Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 14 December 2020 | 12(16): 17245–17251
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6466.12.16.17245-17251
#6466 | Received 22 July 2020 | Final
received 20 August 2020 | Finally accepted 18 September 2020
Reunion with the mother: a
successful rehabilitation strategy for displaced wild Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus
rubiginosus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1831) (Mammalia:
Carnivora: Felidae) kittens
Ajay Deshmukh 1, Yaduraj Khadpekar 2, Mahendra Dhore 3 & M.V. Baijuraj
4
1–4 Wildlife SOS, D-210, Defence
Colony, New Delhi 110024, India.
1 drajaydeshmukh@gmail.com, 2 yaduraj.k24@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 3 mahendra@wildlifesos.org, 4 baiju@wildlifesos.org
Editor: Angie Appel,
Wild Cat Network, Bad Marienberg, Germany. Date of publication: 14 December
2020 (online & print)
Citation: Deshmukh, A., Y. Khadekar, M. Dhore & M.V. Baijuraj (2020). Reunion with
the mother: a successful rehabilitation strategy for displaced wild
Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1831)
(Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) kittens. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(16): 17245–17251. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6466.12.16.17245-17251
Copyright: © Deshmukh et al. 2020. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Wildlife SOS.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Ethics statement: All suitable protocols for
animal safety, welfare and ethics were followed during this work.
Author details: Dr. Ajay
Deshmukh is a wildlife veterinarian
with an extensive
experience in Leopard handling, captive
management, and managing and
mitigating the negative interactions between Leopards and people. Dr. Yaduraj Khadpekar is a wildlife veterinarian working in the field of wildlife medicine and conservation for 15 years. Mr. Mahendra Dhore has been working in the study area for more than a decade for the mitigation
of Leopard-human negative interactions
and for conservation
awareness. Mr. Baijuraj
MV is a wildlife biologist
with two decades of experience in wildlife conservation, rescues, conflict mitigation and conservation awareness.
Author contribution: Ajay Deshmukh—the work described
in this paper was carried out by Dr. Deshmukh and his team. Yaduraj Khadpekar—the data analysis and the manuscript writing has
been done by Dr. Khadpekar for this article. Mahendra Dhore—has been involved in all the field work described in
this paper along with Dr. Deshmukh. Baijuraj MV—has
contributed in the writing of this manuscript.
Acknowledgements: We thank Geeta Seshamani, Kartick Satyanarayan, and the Maharashtra Forest Department for
their continued encouragement and cooperation.
We appreciate the help of Dr. Arun Sha, Yograj P., and Ashish Jangid in proof-reading and creating the study area
map. We are thankful to Akash Dolas for photo documentation of reunion efforts. We are also thankful to the villagers and
stakeholders who reported the displaced animals to us, did not harm the animals
and provided help and cooperation during the reunion efforts. We are grateful to Wildlife SOS for providing
funds for wild animal rescue and reunion operations.
Abstract: One of the common challenges for
wildlife rehabilitators and conservationists is dealing with displaced young
animals, needing intervention and help.
Most commonly, such displaced animals are moved to zoos or rescue centers where they are hand-raised. In some cases, the hand-raised animals are
rehabilitated back in the wild following suitable protocols. For young animals that are not injured or
ill, however, reuniting them with their mothers in the wild might be the best
option. There are few reports on such
reunion efforts. We report successful
reunions of 26 Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus
rubiginosus kittens with their mothers in the
period of six years in the Junnar Forest Division,
Maharashtra, India. The kittens found by
the villagers were examined for injuries or signs of sickness, and
physiological parameters were recorded.
If found healthy, they were placed in a plastic basket at the same
location in the evening of the same day for a reunion with their mothers. In all cases, the mother cat was in the
vicinity and took the kittens away after a brief period. The success of reunion effort was confirmed
by direct observation or vocalization of the kittens combined with the presence
of pugmarks of an adult cat at the site, or just by the presence and appearance
of pugmarks. The results of our efforts
show that displaced kittens of small wild cats can be successfully reunited
with their mothers, provided that the time gap between separation and reunion
effort is minimized.
