Volume 86, Issue 5

Eld’s deer ( Rucervus eldi ) was once widely distributed across Southeast Asia, however the species is now listed as Endangered, having suffered severe population declines and range contractions. Cambodia has been considered a strong hold for the Eld’s deer subspecies R. e. siamensis , however there is limited population data available for this species within Cambodia, making its status unclear. Here, we collated all records of Eld’s deer presence between 2000 and 2020 to provide an insight into the current status of the species in Cambodia. Data was sourced through literature review as well as the internal databases of conservation organisations and biodiversity surveys. Our findings reveal that very small, spatially isolated populations of Eld’s deer are now largely restricted to nine areas in the eastern and northern parts of the country and that urgent conservation action is required to secure the future of this species in Cambodia. Effective law enforcement and anti-hunting strategies, implementation of management plans within protected areas as well as investigation into the potential of captive populations to support the conservation of Eld’s deer in the wild are essential for preserving this species.

Variation in the foraging strategies of Sambar deer ( Rusa unicolor ) with changing plant availability has received little attention. The pellet group density and seasonal vegetation availability in tropical climatic conditions of dry deciduous forest of Pench Tiger Reserve, were assessed through indirect evidences (pellet group density). Stratified random sampling was used in different habitats from 2012 to 2015 on a seasonal basis. The Sambar deer ( R. unicolor ) is one of the largest deer species distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent. Pellet group data were collected on 10 m radius permanent plots at every 200 m intervals on line transects. Teak forest, teak mixed and bamboo forest was the preferred habitat during summer (89.87 ± 88.36), and winter (98.19 ± 94.59) seasons respectively. Microhistological study was conducted to understand the feeding preferences of Sambar through pellet groups. A total of 57 plant species were identified in summer diet. While 51 species of plants were identified in winter diet. Sambar is predominantly a browser and for the conservation of the declining population of Sambar, long undisturbed tract should be protected with preferred browse and grass species.

The giant muntjac Muntiacus vuquangensis is a Critically Endangered ungulate that was first described by science in the early 1990s. The species’ current known distribution extends along the Annamite Mountains in Laos and Vietnam. Here, we report the first confirmed record of the giant muntjac in Cambodia. We recorded a camera-trap photograph of a male giant muntjac in Virachey National Park in northeastern Cambodia. Our record likely represents an isolated population near the western edge of the species’ distribution, about 300 km from the closest confirmed populations.

This note reports the first sighting of the elusive and threatened Nilgiri marten in Wayanad district of Southern Western Ghats. All the previously known occurrences of Nilgiri marten in the Western Ghats, along with the addition of this new record, were marked on a map. This record highlights the need for further studies on this population’s status and behavior, as well as to understand whether any coexistence or conflicts occur with local people, thereby examining underlying threats to the population in the Wayanad region.

Ungulates have undergone major declines in Central and West African forests as a result of bushmeat trade and habitat loss. Monitoring forest ungulate status is a critical conservation need. We undertook a systematic camera-trap survey of the 5260 km 2 Dja Faunal Reserve, Cameroon’s largest protected area. We deployed cameras at 305 sites in eight grids across the reserve over 28,277 camera-trap days. We recorded 30,601 independent detections of 12 species of forest ungulate. The blue and Peters’ duikers were the most abundant, accounting for 82% of all ungulate detections, both with occupancy >85% in all survey grids. The black-fronted duiker was relatively widespread but rare. The white-bellied duiker and water chevrotain were found mostly in the southern part of the reserve. There were very few detections of sitatunga, forest buffalo and bongo. Our results suggest ecological partitioning among the more abundant duikers based on activity pattern and body size. The reserve faces many pressures including illegal subsistence and commercial hunting. Community surveillance and partnerships, with improved law enforcement are among measures being implemented by the Cameroon government to enhance security and ensure retention of the reserve’s World Heritage status.

