Explore the vast range of titles available.

Pallas' cat [Otocolobus (Felis) manul] experiences a high mortality rate from toxoplasmosis. During the period 2006–2016, the overall mortality rate for this species from all causes during the first year of life was 71.59% in European Association of Zoos and Aquaria institutions, with the most significant infectious cause from systemic toxoplasmosis (20.6%) as confirmed by postmortem examination and histopathology. Clindamycin was used starting in 2014 in two collections that had previously experienced 100% mortality rates by toxoplasmosis in kittens less than one year of age, covering key Toxoplasma gondii exposure periods for kittens (n = 17) as a prophylactic measure. This protocol resulted in a 67.03% (95% confidence interval 41.76–78.61%) reduction in the first year mortality rate over a two-year period to 5.88% in those animals treated.

Manuls or Pallas' cats (Felis manul, syn. Otocolobus manul) are endangered wild cats from Central Asia kept and bred in many zoos. Despite good breeding success young cats frequently die from acute toxoplasmosis. From 1998 to 2002, a breeding pair in the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria, gave birth to 24 kittens; 58% of kittens died between the 2nd and the 14th week of life, mostly due to acute toxoplasmosis. The epidemiology of toxoplasmosis in Pallas' cats was examined and a control strategy to protect the kittens from fatal toxoplasmosis was developed. One 12-week-old kitten from a litter of 6 born in 2001 died of generalized toxoplasmosis. This kitten had shed T. gondii oocysts that were bioassayed in mice. Toxoplasma gondii was isolated in tissue culture inoculated with tissues of these mice. The surviving animals were immediately treated with clindamycin for 16 weeks; they acquired a natural infection and seroconverted by the end of this time without clinical signs.

ContextHabitat loss and fragmentation are main drivers of biodiversity loss and are occurring at an accelerating rate globally. Carnivores are often subject to persecution and conflict with humans, typically reside in low densities and require large areas for core habitat and dispersal, which makes them especially vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation.ObjectivesThis paper identifies, maps and analyses habitat core areas and connectivity linkages for three mountain-residing carnivore species of high conservation importance in Iran: Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) and Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul).MethodsWe used ensemble habitat suitability modeling, and compared the accuracy of ensemble models with seven separate models based on AUC and TSS. We applied resistant kernel and factorial least-cost path analyses to identify population core areas and corridors across the full distributions of the three species in Iran.ResultsMean annual temperature, vegetation greenness (NDVI), and slope were among the most important predictor variables for all three species. We found ensemble modeling outcompeted all single-method models in terms of AUC. We found low overlap between predicted corridor locations of our modeled species with Protected Areas.ConclusionsGiven the fragmented populations of our studied species in Iran, conserving them will require integrated landscape-level management to protect corridors and enhance connectivity, especially outside of Protected Areas. Optimized landscape management to conserve these species will likely promote conservation of montane landscapes and their inhabitants in Iran.

In the Indian Trans-Himalaya, Pallas’s cat Otocolobus manul is reported exclusively from Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim. In Ladakh, it has been reported primarily from the south-east, with no prior evidence of its occurrence in the north. In this study, we documented the first record of Pallas’s cat in the Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuary in the Nubra Valley, northern Ladakh. We identified the species based on the non-invasive genetic analysis of a morphologically ambiguous scat sample collected during a study on dietary patterns of sympatric carnivores. DNA-based species identification confirmed the presence of Pallas’s cat. We also identified prey remains, of pika Ochotona spp. and Himalayan marmot Marmota himalayana , in the scat. Our record extends the known range of Pallas’s cat into northern Ladakh and adds a new mammal species to the documented fauna of the Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuary. We recommend a comprehensive assessment of distribution, population, diet, habitat and potential threats to this elusive species to ensure its long-term survival in this landscape.

Understanding of predator feeding ecology, interactions among co-occurring predator species, and seasonal changes is critical for conservation management given the important role that predators play in shaping their ecosystems, but is lacking for most regions of the world. Dietary studies have demonstrated varying conclusions in the role that resource partitioning plays in the maintenance of predator communities due to complex inter-related factors that may shape prey use. We used DNA metabarcoding on 581 scat samples to determine the dietary composition, similarity, diversity, and niche overlap of eight predator species (Tibetan wolf ( Canis lupus ), snow leopard ( Panthera uncia ), Tibetan brown bear ( Ursus arctos pruinosus ), Eurasian lynx ( Lynx lynx ), Tibetan fox ( Vulpes ferrilata ), red fox ( V . vulpes ), Pallas’s cat ( Otocolobus manul ), and beech marten ( Martes foina )) across four sampling periods (September 2019, December 2019, March 2020, July 2020) in the Gouli Nature Reserve located in Dulan County, Qinghai Province, China. We identified 26 unique prey items, with blue sheep ( Pseudois nayaur ) and pika ( Ochotona spp.) being most common. Small mammals had the highest frequency of occurrence, while domestic and wild ungulates contributed the most biomass. No significant differences in diet were detected across months, with the exception of March and December for the red fox ( p = 0.010). Dietary niche overlap was greater than expected when considering all species ( p < 0.001) across seasons and between the Tibetan wolf and snow leopard in March ( p = 0.007) when compared for species pairs by season. This study contributes to understanding of fine-scale temporal changes in predator diet, and offers methodological and management strategies that may have applicability to other predator guilds living in complex landscapes.

