Cats in farms: Ranging behavior of fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) in a human-dominated landscape

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4261765/v1

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Cats in farms: Ranging behavior of fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) in a human-dominated landscape

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4261765/v1

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Home range studies provide valuable insights into animal ecology and behavior, informing conservation efforts and management strategies. Although fishing cat is globally threatened habitat specialist, only a few studies have been conducted on their home ranges and social organization, and how those respond to human influence. In the first study of its kind in Nepal, we tracked 11 fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) with satellite GPS collars to investigate their home range size and habitat use in and around Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve. Altogether 2,303 locations were obtained from 11 collared cats. The Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) and Autocorrelation-informed Kernel Density Estimation (AKDE) were used to estimate the fishing cats’ home range sizes. The average home ranges of fishing cats (n = 8) with 95% MCP and 95% AKDE were 29.12 ± SD 16.89 km² and 39.88 ± 26.16 km² respectively. Home range (95% AKDE) of adult females (21.72 km², 5– 44 km²) was significantly smaller compared to the males (58.03 km², 35.99–85.02 km²). Sex-specific social organization with a single male overlapping with multiple non-overlapping adult females was consistent with other carnivore home range behaviors. Habitat selection by fishing cats using Ivlev’s electivity index showed fishing cats’ preference towards undisturbed wetlands. A large part of the fishing cat home range is situated in human-dominated areas such as fish ponds, agriculture, and settlements, but there are various threats to fishing cats including persecution, road kills and guard dogs attacks. To ensure long-term survival of these cats amid habitat alteration and human-wildlife conflict, we recommend fishing cat conservation activities focusing on raising awareness especially in human-dominated landscapes.

Animal Science

Fishing cat

Habitat use

Home range

Human-dominated landscape

Wetland

The spatial analysis of home ranges and habitat use are key ecological parameters to understand the wildlife use of the landscape. In increasingly fragmented natural habitats, this information is necessary to identify areas that are important for their survival and design effective conservation plans, especially for cryptic carnivores (Gehring and Swihart, 2003; Nisi et al., 2023). The space requirements of a species also depends on various factors, including body size (Gittleman and Harvey, 1982), availability of prey species, population density, sex, and human disturbances (Duncan et al., 2015). Home range studies can also help to identify potential conflicts between carnivores and humans, such as predation on livestock or nuisance behavior, and information on home ranges can inform management strategies to mitigate these conflicts (Gehrt et al., 2009; Cutter, 2015). Through advanced technologies such as satellite-enabled GPS collars, high-resolution data on space use patterns of species can be accurately obtained. However, the use of satellite collars is limited for less charismatic species like fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) (Mukherjee et al., 2016; Ratnayaka et al., 2021).

Fishing cats are globally ‘Vulnerable’ with patchy distribution associated with wetlands in South and South-East Asia (Mukherjee et al., 2016). They are known to have variable home ranges, depending on habitat and food availability (Sunquist and Sunquist, 2002; Cutter, 2015; Ratnayaka et al., 2021).

Most studies on fishing cats focus on population status, and shows that their population is patchily distributed and is decreasing throughout the range (Mukherjee et al., 2016). A better understanding of space use and ranging behavior of fishing cat is not well-understood, yet is critical for conservation management of this threatened species.

A large population of fishing cats is present in a human-dominated landscape outside protected areas (PAs) in its range countries like India, Bangladesh, and Nepal (Chowdhury et al., 2015; Kolipaka et al., 2019; Mishra et al., 2022). There are a few published studies in Nepal that estimate the fishing cat population size and assess their distribution and threats (Mishra et al., 2018, 2021, 2022). Scientific information on fishing cats’ movement, activity pattern, and home range in relation to habitat type used by fishing cats is scarce for Nepal, and is mainly based on field-based VHF radio tracking (Sunquist and Sunquist, 2002). More advanced GPS-enabled satellite collars that allow regular, long-term tracking throughout the device lifetime have never before been used to monitor fishing cats in Nepal.