Keywords: Displaced wildlife,
human-wildlife interaction, small wild cat, wildlife rehabilitation, wildlife
rescue.
INTRODUCTION
Displacement and
separation of young animals from their mothers is not an uncommon occurrence in
the wild. Conservationists and wildlife
rehabilitators around the world frequently come across young wild animals without
their mother, needing help. There are a
number of reasons why the young animals may get separated from their mothers,
such as natural calamities (Barman et al. 2014), human activities (McTurk & Spelman 2005), death of the mother due to
hunting (Pajetnov & Pajetnov
1998) or natural causes (Singh et al. 2011).
The common strategies followed for such rescued young animals are
hand-raising them to rehabilitate to the wild, or taking them permanently to a
captive facility such as a zoo or a lifetime care facility and hand-raise them
there. Hand-raised animals have been
successfully rehabilitated in the wild such as in case of Asian Elephants Elephas
maximus (Perera et al. 2018), Greater One-horned
Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis
(Barman et al. 2014), Common Wombat Vombatus
ursinus (Saran
et al. 2011), and Giant Otter Pteronura brasiliensis (McTurk &
Spelman 2005).
Another option that is
less frequently followed, is the immediate or soonest possible reunion of the
displaced young animal with its mother.
For the young animals that are temporarily separated from their mothers
and are not injured or ill, this might be the best suitable option (Sparks
& Casey 1998). Indeed, such reunions
have been successfully accomplished for infants of wildlife as diverse as the
Western Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes verus (Pruetz & Kante 2010) and the
Giant Otter (Lima & Marmontel 2011). In our knowledge, however, organised efforts for the reunion of cubs or kittens of
wild cats with their mothers have not been reported so far.
The Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus
is the smallest cat species in Asia (Menon 2014; Nayak et al. 2017). It is resident in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka
(Mukherjee et al. 2016). The population
in India is thought to be fragmented as intensive irrigated agriculture
negatively impacted its prime habitat; dry and moist deciduous forests
(Mukherjee et al. 2016). Although the
data on the current population trend are scarce, the species is currently categorised as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List
(Mukherjee et al. 2016). The authors have
come across many displaced Rusty-spotted Cat kittens that were in a situation
where they could be reunited with their mothers. Except for one report on the possible natural
reunion of a kitten with its mother (Sharma 2007), there is no other record of
reuniting Rusty-spotted Cat kittens with their mothers in situ. Therefore, this may be the first report on
successfully reuniting multiple Rusty-spotted Cat kittens with their mothers in
the wild.
Study area
All the reunions occurred
within the Junnar Forest Division in Pune District in
the state of Maharashtra, India (Fig. 1).
The terrain of the area is made up of the northern part of Western Ghats
with hills and valleys. The hills do not
have many large trees but are mostly grassy with boulders. The most common occupation in the area is
farming, and the crops of sugarcane, grapes, and onion dominate the cultivated
parts of the valleys (Athreya et al. 2011). Due to
the large areas of sugarcane cultivation (Image 1), which provide suitable
habitat and cover for the Leopard Panthera pardus, the division is known for high Leopard density
and a close co-existence of Leopards and humans (Jhamvar-Shingote
& Schuett 2013).
Although there are no published records of Rusty-spotted Cat in the
division before this report, the species has been recorded during camera trap
surveys in adjoining areas (Athreya et al. 2016).
A wildlife rescue team
lead by Ajay Deshmukh and Mahendra Dhore had been working in the study area since 2009 for the
mitigation of human-Leopard conflict, and thus are well-known to the local
villagers and the forest department officials.
Materials and methods
When
the kittens were handed over to the rescue team, they were first placed in a
plastic basket and moved away from the location. They were transported to either the nearest
forest department office or to the rescue team office. There they were checked for any visible
injuries. Their ages were estimated based
on their body size and locomotor abilities described by Dmoch
(1997). Physiological parameters such as
rectal temperature, heart rate (HR; heart beats/minute), and respiration rate
(RR; respirations/minute) were recorded.