The comparative analysis of the feeding ecology among sympatric small carnivores reveals both differentiation and overlap in resource utilization patterns, which serves as a critical pathway for understanding interspecific interactions and maintaining ecosystem stability. In this study, we collected fecal samples from sympatric Pallas’s cats (Otocolobus manul, n = 26) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes, n = 13) within the Sanjiangyuan National Park (SNP) in China. Subsequently, DNA barcoding technology was employed to analyze the dietary composition and interspecific differences of these two small carnivores. The results demonstrated that both species primarily prey on plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) and small rodents. Despite a high trophic niche overlap between Pallas’s cats and red foxes (Ojk = 0.81), interspecific competition is mitigated through differentiate feeding proportions of shared prey species. Furthermore, the trophic niche breadth of red foxes (B = 267.89) exceeds that of Pallas’s cats (B = 162.94), reflecting a greater diversity of prey resources utilized by red foxes. Consequently, the two small carnivores achieve sympatric coexistence via differentiated resource utilization. These findings enhance our understanding of the coexistence mechanisms within carnivore communities and provide a scientific basis for the conservation of wildlife in the SNP.

Free-ranging domestic dogs Canis familiaris threaten wildlife species through predation, hybridization, competition for resources, and by contributing to the transmission of pathogens. The impacts of predation may be problematic, but in many regions the interactions of free-ranging dogs and wildlife are poorly studied. To determine the extent of the impacts of attacks by free-ranging dogs on Iranian mammals, we reviewed nearly 2 decades of social and traditional media reports and the scientific literature to gather data from across the country. We identified 160 free-ranging dog attacks (79 from academic articles, 14 from social media, and 67 from a variety of news websites) from 22 of the country's 31 provinces. Attacks by dogs were reported on 17 species, including nine Carnivora, six Artiodactyla, one Rodentia, and one Lagomorpha species. Most of the reported attacks on carnivores were on felids, including the Asiatic cheetah Acinonyx jubatus (n = 19), Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx (n = 18), caracal Caracal caracal (n = 10) and Pallas's cat Otocolobus manul (n = 8). Attacks on Artiodactyla were primarily reported for goitered gazelle Gazella subgutturosa (n = 47). Most of these attacks occurred within or adjacent to protected areas (n = 116, 73%), suggesting that free-ranging dogs are one of the most important human-associated threats to wildlife species even in protected landscapes. The impact of free-ranging dogs may be hampering conservation, and therefore we suggest some practical policy guidance for managing the impacts of free-ranging dogs on threatened species.

Biased research and conservation efforts result in some faunal groups (e.g., small felids) being understudied, and hence these groups are often declining without adequate knowledge to manage for threat reduction. The Pallas's cat (Otocolobus manul) occurs across central and western Asia with declining populations and the largest population is likely in Mongolia. A potential threat to this felid is livestock encroachment across its range, including within protected areas, yet we lack a clear understanding of the impact of livestock husbandry on this cat. We used motion-sensitive camera data from 216 sites in 4 study areas in western Mongolia to study the occurrence probability of Pallas's cat in relation to habitat characteristics and occurrence of livestock, and conducted a local assessment within a strictly protected area where we obtained the highest number of detections. We estimated a relatively low occupancy (0.33 ± 0.10), which is associated with sites with natural vegetation, steeper slopes, and greater prey abundance. Occupancy also increased with increasing livestock occurrence, particularly large herds of sheep and goats. Such co-occurrence was partially adjusted by diel activity segregation, presumably to limit direct encounters. Our results suggest that the preferred habitat by Pallas's cat in the study region coincides with areas encroached by livestock. The Pallas's cat's habitat is specialized and its dependence on areas that are increasingly used for grazing may eventually threaten the cat with habitat degradation, prey depletion, predation by dogs, and poisoning from pest control. Relevant conservation actions should regulate livestock encroachment within protected areas and improve grazing regimes. The Pallas's cat is an indicator species of mountainous and steppe ecosystems in central Asia; hence, further research towards the preservation of its populations would also benefit other key species across its range.

Abstract Pallas's cat, or the manul cat (Otocolobus manul), is a small felid native to the grasslands and steppes of central Asia. Population strongholds in Mongolia and China face growing challenges from climate change, habitat fragmentation, poaching, and other sources. These threats, combined with O. manul’s zoo collection popularity and value in evolutionary biology, necessitate improvement of species genomic resources. We used standalone nanopore sequencing to assemble a 2.5 Gb, 61-contig nuclear assembly and 17097 bp mitogenome for O. manul. The primary nuclear assembly had 56× sequencing coverage, a contig N50 of 118 Mb, and a 94.7% BUSCO completeness score for Carnivora-specific genes. High genome collinearity within Felidae permitted alignment-based scaffolding onto the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) reference genome. Manul contigs spanned all 19 felid chromosomes with an inferred total gap length of less than 400 kilobases. Modified basecalling and variant phasing produced an alternate pseudohaplotype assembly and allele-specific DNA methylation calls; 61 differentially methylated regions were identified between haplotypes. Nearest features included classical imprinted genes, non-coding RNAs, and putative novel imprinted loci. The assembled mitogenome successfully resolved existing discordance between Felinae nuclear and mtDNA phylogenies. All assembly drafts were generated from 158 Gb of sequence using seven minION flow cells.

Otocolobus manul (Pallas, 1776) is a small, solitary, terrestrial felid commonly called the Manul and is the sole species of its genus. It occurs in Afghanistan, Armenia, Bhutan, China, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, and Turkmenistan. Otocolobus manul might still occur in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan but might be extinct in Azerbaijan. As assessed in 2020, O. manul is listed as “Least Concern” (LC) on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of Threatened Species, with an estimate of 58,000 adults, although the population might be decreasing.