Oryx Vol 40 No 1 January 2006 © 2006 FFI, Oryx, 40(1), 1–6 doi:10.1017/S0030605306000147 Printed in the United Kingdom 1 The diversity and activity patterns of wild felids in a secondary forest in Peninsular Malaysia J. Mohd. Azlan and Dionysius S.K. Sharma these relatively secretive mammals. The most frequently photographed species was tiger (38.5% of records) fol- lowed by leopard (26.3%) and leopard cat (21.9%). The presence of charismatic flagship species such as tiger in this unprotected lowland dipterocarp secondary forest will be of help to local conservation organizations and the Wildlife Department in any proposals for the protection of these areas. Keywords Camera trapping, Catopuma, disturbed forest, Malaysia, Neofelis, oil palm estate, Panthera, Pardofelis, Prionailurus. J. Mohd. Azlan (Corresponding author) Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, University Sarawak Malaysia, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia. E-mail amazlan@frst.unimas.my Dionysius S.K. Sharma WWF Malaysia, 49, Jalan SS23/15, Taman SEA, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. Received 21 April 2004. Revision requested 9 September 2004. Accepted 7 March 2005. Abstact A study to describe the diversity of wild felids was carried out in Jerangau Forest Reserve, Ulu Tereng- ganu, Malaysia, using camera traps, over a period of 21 months. A total of 24 camera traps were used, with a total of 5,972 trap days. Six species of wild cats in five genera were recorded: tiger Panthera tigris, leopard Panthera pardus, clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa, leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis, golden cat Catopuma temminckii and marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata. This represents all but two of the felid species known to occur in Peninsular Malaysia. The use of camera traps provided detailed information on the occurrence and activity patterns of Introduction Peninsular Malaysia contains 72% of the wild cat diver- sity of tropical Asia, with seven species in five genera: tiger Panthera tigris, leopard Panthera pardus and clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa, the smaller leopard cat Prion- ailurus bengalensis, flat-headed cat Prionailurus planiceps and marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata, and the interme- diate sized golden cat Catopuma temmincki (Medway, 1983; Lim, 1999, 2002). A further species, the fishing cat Prionailurus viverrinus, is considered rare in Peninsular Malaysia (Nowell & Jackson, 1996) and the only potential recent record is from Taman Negara National Park (Kawanishi & Sunquist, 2003). Although these seven species occur throughout Peninsular Malaysia (Medway, 1983; Lim, 1999), their abundance and local diversity has been little studied in this region due to their cryptic behaviour and the shortage of resources and expertise for research. Most research has concerned tigers (Ellagupillay, 1984; Khan, 1987; Topani, 1990; Jasmi, 1998; Kawanishi, 2002). These felid species, except for the fishing cat, are listed under schedule one of the Protection of Wildlife Act 1972, under which hunting and trade are prohibited. However, under certain circumstances of conflict, indi- vidual animals can be eradicated and the action reported to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks under section 55 of the Wildlife Act 1972. Tiger is categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2004), and clouded leopard, flat-headed, marbled, golden and fishing cats as Vulnerable. Approximately 45% of the total land area of Peninsular Malaysia is covered by forest, including selectively logged and otherwise secondary forest. However, only 1.6 million ha, c. 20% of the forested area, is designated as protection forest. Currently, Peninsular Malaysia has 0.74 million ha of national parks and other wildlife con- servation areas (Anon, 2000). With the rapid destruction of natural habitats (Jackson, 1983) it is important to docu- ment the presence, diversity and distribution of felids in the various forest patches to facilitate monitoring and conservation programmes and to focus management efforts. A camera trapping programme to determine the relative abundance of tigers and potential prey species in Peninsular Malaysia (Mohd. Azlan & Sharma, 2001) provided extensive data on the occurrence of other felid species. Using this data our aim is to discuss the diversity, relative abundance and activity patterns of felids and to provide baseline data to facilitate the conservation of these species in secondary forest in Peninsular Malaysia. Study Area The study was conducted in Jerangau Forest Reserve (140,000 ha; 4°55.5’N, 103°5.7’E), which surrounds ORY75550.pmd 28/11/2005, 15:36 1