Once the kittens were found to be healthy through this examination, they
were left undisturbed in the basket in a quiet area. No attempts were made to feed them before
reunion. For the reunion attempt with
the mother, they were taken in the evening to the exact spot where they were found. The basket with the kittens was left on the
ground at the location. This procedure
was always carried out after 18.00h to minimise the
possibility of disturbance by human activities, and considering the crepuscular
and nocturnal activity pattern of Rusty-spotted Cat (Nimalrathna
et al. 2019; Bora et al. 2020). When
possible, the rescue team of two to three members observed the kittens with the
help of spot lights from a distance of 200–300 m until the mother came and
picked them up. At other times, the
rescue team moved 500–1,000 m away and went back periodically to check if the
kittens were safe. If the kittens were
not in the basket any more, the area was examined for pugmarks and signs of
predation, to make sure that the kittens had been picked up by the mother. The reunion was confirmed by the direct
observation of an adult female picking up and carrying the kittens away, or by
the mewing sounds of the kittens combined with the presence of pugmarks of an
adult Rusty-spotted Cat at the location, or just by the presence and appearance
of pugmarks. For all the reunion events,
we recorded the approximate time when the kittens were first spotted, the time
when they were kept at the location for the reunion, and the estimated time
when the mother took them.
Results
A total of 26 kittens were
reunited with their mothers in 18 reunion events between 2014 and 2019 (Table
1). Eight of these reunions involved a
litter of two kittens. Out of these,
four litters included a male and a female kitten. Their estimated ages ranged between 30 and 60
days.
The presence of kittens
was reported to the rescue team by either the villagers or the forest
department staff. In all the cases, the
kittens were first spotted by the villagers and reported to either the forest
department or to the rescue team. All
kittens were found in sugarcane fields (Image 2). In instances when the rescue team was
directly informed by villagers, the team conveyed the information to the
relevant forest department officials for further actions and coordination. It is important to mention here that in about
80% of instances, the kittens were picked up and handled by the villagers
before the rescue team could reach the location. At other times, even though the kittens were
not picked up by the villagers, they had to be removed from the location to
avoid stress from human activities, crowding, noise, and possibility of
handling by the villagers.
During the assessment of
physiological parameters, the minimum rectal temperature recorded was 37.8oC
while the maximum was 38.9oC.
The mean rectal temperature among all kittens was 38.4oC
(n=26). RR ranged between 16–40, and the
HR was within the range of 126–180. It
was not possible to measure the body weights of all the kittens, however, the
body weights of the kittens that were weighed (n=10) ranged from 100g to 300g.
The highest number of
kittens were found in the early summer or early winter during the sugarcane
harvesting season (Fig. 2). No kittens
were reported in late winter or late summer.
The villagers spotted the kittens during mid-day between 11.00 and 15.30
h. All the reunions of the rescued
kittens occurred at late evening or night on the same day they were found. Among all the reunion efforts, the maximum
time gap between finding a kitten and taking it back for the reunion, was
>6h 45min. After the kittens were
brought to the location for the reunion, the minimum time recorded for a
successful reunion was 1h 5 min, while the maximum was 4h 20min.
During the reunions that
the rescue team members were able to observe directly, the mother cats were
noticed to approach the baskets with the kittens very slowly and
cautiously. During approach, they
stopped and looked around frequently before continuing the approach. Many times, the mother sat 3–6 m away from
the basket for 20 to 30 minutes and kept looking around, before she approached
the basket. In some instances, after
such pause, the mother walked around the basket keeping some distance and sat
down again for some period before approaching the basket. The kittens were noticed to become very
active and vocal with lot of mewing, once they noticed the mother
approaching. They kept looking in the
direction of the mother until she reached the basket. After reaching the basket, the mothers licked
the kittens for some time before picking and carrying them away. When there were more than one kitten, the
mother carried away one kitten first, kept it inside the crop cover, and came
back for the second kitten with the same cautious approach.
