos would have captured wild animals when they needed to add to their genetic pool, Swanson said.

But times have changed.

"It's difficult to take animals from the wild from a philosophical standpoint," Swanson said. "It's also difficult from a regulatory standpoint -- governments are very restrictive these days about movement of wildlife."

Swanson said veterinarians have impregnated captive mammals through artificial insemination. But he said he knows of no other case in which veterinarians have implanted captive mammals with embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization -- in which fertilization occurs outside the womb, such as in a lab dish.

Kittens in two months?
The Cincinnati Zoo has earned the nickname as the "world's sexiest zoo" because of its groundbreaking work and success in breeding animals.

Swanson performed Wednesday's implantations at the Erie Zoo's surgical suite, which is in the same building as the Pet Emergency Center, attached to the eastern end of JMC Ice Arena, which the zoo owns.

Swanson collected semen in 2007 from wild Pallas' cats he and a team of researchers chased down and captured in Mongolia. The animals were released back into the wild. Their sperm was frozen and transported to the United States.

The eggs were harvested Tuesday from Pallas' cats from the Cincinnati Zoo. The eggs were then fertilized with sperm from the Mongolian wild cats.


A day later, Swanson and his team drove to Erie for the surgeries. Their cargo was an incubator with the embryos.

On Wednesday, the anesthetized cats were brought into the surgical suite one by one. During the first surgery, Swanson made two tiny incisions and inserted a camera.

The camera, its images broadcast on a television in front of Swanson, traveled past the cat's bladder -- as white and round as a golf ball -- before settling on one of its wrinkled and pink ovaries.

Swanson stretched open the ovary with clamps, searching for the ova duct, a little pocket in which he could insert the embryos. Once he found it, he slid five embryos -- each about the size of a pinhead -- into the opening.

It will take about a month before the veterinarians will know if the surgeries were successful and the cats are pregnant. The gestation period for kittens is 68 to 72 days, or a little more than two months.


The kittens are expected to stay in Erie for a time. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits zoos throughout the United States, will determine where they will end up.

Scott Mitchell, the president and chief executive officer of the Erie Zoo, said the implantations show a different side of the zoo's mission.

"Most people think of zoos as just a great place to bring their kids," Mitchell said. "But conservation is a very important thing that zoos do."

Skulls Reveal the Lost World

of the Tower of London's Most Exotic Inmates

Lewis Smith, Environment Reporter

The lions that terrified and delighted royalty, nobles and minions in the Tower of London were part of a subspecies that is now extinct.

Analysis of two skulls recovered from the moat at the Tower revealed that they belonged to Barbary lions. They dated from the 14th and 15th centuries and would have formed part of the collection that made up the Royal Menagerie.

Richard Sabin, curator of mammals at the Natural History Museum, said: “It’s an extinct subspecies. They are representatives of a form of lion from the Barbary Coast that no longer exists in the wild.”

The lions, which were caged for the pleasure of kings and queens of England from medieval times, were the first in Britain since the last Ice Age. Tower staff charged with caring for the big cats became so adept at getting them to breed that the animals became known as “English lions”.

Tigers, leopards, elephants and bears were also kept at the Tower, where they provided an exotic form of entertainment.

“Lions have been imported into Europe for various purposes since early historic times,” Mr Sabin said. “We’ve not known, however, until now the exact geographical origin of the animals found in London. Direct animal trade between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa was not developed until the 18th century so our results provide new insights into the patterns of historic animal-trafficking.”

Genetic tests were carried out on the skulls to reveal the species type, and researchers plan further tests to analyse isotopes in the bone to reveal where they were born. Details of isotopes that the lions absorbed from water and food as cubs should allow scientists to determine whether the pair were trapped in North Africa and transported to Britain or bred in Europe from African stock, perhaps at the Tower itself.

Mr Sabin said that the Royal Menagerie had been an important institution. “It was set up by King John. He had been given animals by other noblemen – it was a type of gift-giving that went on between important people of Europe in that period. Transporting the lions must have been quite a feat.”

The findings by the team from the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Oxford were backed up by comparing the skulls to the remains of Barbary and Asiatic lions. The findings were reported in the journal Contributions in Zoology.

The skulls were excavated in the 1930s and transferred to the museum, where they were put into storage. Radiocarbon tests dated one of the skulls between 1280 and 1385 and the other between 1420 and 1480, making them the earliest confirmed lion remains in the British Isles since the extinction of the Pleistocene cave lion.

The Royal Menagerie was closed in 1835 on the orders of the Duke of Wellington and the animals transferred to London Zoo. Barbary lions were driven to extinction by hunters in the early 20th century.

Nobuyuki Yamaguchi, of the University of Oxford, said: “According to historic records, a contiguous lion population could be found from North Africa and through the Middle East to India, until almost 4,000 years ago. Western North Africa was the nearest region to Europe to sustain lion populations until the early 20th century, making it an obvious and practical source for medieval merchants.”