The high rate of destruction of natural habitats has diminished fragments size, which negatively impacts small mammal community species richness and composition. We investigated the abundance of small non-flying mammal species in association with three landscape metrics: the size of the fragment (AREA); the shape index of the fragment (SHAPE); and the size of the central area of the fragment (CORE) in six forest fragments in a highly fragmented landscape of southern Brazil. Three rodent species ( Akodon montensis , Oligoryzomys nigripes , Sooretamys angouya ) and one marsupial species ( Gracilinanus microtarsus ) were captured in total. We used generalized linear models to test the influence of the landscape metrics on the abundance of the three most abundant species of small mammals captured ( A. montensis , O. nigripes and S. angouya ). Among the three species analyzed, A. montensis presented a significant negative association with the metric CORE; O. nigripes and S. angouya presented a positive association with the metric AREA and negative with the metric CORE. The negative association of A. montensis , O. nigripes and S. angouya with the core area of the fragments, and the absence of association of all species with the shape of the fragments indicate that these species might benefit from the effects of habitat fragmentation.

This is the first study to record cases of predation and scavenging of the family Agamidae and related foraging behaviour within a social group of Macaca sinica (the toque macaque). We observed three incidences of the capture and consumption of two species, Calotes liolepis and, Calotes versicolor , and one case of scavenging of a carcass of C . liolepis . While common for macaques, this behaviour has been under-reported in M. sinica . Further studies of predation and scavenging behaviour in a cercopithecine species contribute to our understanding of hunting and its evolution in other primate taxa.

The wrinkled-faced bat ( Centurio senex ) is an enigmatic species widely distributed in Mesoamerica. Besides its wide distribution it is considered rare in almost the entire range and little is known about its life history. We provide notes and discuss on the natural history of the species and performed a distribution model and an elevation profile in order to understand the distribution patterns in Northern Central America. We found that C. senex inhabits ecosystems from lowlands to 1943 m, with higher probability of occurrence in the Pacific region and the mountains of Guatemala in which seasonal precipitation regimes predominates.

The movement of individuals between roosts allows gene flow and influences the spatial distribution, dynamics, and genetic structure of populations. The objectives of this study were to describe the patterns of movement of the bats Mormoops megalophylla , Pteronotus fulvus, and Pteronotus mesoamericanus, between a mine (La Mina) and two caves (El Apanguito and Cerro Huatulco) and explore some drivers for the movements in Oaxaca, México using capture-recapture methods. From July 2016 to June 2017, we captured 5082 individuals (2369 P. fulvus , 1868 P. mesoamericanus, and 845 M. megalophylla) . We obtained 292 recaptures, including 57 recaptures represented inter-roost movements (34 by P. fulvus , 18 by P. mesoamericanus, and 5 by M. megalophylla ). Brownie’s Multistate model showed that the movements among roosts were species-specific and were determined only by the roost occupied before capture for P. mesoamericanus , by the roosts used before and after capture for P. fulvus , or only by seasonality for M. megalophylla . The results showed that the reproductive condition could have influenced the movements between roosts in the three mormoopids, mainly due to the formation of maternity colonies of P. mesoamericanus and P. fulvus in the El Apanguito cave and exclusive colonies of M. megalophylla males in Cerro Huatulco. Due to the importance of the reproductive events that occur in the roosts studied, we suggest that the three roosts should be considered as part of the group of Important Sites for the Conservation of Bats in the state of Oaxaca.

In order to prioritize the conservation and management efforts to protect jaguars ( Panthera onca) , it is of utmost importance to determine their tolerance in face of human disturbances, habitat modifications and varying degrees of prey availability. We assessed the occupancy probability of jaguars and five of their most common prey species throughout a heterogeneous landscape in the Selva Maya in southern Mexico: armadillo ( Dasypus novemcinctus ), coati ( Nasua narica ), paca ( Cuniculus paca ), white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), and collared peccary ( Dicotyles tajacu ). Additionally, we projected prey and Jaguar occupancies onto a 5993 km 2 landscape based on the habitat type in the area. We averaged the best prey models ranked by QAICc and found that white-tailed deer had the highest average occupancy probability of 0.72 ± 0.06 and paca the lowest with 0.14 ± 0.04. The average occupancy probability for jaguars was 0.35 ± 0.07 and the strongest predictor of jaguar occupancy was a positive effect of collared peccary occupancy. These findings support previous studies that show that predator distribution is largely influenced by their prey availability, even in the midst of degraded habitats, and underlies the essential need to incorporate protection plans for prey species in jaguar conservation strategies.