Discussion
All of the 18 reunion
attempts were considered to be successful, as the female Rusty-spotted Cats
came to pick up the kittens within > 4h 20min. No kitten was lost to predation. We observed that the females remained in the
vicinity of the locations where the kittens were found. Under favourable
conditions such as same location, late evening hours, and no disturbance from
people, they accepted the kittens back and carried them away. The key to successfully reuniting the mother
and kittens is to provide this opportunity to them as quickly as possible after
separation.
All the kittens were found
during the sugarcane harvesting season, indicating that sugarcane fields
provide cover for females with kittens and access to prey. Arthreya (2010)
also reported two kittens found during the cutting of sugarcane in October and
December 2008 in Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra. Leopard and Sunda
Leopard Cats Prionailurus javanensis were also found in sugarcane fields,
apparently attracted by a wide variety of prey (Jhamvar-Shingote
& Schuett 2013; Lorica
& Heaney 2013).
The Rusty-spotted Cat
exhibits some tolerance for human-modified habitats and the vicinity of human
settlements (Nowell & Jackson 1996; Athreya
2010). In one occasional instance, a
Rusty-spotted Cat even gave birth in a farmhouse (Nowell & Jackson 1996).
In captivity, the
Rusty-spotted Cat gives birth at any time of the year (Dmoch
1997). We came across approximately one
to two months old kittens, mostly in April, also in October and November (Fig. 2).
This might be due to the seasonality of crop harvesting in the
region. The sugarcane harvest in the
region generally begins in October with the opening of sugar factories. While in April, the speed of harvest in the
last remaining sugarcane fields is increased by farmers as the sugar factories
are about to close. This possibly
results in an increased sighting of Rusty-spotted Cat kittens by villagers in
sugarcane fields. Many times, the
kittens were picked up and moved by the farmers as they wanted to urgently
continue the sugarcane harvest. In a few
cases, the kittens were mistaken by the villagers as Leopard cubs and were,
therefore, moved away from the field for their own safety. In captivity, Rusty-spotted Cat kittens start
moving about at the age of one month but frequently get tired and fall asleep (Dmoch 1997). Weaning
begins at the age of 35 to 40 days, but suckling is continued in some cases
until two months of age (Dmoch 1997). Information on the maternal care and
development of kittens of the Rusty-spotted Cat in the wild is lacking. We speculate that the kittens were spotted by
the people when the mother had left them for a brief period for hunting and
feeding. In each of these events, the
rescue team members made efforts to communicate with the villagers and farmers
involved, and give them information about Rusty-spotted Cat and Leopards. The members also requested the villagers not
to handle and remove the kittens they come across, and inform forest department
officials about their presence.
Although there is no
information available on normal physiological parameters in Rusty-spotted Cat,
the parameters recorded in the rescued kittens were considered to be healthy as
compared to the Domestic Cat Felis catus (Eldredge et al. 2011). None of the kittens exhibited any sign of
sickness and were considered to be healthy and fit for the reunion.
Minimizing the time of
separation between kittens and mothers appears to be an important contributing
factor for a successful reunion. Leopard
females in the wild are known to accept their cubs after a separation period as
long as six days (Ajay Deshmukh unpub.). During such long periods, however, attempts
were made on each night for the reunion.
Our experiences from similar reunion attempts for displaced Leopard cubs
indicate that the frequency of the mother returning to the location to look for
cubs reduces with the increasing time gap between the separation and the
reunion attempt. In case of the reunited
Rusty-spotted Cat kittens, all the reunions happened on the evening of the same
day. The mother cats were in the
vicinity of the location where the kittens were found and returned on
presumably hearing the kittens’ vocalizations.
None of the reunion events needed deployment of any artificial means to
attract the mother to the kittens. We
conclude that displaced Rusty-spotted Cat kittens can be successfully reunited
with their mothers, provided that the time gap between the finding of kittens
and reunion attempt is minimized.
