Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 August 2024 | 16(8): 25737–25741
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8981.16.8.25737-25741
#8981 | Received 19
February 2024 | Final received 16 June 2024 | Finally accepted 13 August 2024
Occurrence of a female melanistic
leopard Panthera pardus
delacouri (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mammalia:
Carnivora: Felidae) in Ulu Sat Permanent Forest Reserve, Machang,
Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia from camera traps reconnaissance survey 2023
Wan Hafizin
Idzni Wan Mohammad Hizam
1 ,
Muhammad Hamirul Shah Ab Razak
2 ,
Hazizi Husain 3 , Aainaa
Amir 4 & Kamarul Hambali 5
1– 5 Faculty of Earth Science, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli
Campus, 17600 Jeli, Kelantan, Malaysia.
3 Jabatan PERHILITAN Negeri
Kelantan, Tingkat 12, Wisma Persekutuan, Jalan Bayam, 15664 Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia..
4,5 Animal and Wildlife Research
Group, Faculty of Earth Science, Universiti Malaysia
Kelantan, Jeli Campus, 17600 Jeli,
Kelantan, Malaysia.
5 UMK-Tropical Rainforest Research
Centre (UMK-TRaCe), Faculty of Earth Science, Pulau Banding, 33300, Gerik,
Perak, Malaysia.
1 e20a0509@siswa.umk.edu.my, 2
muhamadhamirulshah@yahoo.com, 3 hazizi@wildlife.gov.my, 4
syazwani@umk.edu.my, 5 kamarul@umk.edu.my (corresponding
author)
Editor: L.A.K. Singh, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
Date of publication: 26 August 2024 (online & print)
Citation: Hizam, W.H.I.W.M., M.H.S.A. Razak,
H. Husain, A. Amir & K. Hambali (2024). Occurrence
of a female melanistic leopard Panthera pardus delacouri (Linnaeus,
1758) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in Ulu Sat Permanent Forest Reserve, Machang, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia from camera traps
reconnaissance survey 2023. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(8): 25737–25741. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8981.16.8.25737-25741
Copyright: © Hizam et al. 2024. 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: The Conservation, Food
& Health Foundation (R/CFHF/A0800/00386A/005/2022/01062).
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Author details: Wan Hafizin Idzni Wan Mohammad Hizam is a graduate of the Natural Resource Science program at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
(UMK). He is currently working with an eco-tourism company. Muhammad Hamirul Shah Ab Razak is a doctoral student at UMK, conducting research on felid species in the Chabang Tongkat and Ulu Sat Forest Reserves. Hazizi Husain is also a doctoral student at UMK and a staff member at the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP). Aainaa Amir is a
lecturer at UMK with an interest in conducting research on biodiversity, while Kamarul Hambali is also a lecturer at UMK with an interest in conducting research on wildlife management and ecology.
Author contributions: WHIWMH, MHSAR and HH collected data, analysed and wrote the initial
draft of the manuscript. AA and KH read and revised the final manuscript.
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the funder, The
Conservation, Food & Health Foundation
(R/CFHF/A0800/00386A/005/2022/01062). Thanks also to the Department of Wildlife
and National Parks (DWNP), and the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia
for approving this study. Not forgetting the faculty of Earth Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan who always provided support
and assistance in terms of services, equipment, and facilities throughout the
course of this study. We also thank Joe James Figel
for his insightful comments in improving the writing of this manuscript.
Abstract: The Indochinese leopard, Panthera pardus delacouri is classified as Critically Endangered in the
Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN). The subspecies has been recorded for the first time in Ulu Sat
Permanent Forest Reserve (USPFR). Camera trap records show the presence of a
female melanistic leopard, which is of additional biological interest. It is
hoped that these observations will stimulate long-term studies on leopards of
USPFR and promote conservation efforts in the area.
Keywords: Biodiversity, camera trapping,
carnivores, conservation, ecosystem, endangered species, felid conservation,
forest ecology, habitat, monitoring, predators, wildlife.
introduction
The leopard is one of the most
adaptable large carnivores on the planet (Sunquist
& Sunquist 2002). It is present in a wide range
of habitats, from deserts to rainforests, from humid tropics to temperate zones
(Jacobson et al. 2016; da Silva et al. 2017). The natural habitat for leopards
in Malaysia had decreased substantially when 14% of Malaysia’s forest cover had
been lost from years 2000 to 2012 (Hedges et al. 2015). Paved roads have been
constructed in the remaining forest blocks in the Peninsula Malaysia (Hedges et
al. 2015). The leopard’s geographic range extends from Africa, central Asia,
and the Indian subcontinent, including Sri Lanka, to
much of eastern Asia, and the Russian Far East (Chew 2019). In Southeast Asia,
it occurs from Myanmar to Thailand and Vietnam, south to Peninsular Malaysia, and the
Indonesian island of Java (Stein et al. 2016).
