Gone before it’s known? Camera-trapping shows alarming levels of putative hybrids in the wildcat (Felis silvestris) population of the Gargano National Park (Southern Italy)
Abstract
The European wildcat is a small carnivore widespread across Europe and hybridization with the domestic cat is one of the major threats to wildcats. We estimate the population density of wild-living cats (both wildcats and putative hybrids based on pelage) in the Gargano National Park (Southern Italy). We sampled 20 stations for 540 camera days. We obtained 23 images from 17 detections at 10 cameras, and we identified 10 individuals (6 wildcats and 4 putative hybrids). Population density was estimated at 0.34 ± 0.15 SE wild-living cats/km2. The proportion of putative hybrids indicates an alarming hybridization for this population.
Acknowledgments
The comments of two anonymous reviewers have improved this manuscript.
We thank Prof. Clayton Nielsen and Tamara Lazic for reviewing the English.
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Author contributions: LG planned the sampling. LG and MV performed field work and data entry, SA ran the analysis and wrote the first draft. All the authors have read the draft and have accepted responsibility for this manuscript and approved submission.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this article.
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Research ethics: The procedures employed during this study were in accordance with the national laws.
References
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© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Obituary
- François Catzeflis (1953–2021)
- Ecology
- Hunting and water scarcity affect habitat occupancy by peccaries (Tayassu pecari and Pecari tajacu) in Calakmul, Mexico
- Camera trapping arboreal mammals in Argentina’s Atlantic Forest
- Activity patterns and burrowing ecology of the giant pouched rat (Cricetomys emini) in Tshuapa Province, D. R. Congo
- Is resource partitioning between two sympatric species of Gracilinanus (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) related to trophic and spatial niches?
- Gone before it’s known? Camera-trapping shows alarming levels of putative hybrids in the wildcat (Felis silvestris) population of the Gargano National Park (Southern Italy)
- A note on bat faunal assessment in Karuna bat cave, Baglung, Nepal
- Long-distance dispersal of two species of shrews (Sorex caecutiens Laxmann, 1788 and Sorex minutus Linnaeus, 1766)
- Conservation
- A new threat for the rarest neotropical carnivore: the vulnerable Colombian weasel, Neogale felipei
- Evolutionary Biology
- Assessment of craniometric sexual dimorphism and ontogenetic variation in invasive Rattus norvegicus and R. rattus from urban and peri-urban areas of Gauteng Province, South Africa
- A geometric morphometric analysis of geographic variation in the Cape Short-eared gerbil, Desmodillus auricularis (Rodentia: Gerbillinae)
- Taxonomy/Phylogeny
- Cephalic shield morphology as species diagnostic trait and individual natural mark in three-banded armadillos (Tolypeutes; Cingulata: Chlamyphoridae)
- Annotations on the taxonomy of the opossums (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) of Honduras
- Clarifying the taxonomic status of Crocidura cantabra Cabrera, 1908 (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae: Crocidurinae)
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Obituary
- François Catzeflis (1953–2021)
- Ecology
- Hunting and water scarcity affect habitat occupancy by peccaries (Tayassu pecari and Pecari tajacu) in Calakmul, Mexico
- Camera trapping arboreal mammals in Argentina’s Atlantic Forest
- Activity patterns and burrowing ecology of the giant pouched rat (Cricetomys emini) in Tshuapa Province, D. R. Congo
- Is resource partitioning between two sympatric species of Gracilinanus (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) related to trophic and spatial niches?
- Gone before it’s known? Camera-trapping shows alarming levels of putative hybrids in the wildcat (Felis silvestris) population of the Gargano National Park (Southern Italy)
- A note on bat faunal assessment in Karuna bat cave, Baglung, Nepal
- Long-distance dispersal of two species of shrews (Sorex caecutiens Laxmann, 1788 and Sorex minutus Linnaeus, 1766)
- Conservation
- A new threat for the rarest neotropical carnivore: the vulnerable Colombian weasel, Neogale felipei
- Evolutionary Biology
- Assessment of craniometric sexual dimorphism and ontogenetic variation in invasive Rattus norvegicus and R. rattus from urban and peri-urban areas of Gauteng Province, South Africa
- A geometric morphometric analysis of geographic variation in the Cape Short-eared gerbil, Desmodillus auricularis (Rodentia: Gerbillinae)
- Taxonomy/Phylogeny
- Cephalic shield morphology as species diagnostic trait and individual natural mark in three-banded armadillos (Tolypeutes; Cingulata: Chlamyphoridae)
- Annotations on the taxonomy of the opossums (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) of Honduras
- Clarifying the taxonomic status of Crocidura cantabra Cabrera, 1908 (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae: Crocidurinae)