The objectives of this study are: (1) to understand how fishing cats use their natural habitat inside the reserve and the surrounding human-dominated landscape; and (2) to understand their home range size and overlap. To implement these objectives, we evaluated the habitat use and ranging behavior of the fishing cat in a human-dominated landscape using satellite GPS collar data, the first study of its kind in Nepal.

Study Area

This study was carried out in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and its periphery in South-eastern Nepal (Fig. 1). The Reserve was established in 1976 with an area of 175 km² along the floodplain of Koshi River, one of the tributaries of Ganges River. An additional 173 km² area adjoining the Reserve was declared as Buffer Zone in 2004. The Koshi River flows through the Reserve, separating the habitats into two parts. Koshi is a Ramsar site and harbors many threatened species including wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee), Gangetic river dolphin (Platanista gangetica), smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata), swamp francolin (Ortygornis gularis), and Bengal florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis). While tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) have been locally extinct in the reserve for a few decades, the leopard (Panthera pardus) was recently reported in 2022 by the first author (RM) while camera trapping to monitor the collared fishing cats. Fishing cat occurs along with other medium sized carnivores like jungle cat (Felis chaus) and golden jackal (Cuon alpinus). There is high diversity of potential prey species including nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), chital (Axis axis), hog deer (Axis procinus), barking deer (Muntiacus vaginalis), Indian hare (Lepus nigricollis), and rodents.

The main channel of the Koshi River causes a significant barrier for movement of animals, dividing the Reserve into two parts. The Koshi River is one of the highest sediment transporting rivers in the world (Kafle et al., 2017). It has extremely dynamic channels and the channel instability have been aggravated in recent years. Excessive siltation has resulted in the rise of the riverbed. Consequently wetlands are formed with the seepage water along the other side of the embankment, which areas have gradually been converted to commercial fishponds (Mishra et al., 2022b). There are fish ponds in the villages too.

These ponds at the edge of the Reserve attract fishing cats with abundant prey including fish, amphibians, crustaceans and mollusks. Presence of such predators around the fish farm often leads to negative interaction with humans (Cutter, 2009; Mishra et al., 2021; Chakraborty et al., 2022). Local communities also depend on the Reserve for irrigation, fishing, grazing and non-timber forest products. In past four decades wetland ecosystem has declined > 30% which significantly affected numerous globally threatened species (Chettri et al., 2013; Chaudhary et al., 2016). In the fertile land of the eastern Buffer Zone of the reserve, farmers grow different seasonal crops like sugarcane, maize, wheat, paddy, mustard, peas, sunflower and jute providing good cover to elusive cat species like fishing cats and jungle cats (Mishra et al., 2020).

In August 2008, the Koshi river breached the embankment at 500m west of the reserve headquarter and entered into agriculture and settlements (Kafle et al., 2017) converting 700 ha fertile land to sand and water. Still some part of this is covered by sediments or remains as marsh providing a good habitat for the perennial herb Typha latifolia. Some part of the barren flooded land was converted into fish farming consists of Typha around the edges. In some part where there remains year-round water forming the marshland with Typha, the Typha does not dry out, providing cover to fishing cats in dry season as well but Typha around the pond edges dry in winter and again grow in summer. This combination of Typha and fish farms makes the habitat suitable for fishing cats and other species like otters to prey and hide. Most of the Typha is collected by the locals in winter as fuel (mixed with dung) for cooking and knotting mats.

In the western part, natural riverine habitats occurs with mosaic of grassland patches, marshes, riverine forest, natural/man-made ponds (created by the reserve authorities), smaller tributaries of rivers and riverbanks. These habitats are rich with abundant prey, wetland birds and fishes.