Indochinese leopard (P. p. delacouri) might be extinct in Lao PDR, Vietnam, and
Singapore and may occur in small fragmented populations in Cambodia,
southeastern China, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. The Indochinese Leopard is
classified as ‘Critically Endangered’. At present, this species is at high risk
of extinction due to poaching and high deforestation rates in southeastern Asia
(Rostro-García et al. 2016). Due to prey depletion, the leopard is restricted
to a few small fragmented areas and protected areas (Forbes 2024).
Melanistic leopards can be
distinguished by their intense black pigments which almost obscure the
rosettes. Melanistic leopards or black panthers can be found mostly in the
southern part of Isthmus Kra encompassing Peninsular
Malaysia and southern Thailand (Kawanishi et al.
2010; Hedges et al. 2015).
Ulu Sat Forest Reserve is one of
the 12,000 ha of permanent forest reserve (PFR) in Kelantan and is under the
management of the Forestry Department of Peninsula Malaysia which had been
protected and reserved from any illegal logging activities. In this article,
the presence of a melanistic leopard was reported in Ulu Sat Permanent Forest
Reserve, Machang District, Kelantan, Peninsular
Malaysia. The leopard was recorded by a camera trap installed between 9 April
2023 and 26 May 2023. Camera traps were placed in the area for reconnaissance
survey prior to an extensive camera trapping survey targeting wild felids in
the study area and also Chabang Tongkat Forest
Reserve.
Study area
The study area is located in Ulu Sat Permanent
Forest Reserve (USPFR) (5.717 0N & 102.317 0E), an
approximately 148 km² protected area located in Machang
District, eastern Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia (Image 1). This site is an
ecologically important forest habitat for water catchments in producing,
maintaining, and reserving water for natural and human consumption. It makes
the area very significant for the nearby local community (Samsudin
et al. 2020; Abas et al. 2021). Ulu Sat Forest Reserve’s natural vegetation is
still intact and covered with approximately over 0.65 p/pet and the forest is classed as tropical
wet with a tropical moist forest biozone (Abas et al. 2021). Ulu Sat Forest
Reserve and Chabang Tongkat Forest Reserve together
with Temangan Forest Reserve are put under secondary
linkage (D-SL 3: Chabang Tongkat FR–Ulu Sat FR–Temangan FR). The types of forest in the USPFR are lowland
and the hill is of dipterocarp forest. The area is undulating, and the full
elevation range of USPFR is 60–600 m.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In this study, two camera trap
units (Reconyx Hyperfire)
were installed at two random locations in USPFR. The main purpose of the study
was to have prior information on the presence of wild felid species. Camera
traps were mounted on the trees bordering forest trails at a height of about
0.5 m above the ground to permit the detection of medium and large-sized
mammals without using any bait (Jansen et al. 2014). The camera traps were
programmed at a one-second interval between three series of images to maximize
the chance to capture wildlife photos. The location of each camera was recorded
with a global positioning system (Garmin GPSMAP 64s) to record their local
information such as date of installation, the coordinates, and elevation range.
The GPS units also made it easy for colleagues to return to the area to
retrieve the cameras. Precautions were taken to minimize the risk of letting
the cameras be stolen or damaged by wildlife. The reconnaissance survey lasted
from 9 April 2023 until 26 May 2023. The surveyors visited the camera traps
only twice, during their setting up and retrieval. All images have been
extracted, sorted, and identified accordingly. Images that phantom or remain
unidentified due to blurry images were excluded from the results. The cameras and
memory card were tagged and identified with unique camera trap numbers for
reference.
RESULTS
From this study, a total of 603
photos of terrestrial vertebrates were captured during the sampling period. The
camera traps operated between 9 April to 26 May 2023 and the images were
obtained from a total of 94 trap nights. The 603 photos yielded 41 independent
photos of wildlife, and 13 phantom images were discarded. The image of the
melanistic leopard clearly shows it to be a female, with traces of torn skin on
the back of the body. The image was recorded on 11 May 2023 at 0701 h (Image
2). This leopard was detected at the old logging road built on the ridge at
0701 h at 428 m elevation. This discovery is expected to arouse interest in
leopards in Malaysia and their habitat in the Ulu Sat Permanent Forest Reserve.