We do not have any
evidence that a delay of more than 24 hours would reduce the chance for a
successful reunion. We, however,
recommend that any reunion attempt should be made in the evening to minimize
the disturbance from human activities, and that the handling of kittens before
the reunion should be kept minimum. If
the reunion does not happen on the same day, attempts should be made on the
following nights until the absence of the mother in the vicinity is
confirmed. Based on our experience with
Rusty-spotted Cats and Leopards, such reunion protocols can be replicated for
the kittens or cubs of other wild cat species.
Table 1. Temporal
details of reunion events with approximate time when kittens were spotted by
the villagers (Rescue time), time when the kittens were taken to the location
for reunion (Return time), and estimated time when the kittens were picked up
by the mother cat (Reunion time).
Reunion
event |
Month
and year |
Rescue
time |
Return
time |
Reunion
time |
1 |
iv.2014 |
14.30h |
18.45h |
22.30h |
2 |
x.2014 |
13.15h |
18.20h |
21.20h |
3 |
xi.2014 |
13.20h |
18.20h |
21.20h |
4 |
iv.2015 |
14.45h |
18.35h |
21.35h |
5 |
x.2015 |
14.40h |
18.30h |
21.30h |
6 |
xi.2015 |
14.45h |
18.35h |
21.35h |
7 |
v.2016 |
14.05h |
18.10h |
22.30h |
8 |
ix.2016 |
14.20h |
18.20h |
22.40h |
9 |
xii.2016 |
14.10h |
18.35h |
20.35h |
10 |
iv.2017 |
13.20h |
18.20h |
22.00h |
11 |
x.2017 |
12.25h |
18.00h |
20.00h |
12 |
xi.2017 |
13.30h |
18.10h |
19.15h |
13 |
iv.2018 |
13.25h |
18.35h |
21.35h |
14 |
x.2018 |
13.35h |
18.40h |
21.40h |
15 |
xi.2018 |
13.25h |
18.35h |
21.35h |
16 |
iv.2019 |
15.20h |
19.10h |
21.10h |
17 |
viii.2019 |
11.30h |
18.15h |
22.15h |
18 |
viii.2019 |
13.10h |
18.05h |
22.05h |
For figures & images - - click
here
References
Athreya, V. (2010). Rusty-spotted Cat more common than we
think? Cat
News 53: 27.
Athreya, V., M. Odden, J.D.C. Linnell & K.U. Karanth
(2011). Translocation
as a Tool for Mitigating Conflict with Leopards in Human-Dominated Landscapes
of India: Human-Leopard Conflicts. Conservation Biology 25(1): 133–141. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01599.x
Athreya, V., M. Odden, J.D.C. Linnell, J. Krishnaswamy & K.U. Karanth (2016). A cat among the dogs: Leopard Panthera pardus
diet in a human-dominated landscape in western Maharashtra, India. Oryx
50(1): 156–162. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605314000106
Barman, R., B. Choudhury, N. Ashraf & V. Menon (2014). Rehabilitation of Greater
One-horned Rhinoceros calves in Manas National Park,
a World Heritage Site in India. Pachyderm 55: 78–88.
Bora, J.K., N. Awasthi, U. Kumar, S. Goswami,
A. Pradhan, A. Prasad, D.R. Laha, R. Shukla, S.K.
Shukla, Q. Qureshi & Y.V. Jhala (2020). Assessing the habitat use,
suitability and activity pattern of the Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus
rubiginosus in Kanha
Tiger Reserve, India. Mammalia: Ahead of Print. https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2019-0032
Dmoch, R. (1997). Husbandry, breeding and
population development of the Sri Lankan Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus
rubiginosus phillipsi. International
Zoo Yearbook 35(1): 115–120. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-1090.1997.tb01199.x
Eldredge, D.M., D.G. Carlson, L.D. Carlson, J.M. Giffin & B. Adelman (Eds.) (2011). Appendix A: Normal
Physiological Data, pp. 563–565. In: Cat Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook.