Fishing cat capture and fitting radio collars

Between August 2021 and January 2023, a total of eleven fishing cats, comprising six females and five males were fitted with iridium satellite collars manufactured by Africa Wildlife Tracking (Table 1). We followed ‘Implementation Guideline for Satellite Telemetry on Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) in Nepal, 2021’ endorsed by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation for capture, handling and collaring of fishing cats. Metal box trap of size 42’’ x 15.5’’ x 16’’ (inches) with fish baits were set in the evening in locations where fishing cats were likely to visit. Each trap was checked early in the morning and set free at the day hours. When a fishing cat was trapped, a trained veterinarian administered the sedation drug, a combination of ketamine (3 mg/kg) and medetomidine (0.07 mg/kg), then performed a clinical check-up. We conducted physical measurements of the cats, encompassing parameters such as weight, body length, tail length, teeth, and paw dimensions.

Once the cat was found healthy and suitable for collaring, it was fitted with an Iridium satellite radio collar (Africa Wildlife Tracking model AWT-IR SAT) and released after administering an antidote (atipamezole 0.21–0.35mg/kg) within 30–45 minutes of sedation. The satellite collars were small (~ 200 gm) and < 3% weight of the animal, and as expected, we observed no effects on the animals (Kenward, 2000).

The fishing cats were collared in two sites on the eastern and western banks of the Koshi River (Fig. 1) to ensure the coverage of a variety of potential fishing cat habitats. Six fishing cats, comprising two males, two females, and two sub-adults female, were collared in the Buffer Zone of Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve in eastern part. Similarly, five fishing cats including three males and two females, were collared within the reserve in the western part. One female (F1) was caught twice to replace the collar. Two of the collared females were sub-adults (< 2 years) and all other cats were adults (> 2 years). We classified cats as adults and sub-adults based on their body size, teeth structure, and reproductive status (Schroeder et al., 2005).

The satellite collars were programmed to record and send location data every three hours for the first two weeks. To save battery and maximize lifespan, they were then set to two to six locations per day. All the data from the collars were downloaded through Africa Wildlife Tracking web server and arranged in excel spreadsheets.

Home range estimates

Two methods, the minimum convex polygon (MCP) (Hayne, 1949) and area-corrected Autocorrelated Kernel Density Estimation (AKDE) (Fleming and Calabrese, 2017), were used to estimate the home range sizes of fishing cats. We computed MCP home ranges including all locations obtained (100%) and 95% of the locations with fixed mean, respectively, using Home Range Tools in ARC GIS 10.4 (Rodgers et al., 2007). This allows for comparison with the previous studies reporting only MCP home ranges. Similarly, the home range of each fishing cat was calculated using area-corrected Autocorrelated Kernel Density Estimation method using ‘ctmm’ package in R (Calabrese et al., 2016; Fleming and Calabrese, 2017). This approach fits continuous time-movement models to the telemetry data. This model is efficient dealing with the complexities of movement data: autocorrelation, small sample sizes, and missing or irregularly sampled data (Silva et al., 2022). The most likely model is selected by AIC and then used to estimate the individual’s home range area. The home range estimation using AKDE can overestimate for the data of shorter time span (< 3 months) (Silva et al., 2022). To avoid such overestimate, we used only eight out of 11 collared cats (discarded data of 3 cats having < 3 months) having enough observations (98–811 locations during 5–8 months period) for AKDE home range estimation.

We also overlaid home ranges of different cats in ArcGIS 10.4 and calculated the areas of overlap with each other (Supplementary Information S1 & S2). Welch's t-test was used in R to compare the home range size of males and females as well as natural habitat (reserve) and human-dominated areas (Buffer Zone).

We investigated habitat selection by fishing cats using Ivlev’s electivity index (Ivlev, 1961). Habitat type was obtained from the global land cover data at 10m resolution, produced from Santinel-2 satellite images (Karra et al., 2021). The fishing cat locations were overlaid on the habitat map, and the proportion of locations falling within each habitat was calculated. The proportion (as percentage) of habitat available within the study area was calculated from the habitat map. The Ivlev’s index E_i for habitat i is calculated with the formula: E_i = (u_i – a_i)/(u_i + a_i), where u_i is the proportion of fishing cat locations in habitat i (habitat utilized), and a_i is the proportion of habitat i available in the study area.

