Wild Felid Monitor Winter 2012 16 Perspectives A scertaining the true status of many small felids in the wild remains an elusive goal. Many of these animals are prisoners of the “too little research attention/ too few funding programs available” paradox; their basic natural history characteristics are anyone’s guess. here are eight species of small Neotropical felids and, as a conservation biologist working on jaguars, I frequently ind myself pondering ecological questions relating to them. Across my study areas no less than three and as many as six felid species occur sympatrically and, aside from the jaguarundi, all are part of the same adaptive radiation (Leopardus). Despite the common evolutionary history and hauntingly glaring research questions their sympatry present, much of what is now known about several species has come to light only incidentally. For example, methods targeting jaguars and other “charismatic” species or employed as part of general forest surveys often yield rudimentary information on small felid presence, habitat, and distribution. However, due to limitations on researcher time or that of a study design not adequately suited to further analysis on small cats this information is rarely published. Still, much of what we have learned in the past 15 years or so is not good news. Like jaguar populations, many small felids appear to be on the decline and some are even worse of than their larger relative. Consider the oncilla, or little-spotted cat (L. tigrinus), perhaps the most obscure and non-distinctive of the small Neotropical felids. I. If the oncilla was a person it would surely have an inferior- ity complex by now. hough it has a shorter tail than the margay (L. wiedii), it looks surprisingly like this species and is commonly mistaken as such. hus, even reports of its presence at a local level are not entirely reliable. Even local indigenous peoples do not always appear to use a unique name to distinguish the oncilla from other small cats like margays and Geofroy’s cats (L. geofroyi). What little is known about it suggests it is not a habitat or dietary specialist. And yet, the oncilla appears to be disappearing right under our noses. Perhaps because of its seemingly wide distribution or its gener- alist niche, nothing about the oncilla initially appeared to warrant conservation attention. Now subject to threats on several diferent fronts, this perspective is changing. And if more efort isn’t made to understand the complexity of those threats, the oncilla soon might rival the Andean mountain cat (L. jacobita) for the undigniied title of most endangered felid in the Americas. One of the most urgent threats appears to be our own ig- norance. Despite its wide distribution, we are now learning that the oncilla’s occurrence on the landscape appears to be highly localized and discontinuous. For instance, despite ongoing research in the following areas, it has not been conirmed from the Columbian Llanos, the Darien Gap of Southern Panama, the Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina, and several parts of Brazil. Moreover, nowhere does it appear to be common, as known density estimates from parts of its range are inexplicably low for such a small felid (1-5 / 100 km 2 ). An extreme example of this is the Amazon basin, where prior camera-trapping eforts suggest a density of one cat per 10,000 km 2 . It is possible that deep rainforest is not suitable habitat for the oncilla, though this is mere speculation on my part. hey have been found in virtually all habitat types across their range, from dry deciduous and scrub-thorn forest, to gallery forest and cerrado, to endangered Atlantic Forest fragments. hey have even been found in secondary, degraded forest near human settlements. Even so, their diferential occurrence across the landscape may not be a complete mystery. One possible factor inluencing suitable oncilla habitat is in- terference competition by ocelots. hough more research is needed along these and other lines, the presence and density of ocelots as a direct or competitive threat may in fact be among the more important determinants of oncilla occupancy. In a few isolated areas where ocelots occurred at lower densities or were not present at all, oncilla density was estimated to be upwards of four to ive times higher (5-20 / 100 km 2 ). Genetic introgression and hybridization with close relatives is another potentially serious though more subtle threat. Oncillas have been conirmed as interbreeding with both Geofroy’s cats and Pampas cats (L. colocolo) in parts of their range, and the causes for this are not fully understood. Low density of conspeciics af- fecting the availability of suitable mates may have played a role, though again this is speculative. As for speculation on a larger scale, it is possible that both heterogeneity in habitat as well as diferences in carnivore assem- blages caused by habitat fragmentation could play a role in helping to maintain oncillas across a tropical mosaic landscape. Across contiguous habitat, post-Pleistocene conditions may be such that interactions with ocelots lead to naturally low oncilla densities and interference competition hotspots. Across regions sufering from development and conversion however, fragmentation may be fur- ther exacerbating competition with ocelots through the disruption of entire Neotropical felid assemblages, greater top-down pressure, and deterioration of reproductive isolation with congenerics. Hy- pothetically however, while fragments large enough to maintain ocelots may be poorly suited for oncillas, smaller protected and unprotected forest areas devoid of ocelots could be part of the solution. Much more research is needed on the ecological role of oncillas in the context of varying felid assemblages before making such conclusions, but over the next few years, I’m hoping to do my part in helping to clarify these relationships. § The oncilla: a new conservation perspective Anthony J. Giordano, M.S., Ph.D. Student & Graduate Fellow, Dept. of Natural Resource Mgmt, Texas Tech Univ, species1@hotmail.com Perhaps because of its seemingly wide distribution or its generalist niche, noth- ing about the oncilla initially appeared to warrant conservation attention. Now subject to threats on several diferent fronts, this perspective is changing.