Search

Gathering knowledge on the breeding ecology of species in wild-living conditions is critical to set baselines from which to analyse population trends and design appropriate conservation actions. This is particularly challenging when studying elusive animals like carnivores, as breeding events are difficult to detect and monitor. Based on direct sightings of wildcats, we provide the first scientific information on the breeding ecology in wild conditions of European wildcats as well as hunting success and provisioning rates of female wildcats. Mean litter size at weaning was two with most observations occurring between July and September. Auxiliary dens were mostly located inside thick vegetation in the proximities of pastoral fields, although anthropogenic constructions were occasionally used. Two cases of different female wildcats rearing their respective litters closer than 500 m were recorded. Hunting success of breeding females (66%) was higher than that of non-breeding females (33%) and males (40%). Breeding females provided around 80% of the captured prey to their kittens. In conclusion, direct observations of wild-living wildcats in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain) allowed us to find that anthropogenic mosaic-structured landscapes combining open pastoral fields providing prey, and areas with thick vegetation such as shrub and forest patches providing shelter, encompass conditions required by the wildcats to successfully breed in human-dominated environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carrion production is one of the most crucial yet neglected and understudied processes in food webs and ecosystems. In this study, we performed a large-scale estimation of the maximum potential production and spatial distribution of ungulate carrion biomass from five major sources in peninsular Spain, both anthropogenic (livestock, big game hunting, roadkills) and natural (predation, natural mortality). Using standardized ungulate carrion biomass (kg/year/100km2) estimates, we evaluated the relationship between ungulate carrion production and two ecosystem-level factors: global human modification (GHM) and primary productivity (NDVI). We found that anthropogenic carrion sources supplied about 60 times more ungulate carrion biomass than natural sources (mean = 90,172 vs. 1533 kg/year/100km2, respectively). Within anthropogenic carrion sources, livestock was by far the major carrion provider (91.1% of the annual production), followed by big game hunting (7.86%) and roadkills (0.05%). Within natural carrion sources, predation of ungulates provided more carrion (0.81%) than natural mortality (0.13%). Likewise, we found that the spatial distribution of carrion differed among carrion sources, with anthropogenic carrion being more aggregated in space than natural carrion. Our models showed that GHM was positively related to carrion production from livestock and roadkills, and that wild ungulate carrion supplied by natural sources and big game hunting was more frequently generated in more productive areas (higher NDVI). These findings indicate a disconnection between the main ungulate carrion source (livestock) and primary productivity. Ongoing socio-economic changes in developed countries (for example increase of intensive livestock husbandry and rewilding processes) could lead to additional alteration of carrion production processes, with potential negative impacts at the community and ecosystem levels. Overall, we highlight that carrion biomass quantification should be considered a crucial tool in evaluating ecosystem health and delineating efficient ecosystem management guidelines in the Anthropocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rather limited human ability to understand animal vision and visual signalling has frequently clouded our expectations concerning the visual abilities of other animals. But there are multiple reasons to suspect that visual signalling is more widely employed by animals than previously thought. Because visibility of visual marks depends on the background in which they are seen, species spending most of their time living in dark conditions (e.g., in forests and/or having crepuscular and nocturnal habits) may rely on bright signals to enhance visual display. Here, as a result of experimental manipulations, we present, for the first time ever, evidence supporting the use of a new channel of intraspecific communication by a mammal species, i.e., brown bear Ursus arctos adult males relying on visual marks during mating. Bear reactions to our manipulation suggest that visual signalling could represent a widely overlooked mechanism in mammal communication, which may be more broadly employed than was previously thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Felids and canids coexist along their ranges worldwide. Various interactions can occur between these carnivores, with multiple consequences such as demographic changes of competitors, or behavioural modifications in the use of the spatial, temporal or trophic niches. European wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) coexist across Europe using multi-use landscapes when hunting rodents. They commonly use open fields during the day in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain). We collected 597 diurnal phenotypic wildcat observations between 2012 and 2019, during which we observed 14 encounters (2.34%) of wildcats and foxes. We compiled 11 more encounters from collaborators. Diurnal encounters between both species seem to be rare, which could result from the two species displaying active avoidance. During the encounters, foxes mainly showed offensive behaviours whereas wildcats showed a defensive intimidation strategy, probably in relation to their morphology. Both strategies were equally effective for maintaining the position in feeding grounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]