We obtained a total 2,664 locations from 11 fishing cats collared. We excluded 361 locations from the analysis, which were repeated overlapping records within an hour. So, altogether 2,303 locations, from 11 all collared cats with individual’s locations ranging between 71 and 811 per fishing cat, operational for 40 to 231 days were analyzed (Table 1). The AKDE home range was estimated for the cats with more than three months of data.

Table 1

The home range sizes of all collared fishing cats, using the Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) and Auto-correlation Kernel Density Estimator (AKDE) methods. ID of the cat represents F – female, M – male and SA – Sub-Adult.
Location	ID	Cat Name	Weight (Kg)	No. of active collar days	No. of locations used for home range estimation	MCP Home range (km²)		AKDE Home Range (95% CI) (km²)
Location	ID	Cat Name		No. of active collar days	No. of locations used for home range estimation	MCP 95%	MCP 100%	50% AKDE	95% AKDE
Buffer Zone	F1	Gulabi	7.5	176	811	4.75	5.35	1.06 (0.95–1.17)	5.05 (4.53–5.60)
	F2 (SA)*	Jhalli	6.3	54	128	13.28	16.21	NA	NA
	M1	Kusaha	12	158	126	31.56	33.29	9.35 (7.78–11.06)	35.99 (29.96–42.57)
	F4 (SA)*	Kanchhi	6	96	154	1.16	1.67	NA	NA
	M2	Madhuban	10.5	192	104	38.11	46.91	17.42 (13.30–22.10)	63.35 (48.36–70.33)
	F3	Madhu	10	180	200	34.70	37.23	10.51 (8.31–12.97)	44 (34.77–54.29)
Reserve	M3	Pokhari	8	200	241	34.77	38.09	8.02 (5.65–10.79)	47.76 (33.67–64.28)
Reserve	F5	Pokhari	8	231	98	18.00	18.78	5.14 (4.17–6.22)	21.82 (17.69–26.37)
	M4	Triyuga	12	195	176	58.41	86.19	22.51 (19.30–25.97)	85.02 (72.89–98.07)
	F6	Triyuga	8	146	330	12.62	18.17	3.97 (3.49–4.47)	16.02 (14.10–18.06)
	M5*	Koshi*	15	40	71	17.98	18.25	NA	NA
* These cats were only included in the MCP home range analysis and were excluded from AKDE Home ranges as well as calculation of average home range sizes.

An average home range of fishing cats (n = 8) with 95% MCP was 29.12 ± SD 16.89 km² and 95% AKDE was 39.88 ± 26.16 km² (Table 2). Home range (95% AKDE) of adult females (21.72 km², 5.05–44 km²) was significantly lower (t = -2.71, df = 5.64, p = 0.037) compared to the males (58.03 km², 35.99–85.02 km²). There was high overlap of the home ranges of males with the home range of females, and between males, but there was no overlap between adult females (Supplementary file S1). An average home range (95% AKDE) of fishing cats inside the reserve (42.66 km², 16.02–85.02 km²) did not differ significantly (t = 0.27, df = 5.63, p = 0.78) compared to the Buffer Zone (37.10 km², 5.05–63.35 km²).