Wiley Publishing Inc., Hoboken, NJ, USA, 630pp.
Jhamvar-Shingote, R. & M.A. Schuett (2013). The predators of Junnar:
local peoples’ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes toward Leopards and Leopard
conservation. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 18(1): 32–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2012.694578
Lima, D.S. & M. Marmontel
(2011). Return
to the wild and reintegration of a Giant River Otter (Pteronura
brasiliensis) cub to its family group in Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve, Brazilian Amazon. Latin
American Journal of Aquatic Mammals 9(2): 164–167. http://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00183
Lorica, M.R.P. & L.R. Heaney
(2013). Survival
of a native mammalian carnivore, the Leopard Cat Prionailurus
bengalensis Kerr, 1792 (Carnivora: Felidae), in
an agricultural landscape on an oceanic Philippine island. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 5(10): 4451–4460. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3352.4451-60
McTurk, D. & L. Spelman
(2005). Hand-rearing
and rehabilitation of orphaned wild Giant Otters, Pteronura
brasiliensis, on the Rupununi
River, Guyana, South America. Zoo Biology 24(2): 153–167. https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20042
Menon, V. (2014). Indian Mammals: A Field Guide. Hachette Book Publishing
India Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon, India, 528pp.
Mukherjee,
S., J.W. Duckworth, A. Silva, A. Appel & A. Kittle (2016). Prionailurus rubiginosus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T18149A50662471. Downloaded on 18
December 2019. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T18149A50662471.en
Nayak, S., S. Shah & J. Borah (2017). First record of
Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) from Ramgarh-Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary in semi-arid landscape of
Rajasthan, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 9(1): 9761–9763. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3303.9.1.9761-9763
Nimalrathna, T.S., Y.R. Choo, E.P. Kudavidanage, T.R. Amarasinghe,
U.G.S.I. Bandara, W.A.C.L. Wanninayaka,
P. Ravindrakumar, M.A.H. Chua & E.L. Webb (2019).
First
photographic record of the Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus
rubiginosus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1831)
(Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in Horton Plains National Park, Sri Lanka. Journal
of Threatened Taxa 11(4): 13506–13510. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4094.11.4.13506-13510
Nowell,
K. & P. Jackson (1996).
Rusty-spotted Cat, Prionailurus rubiginosus (I.
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1831), pp. 72–74. In: Wild Cats, Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan.
IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, 382pp.
Pajetnov, V.S. & S.V. Pajetnov (1998). Food competition and grouping
behavior of orphaned Brown Bear cubs in Russia. Ursus
10: 571–574.
Perera, B.V., A. Silva-Flecher, S. Jayawardena, N. Kumudini
& T. Prasad (2018). Rehabilitation of orphaned Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus
maximus) calves in Sri Lanka. Journal of Wildlife Rehabilitation
38(2): 13–24.
Pruetz, J.D. & D. Kante (2010). Successful Return of a Wild Infant Chimpanzee (Pan
troglodytes verus) to its Natal Group after
Capture by Poachers. African Primates 7(1): 35–41.
Saran, K.A., G. Parker, R. Parker & C.R. Dickman (2011). Rehabilitation as a
conservation tool: a case study using the Common Wombat. Pacific
Conservation Biology 17(4): 310–319. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC110310
Sharma, S.K. (2007). Breeding season of Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus
(Geoffroy) in Sajjangarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Udaipur
district, Rajasthan, India. Zoos’ Print Journal 22(10): 2874.
Singh, R., P. Nigam, S.P. Goyal, B.D. Joshi, S. Sharma &
R.S. Shekhawat (2011). Survival of Dispersed Orphaned Cubs
of Tiger (Panthera tigris
tigris) in Fragmented Habitat of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve in India. Indian Forester
137(10): 1171–1176.
Sparks, B. & S.J. Casey (1998). Reuniting young wild mammals with their mothers. Journal of Wildlife
Rehabilitation 21(3–4): 3–8.