Besides melanistic leopard, other
wildlife which were detected consisted of wild boar Sus
scrofa, Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus macrourus,
Barking Deer Muntiacus muntjak,
Malayan Tapir Tapirus indicus, Asiatic
Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis, Malayan Porcupine Hystrix
brachyura, Southern Serow
Capricornis sumatraensis,
Malayan Sunbear Helarctos
malayanus, Yellow-throated Marten Martes flagivula,
White-thighed Surili Presbytis
siamensis, and Crestless Fireback
Lophura erythrophthalma.
DISCUSSION
In 2018, a
Biological Diversity Scientific Expedition program in the Ulu Sat Forest
Reserve was organized by the Kelantan State Forestry Department in
collaboration with Universiti Malaysia Kelantan. On
the expedition, a preliminary study of the installation of camera traps was
carried out to assess the presence of terrestrial vertebrates. The results of
the study have recorded eight species of terrestrial vertebrates, namely Wild
Boar Sus scrofa,
Malayan Sun Bear Helarctos malayanus, Malayan Tapir Tapirus
indicus, Southern Red Muntjac Muntiacus
muntjak, Clouded Leopard Neofelis
nebulosa, Leopard Cat Prionailurus
bengalensis, Dhole Cuon
alpinus, and Asiatic Golden Cat Catopuma temminckii
(Hazizi et al. 2020). The study was not intensive on
the Ulu Sat Forest Reserve. Apart from the eight species above, a rare felid
species was also recorded for the first time, the Marbled Cat Pardofelis marmorata on the same expedition
but in a different location (Hambali et al. 2019).
The present
research has been able to make a first-time record of the remarkable
morphological variation, the melanistic leopard Panthera
pardus delacouri in
USPFR. Previously in Malaysia, leopards were recorded in Belum-Temengor, Taman Negara, Endau Rompin,
Krau Wildlife Reserve, Pasoh,
Ayer Hitam Forest Reserves (Chew 2019), Jeli and Ulu Muda (Hambali et al.
2021). This discovery is considered important as the leopard subspecies is
classified as ‘Critically Endangered’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species (Rostro-García et al. 2019). According to the Red List of Mammals for
Peninsular Malaysia Version 2.0, this animal species is categorized as
endangered (PERHILITAN 2017). Panthera pardus has been placed in Schedule 2 where it is a
protected animal (Wildlife Conservation Act 2010). This protected animal
requires a special permit to carry out any activity against it and if there are
no special permits strict measures such as summons, and imprisonment can be
imposed.
The Indochinese
leopard faces multiple threats that contribute to its dwindling and endangered
status. These threats include habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation due
to factors such as agriculture (Sodhi et al. 2010; Miettinen et al. 2011; Wilcove et
al. 2013) and infrastructure development especially roads (Clements et al.
2014). As the human population expands and exploits natural resources, the
leopard’s habitat is encroached upon and diminished. From 2011 to 2018 a total
of 54,224 human-wildlife negative interaction cases were recorded. In these, a
total of 207 cases of human leopard conflicts occurred from 2011 to 2018 (Xin
et al. 2024). From the total of leopard cases, it was stated that 104 cases
come from black panthers and the rest from non-melanistic leopards (Xin et al.
2024).
Ulu Sat is
known for its rich biodiversity and dense tropical rainforest. Preserving the
integrity of USPFR is essential for safeguarding its unique biodiversity of
flora including rafflesia, araceae
(A. cochinchinense and A. puber), and fauna such as the leopard, Malayan tapir,
and Sumatran serow in supporting sustainable
ecosystem services in the area (Meisery et al. 2020).
The discovery of a melanistic leopard within the boundaries of Ulu Sat Forest
Reserve highlights the importance of this protected area in safeguarding rare
and elusive wildlife species amidst the challenges posed by deforestation and
illegal wildlife trade in southeastern Asia. The melanistic leopard found in
the present study shows that further study is needed to determine their
population, their basic ecology, activity pattern, and distribution. In the
future, it is expected that conservation actions for leopards in the study area
and the state of Kelantan can be developed. To protect the leopard population
in Malaysia, collaboration and cooperation between governmental and
non-governmental organizations will be imperative. Also, by integrating
conservation education into the curriculums and research programs of local
schools and universities, larger audiences can be reached to strengthen
conservation efforts for leopards in Malaysia and their habitat which is the
Ulu Sat Permanent Forest Reserve. Residents living around the study area need
to be given exposure and awareness about the species and the importance of
conserving them in their natural habitat.
For
images - - click here for full PDF
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