Table 2

Summary of the home range sizes of fishing cats, grouped by sex and location.
Sample population	Mean MCP Home range (km²)		Mean AKDE Home Range (km²)
Sample population	MCP 95% ±SD	MCP 100%	50% AKDE ± SD	95% AKDE ± SD
All fishing cats (n = 8)	29.12 ± 16.89	35.5 ± 24.50	9.75 ± 7.13	39.88 ± 26.16
Females (n = 4)	17.52 ± 12.68	19.89 ± 13.12	5.17 ± 3.95	21.72 ± 16.39
Males (n = 4)	40.71 ± 12.10	51.12 ± 24.05	11.46 ± 6.86	58.03 ± 21.19
Cats in Buffer Zone (n = 4)	27.78 ± 15.26	30.70 ± 17.83	9.58 ± 6.71	37.10 ± 24.25
Cats inside Wildlife Reserve (n = 4)	30.95 ± 20.59	40.31 ± 31.95	9.91 ± 8.57	42.66 ± 31.43

The habitat use of the fishing cat was in the order Tall Grassland/Shrub (31.51%), Wetland (27.36%), Agriculture (23.95%), Forests (8.68%), Settlements (5.02%), Bare ground (2.45%) and Short grasslands (1.04%) (Fig. 3). However, the Ivlev’s electivity index shows fishing cats’ strong preference for wetlands over all other habitat types (Fig. 4).

Our study covers the first ever GPS satellite collar field research of fishing cats in Nepal. This study was conducted simultaneously within a protected area (wildlife reserve) and outside (human-dominated landscape) with representative sample size (n = 11) to understand their home range size and habitat use. We documented a larger average home range size of fishing cats compared to previously reported (Sunquist and Sunquist, 2002). Male fishing cats covered significantly larger home ranges compared to females. The average males and females fishing cats’ home range size in natural habitats of core protected areas (rivers, grasslands, and forests) was also significantly larger compared to the home ranges in the human-dominated landscape (aquaculture, agriculture, and settlements). In terms of habitat preference, we documented the fishing cats’ preference for the wetland habitats.

There are only a few studies on fishing cat spatial ecology with limited information on their home range sizes at different habitat (Table 3). The comparable estimate of home range size of fishing cats in Chitwan NP and Kishanpur WS could be attributed to habitat similarity in terms of its socio-ecological characteristics. The home range estimates of fishing cats in our study was much larger compared to the home range sizes reported in previous studies (Table 3).

Table 3

Summary of fishing cat home range size estimates across their range.
Location	Type of habitat	Study Period	Sample size used for HR analysis (adults)	Home range calculation method	Area in km² (M = Male, F = Female)	Source
Chitwan NP, Nepal	Protected Area (PA)	1984	Male – 1, Females − 3	VHF collars, MCP 95%	M: 16–22	Sunquist and Sunquist, 2002
Colombo, Sri Lanka	Urban area	2013–15 2018–19	Males – 2, Females − 2	GPS collars, Time Local Convex Hall 95%	M: 12.49 F: 1.17	Ratnayaka, 2021
Khao Sam Roy Yot National Park, Thailand	PA and agriculture area	2009–10	Males – 2 Females − 4	VHF collars, Fixed Kernel density 95%	M: 8.75 F: 3.85	Cutter, 2015
Krishnapur Wildlife Sanctuary	PA	2011–12	Male – 1	Camera trap, MCP 100%	M: 18.46	Nair, 2012
Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve	PA and agriculture area	2021–22	Male – 4 Female – 4	Satellite GPS collar, Auto correlation corrected Kernel Density 95%	M: 58.03 F: 21.72	This study

There may be two reasons for the relatively larger home range sizes of fishing cats in our study, compared to other studies: 1) the automatic location recording by GPS collars increased accuracy of movements and home ranges estimates compared to VHF collars with manual tracking of animals; 2) habitat characteristics of the study area including possible lower prey availability compared to other studies. Only a study in Sri Lanka (Ratnayaka et al., 2021) used GPS collars with ability of automatic recording of multiple GPS locations in a day, providing more accurate account, all other studies used yagi antennas for collecting coordinates of fishing cats. The smaller home range size of fishing cats in Sri Lanka (Colombo), compared with those in our study, may be explained by higher prey densities of rodents in the urban areas of Colombo city (Ratnayaka et al., 2021).