Predation is an important process involved in the natural selection and evolution of animals, but is challenging to observe naturally. In this note we report predation events of two arboreal mammal species, the Indian giant flying squirrel, Petaurista philippensis and the Travancore flying squirrel, Petinomys fuscocapillus from the Western Ghats, India. Three raptor species and one carnivore species were observed predating on these species which are also the first reports of their predation on these flying squirrels.

Despite being one of the most common congenital hand abnormalities in humans, polydactyly remains extremely rare in bats. To date, it has been observed only in two insectivorous families in North America (Molossidae and Vespertilionidae) and a single case for the New World fruit bats (Phyllostomidae). We report the first case of polydactyly in a European bat – a Myotis daubentonii (Vespertilionidae), with eight toes. The bat was found alive, hibernating in the Natura 2000 site (PLH080003 “Nietoperek”) in Poland.

Understanding species distribution to target biodiversity conservation actions in countries with high biodiversity, scarce data availability and low study sites accessibility is very challenging. These issues limit management and conservation actions even on charismatic and potentially conflictive species like large carnivores. We developed a geographic assessment of the potential distribution, core patches and connectivity areas for Puma concolor in the Colombian Llanos (Orinoco region). To create this geographic representation, we used methodological approaches that work with scarce information and still provide a spatially-explicit distribution that could be used by stakeholders. Our results show the importance that the Llanos region has for the conservation of the species and the potential role that can have to ensure a resident long-term population. Based on our approach, more than 50,000 km 2 (near to 30% of the study area) can be still considered as core habitats for the species, and most of them are still connected, with spatial gaps lower than the estimated dispersal distance of the species and several remaining steppingstones. Further research is required to validate our analysis and we expect our results can target research and conservation priorities within the region.

We report the first photographic evidence of sambar ( Rusa unicolor) from Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining area of East Sikkim during April-May 2019. A total of twenty-five photographs of sambar were captured by our camera traps placed at two locations with elevations 2137 m and 2655 m asl. Furthermore, photographic capture of sambar through our study and tiger by officials of the Sikkim forest department from the same locality indicates the availability of good quality habitat for sambar as well as tiger. The present study opens up new avenues for further population monitoring and protecting habitats in and around the Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary, East Sikkim.

We captured a male individual of Coelops frithii during a cave survey in the Makawanpur District of central Nepal on March 3, 2021. A colony with 15 individuals of this species was found roosting in a narrow and moist cavity of the Sarasawati cave situated in Raksirang Rural Municipality. The species was identified by its small size and characteristic funnel shaped ears with large antitragus at the base of posterior end of ear pinna and externally invisible and nodular tail. This is the first record of the genus Coelops for Nepal and western most record of the species.

Bat migrations have been studied for a long time, but large areas remain poorly explored in this regard. This note reports a record migration distance of the Nathusius’ pipistrelle – 2486 km from Russia to the French Alps. This distance exceeds the previous record flight from Latvia to Spain by 260 km. Hibernating colonies of Nathusius’ pipistrelle are known in the Caucasus. However, our data show that Nathusius’ pipistrelle can fly much longer for hibernating.

The Ctenomys population from Anillaco, La Rioja Province, Argentina has been the subject of detailed studies of circadian rhythms, vocalization, ecology and spatial dynamics. However, the taxonomy and systematics of this population as well as populations of Ctenomys inhabiting Andean areas of this province is unknown. In this study, we present the phylogenetic relationship of the “Anillaco tuco-tuco” as well as of two other populations of Ctenomys , all distributed in the northern portion of La Rioja Province, Argentina. Based on molecular analyses and morphological comparisons, we reached to the conclusion that the “Anillaco tuco-tuco” population corresponds to the species Ctenomys famosus . In addition, an undescribed species, member of the “ mendocinus ” lineage of Ctenomys , is recognized in the Andean portions of the province.

A new substitute name for Rhinolophus monticolus Soisook, Karapan, Srikrachang, Dejtaradol, Nualcharoen, Bumrungsri, Oo, Aung, Bates, Harutyunan, Bús and Bogdanowicz, 2016, preoccupied by the taxon R. monticola K. Andersen, 1905, is here provided.