There was also a difference in home range size of fishing cats living in the eastern part (Buffer Zone) and the western part (Reserve) of the Koshi River. The home range size of carnivores generally also depends on the body mass of prey and prey availability (Gittleman and Harvey, 1982). The fishing cats in our study were collared in the Buffer Zone (in or close to settlements) and in reserve core habitats respectively in eastern and western part. Although, statistically not significant, we documented relatively smaller home ranges of fishing cats living in agriculture and fish farms of Buffer Zone area, compared to those living inside the core areas of the reserve. The abundance of prey (fish in the fish ponds and rodents in agriculture fields) is probably higher in the human-dominated areas compared to the core areas within the Reserve. It may also be a result of the depletion of fish stock due to a high fishing pressure in the natural wetlands and Koshi River inside the Reserve. Though our fishing cats’ home range is quite large, and fishing cats have strong swimming abilities to cover longer distances, none of our collared cats crossed the main channel of Koshi River. This suggests that they avoid crossing deep or high current water bodies, or that there is sufficient prey that outweighs the risky effort of crossing the river. Our study was conducted during the dry season with low water volume in the river.

Fishing cats are well known to be associated with wetland habitats (Mishra et al. 2018), which is also confirmed by our study. Only the wetlands had a positive value (identified as preferred habitat) in Ivlev’s electivity index. Although wetlands were the most preferred habitat, fishing cats were found more frequently in the grasslands compared to other land cover types. Nearly one third of the locations obtained from the satellite collared cats fall in tall grassland, which is expected as the grasslands and shrubs cover a large portion of the study area (~ 56%, Chaudhary et al., 2016). Similar observation of fishing cats using tall grasslands close to wetlands has been reported from Chitwan National Park (Mishra et al., 2018). Interestingly, we also documented fishing cats using settlements and agriculture areas (~ 30% of the locations). Similar observation of the fishing cats using urban and highly altered areas has been reported from Sri Lanka (Ratnayaka et al., 2021).

Based on the limited information obtained from camera trap study in Koshi Tappu, Mishra et al. (2021) assumed that the fishing cats visit the ponds in the Buffer Zone during the night and remain inside the Reserve for cover during the day. However, except for one male (M1), we observed that the fishing cats’ home ranges are either entirely or mostly situated in the Buffer Zone. The four females collared in the Buffer Zone were taking shelter in the bushes around the fish ponds (typically Typha spp.), sugarcane field, and paddy as per availability. In Buffer Zone, fishing cats primarily used Typha field throughout both day and night during monsoon and post-monsoon seasons when the plants are dense and tall. After the Typha plants dry, local people harvest them for household use/handicrafts or burn them for cleaning the fields and for better sprouting in the next season. During this period, fishing cats switch their shelter to the sugarcane field or other crops for cover during the day, but they still visit the fish ponds at night. We conclude that such adaptability contributes to their success in human-dominated landscape.

However, there are multiple threats to fishing cats, including retaliation by humans after conflict (taking fish from fishponds), road kills, and attacks by guard dogs for fishing cats living in such human-dominated landscape (Mishra et al., 2021). For instance, one of the sub-adult female F3 – who remained exclusively in the Buffer Zone, was found dead after three months of collaring due to injury in the neck, as she was probably attacked by a guard dog. A similar case of a fishing cat killed by a guard dog has been reported from Koshi (Mishra et al., 2021). The adult male M5’s body was recovered in the southern Buffer Zone of the Reserve after 40 days of collaring. His ribs were broken and we suspect he was beaten to death by locals. The adult female F1 was also stuck in the drainage pipe in a paddy field around after two months of collaring. Fortunately, she was successfully rescued and released. She was recorded with a kitten (5–6 months old) in camera trap seven months after this incident indicating that she was pregnant at the time and conceived after her collaring. Thus, despite intensive use of the Buffer Zone habitats, fishing cat survival is challenging amid the escalating threats.

Our result of significantly larger home range sizes of males fishing cat compared to females is consistent with previous studies conducted in Nepal, Thailand, and Sri Lanka (Sunquist and Sunquist, 2002; Cutter, 2015; Ratnayaka et al., 2021). In carnivores, males generally try to maximize the coverage of females within their home ranges to increase the chances of breeding, whereas females usually select areas with abundant prey and safe shelters for raising the cubs (Wolff and Peterson, 1998). Similar observation of larger home ranges of males overlapping with multiple females has been reported in other carnivores (Sunquist, 1981). One of the breeding female (F1) home range was comparatively smaller than other adult females.

We documented a large overlap of male home range with females and some overlap between males. Unlike males, there was no overlap between adult females. Although it is believed that males are more aggressive to defend their territory, fishing cat females seem to maintain their exclusive territories. However, we also documented some sharing of habitat by adult females (F1 and F3) with other sub-adult females (F2 and F4). These sub-adults are probably their daughters. For example, the two females F1 and subadult F2 were recorded together (in a same frame) in camera traps close to location where F1 was collared. F2 was covering twice the area of F1, likely in the process of separating from F1 and looking for her own territory.

We documented a generally larger average home range size of fishing cats compared to previously reported. The home range of adult males was significantly larger compared to female home ranges and overlapped with multiple females and other males whereas no overlap was documented between home ranges of adult females. Despite various threats, fishing cats are able to human-dominated landscapes, especially, fish farms and agriculture. The wetland was the most preferred habitat for fishing cat and it is critical for their survival. Fishing cats used both the natural habitats and human-dominated areas (fish ponds, agriculture and settlements). However, there are multiple threats in human-dominated areas. As evidenced by human-induced injury or mortality to at least 3 of the 11 fishing cats studied, the long-term survival of these cats is strongly influenced by the community’s level of tolerance towards them. Thus, fishing cat conservation activities should focus equally in the natural habitats and human-dominated landscapes.

We obtained research permission to collar the cats from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. The research proposal was reviewed and approved by the technical committee of the Department. The collaring was performed by trained veterinarians who adhered to the 'Implementation Guideline for Satellite Telemetry on Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) in Nepal, 2021' which was also approved by the Department.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Nepal Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve Office for granting research permission. We appreciate the support from the University of Antwerp, the National Trust for Nature Conservation, and Wildlife Conservation and Research Endeavour, Nepal. Our sincere thanks to Anya Ratnayaka and Jim Sanderson for their continuous advice during the fishing cat collaring, and partners of Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance for their support. This study would not be possible without the funding support from the Schlumberger Foundation – Faculty for the Future Fellowship program, Leo Foundation, Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation. Collaring of the cats was supported by veterinarians Puroshottam Pandey, Purushottam Mudbary, and Kiran Rijal. We acknowledge the support of KTWR staff including Chief Conservation Officer Ashok Kumar Ram and staff of the National Trust for Nature Conservation – Koshi Conservation Center including Birendra Gautam, Tika Ram Tharu, and Ohm Prakash Chaudhary. Bishnu Lama provided significant technical support for trapping and collaring. We are grateful to the support of Hadrien Haupt of African Wildlife Tracking for helping us setting the commands to satellite collars when required. We thank Amy Zuckerwise for review and critical suggestions on earlier version of this manuscript. We are thankful to local fish farmers Gulabi Mukhiya and Paresh Bista, who allowed us to capture fishing cats on their fish farms and install camera traps for cats monitoring. Local residents Jageshwor Yadhav and Surendra Pandit also supported the fieldwork.

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Supplementary Information S1 & S2 and Supplementary File S1 are not available with this version.

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Cats in farms: Ranging behavior of fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) in a human-dominated landscape

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Abstract

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Introduction

Methods

Study Area

Fishing cat capture and fitting radio collars

Home range estimates

Results

Discussion

Conclusion

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Acknowledgements

References

Supplementary Material

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