Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2024 | 16(7): 25571–25576
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9122.16.7.25571-25576
#9122 | Received 01 May 2024 | Final received 02 July 2024 | Finally
accepted 08 July 2024
Small Wild Cats Special Series
Rare
encounters: Jungle Cat Felis chaus Schreber, 1777 (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in the lower
reaches of the Jordan River, Jordan
Ehab Eid 1 &
Mohammad Farid Alayyan 2
1 Lutfi Queder Street, Al-Yadodah 11610,
Amman, Jordan.
2 Ghzaleh
Street, Khelda Um Alsummaq,
Amman, Jordan.
1 eha_jo@yahoo.com (corresponding
author), 2 blueberrytradingest@gmail.com
Editor: Angie Appel, Wild Cat Network, Germany.
Date of publication: 26 July 2024 (online & print)
Citation: Eid, E. & M.F. Alayyan
(2024).
Rare encounters: Jungle Cat Felis chaus Schreber, 1777
(Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in the lower reaches of the Jordan River,
Jordan. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(7): 25571–25576. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9122.16.7.25571-25576
Copyright: © Eid & Alayyan 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: This project is self-funded by the authors.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Author details: Mr. Ehab Eid is a steering committee member in the IUCN SSC, vice chair for West Asia, and an editorial board member at IUCN, with over 22-years of experience in terrestrial and marine biodiversity conservation and protected areas management in the Middle East. Mr. Mohammad Farid Alayyan has worked with INGOs such as OXFAM and managed a family agriculture venture focused on citrus. His experience in this private enterprise at a migration stopover site has enriched his knowledge of species and conservation efforts.
Author contributions: E.E and M.F.A participated in research design and data collection. E.E. analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. E.E and M.F.A reviewed the article and gave final approval for publication.
Acknowledgements: We extend our gratitude to all farmers for their support and cooperation during the survey. We
also appreciate the valuable suggestions and comments from the reviewers and
Angie Appel, which significantly enhanced the content of the manuscript.
Keywords: Bycatch, camera trap, citizen science, habitats
suitability, human-induced threats, northern ghor,
other effective conservation measures, private farms, riverbed, threatened
species.
Consensus
across various red list assessments indicates a decline in the Jungle Cat Felis chaus
population at national, regional, and global levels, in addition to the paucity
of available information. It has been assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red
List, and the global population is thought to be declining (Gray et al. 2016).
However, regional assessments in West Asia vary. It is classified as Data
Deficient in the Mediterranean Region and the Arabian Peninsula (Temple & Cuttelod 2009; Jdeidi et al.
2010; Mallon et al. 2023), but Critically Endangered in Jordan due to limited
occupancy and presumed population decline (Eid et al. 2020).
The
Jungle Cat is distributed across a wide range, from the Anatolian region in
Turkey (Gerngross 2014; Ünal
& Eryilmaz 2020) southward to the Nile River
valley in Egypt (Basuony 2000). In the Levant, it
occurs in southern Lebanon, Palestine and western Jordan (Qumsiyeh
1996; Amr 2000; Tohme & Tohme
2000). To the east of the Levant, its range extends to the Euphrates and Tigris
Rivers in Syria and Iraq (Masseti 2009; Al-Zubaidi et al. 2017; Mallon et al. 2023), the Iranian
Plateau and the Caucasus (Sanei et al. 2016; Askerov et al. 2022) to central, southern, and southeastern
Asia (Gray et al. 2016).
The
Jungle Cat is considered rare in Jordan, with a limited distribution mainly
confined to the country’s northwestern region (Eid et al. 2020). Information
about it is scarce, possibly due to restricted access to the Jordan River,
designated as a military zone with limited access for people (Abu Baker et al.
2003). The only known records are two deceased specimens found on 10 February
1998 in Al–Baqurah within the Yarmouk River Valley
(Abu Baker et al. 2003; Eid et al. 2020). Since then, there have been no
further records on its status or potential distribution in Jordan. Abu Baker et
al. (2003) suggested that its range might extend to the lower regions of the
Jordan River and its main tributaries.
Here we
report photographic evidence of the continued presence of the Jungle Cat in
Jordan obtained during a monitoring survey targeting the Golden Jackal Canis aureus in northwestern Jordan.
Our
survey was conducted in the lower reaches of the Jordan River between the Sea
of Galilee and the Dead Sea in Jordan (Ibrahim et al. 1976; Katz 2022). The
study area encompassed a 9.9 ha private farm in Sheikh Hussein, northern Ghor (Figure 1), cultivating citrus varieties using
irrigation, fertilization, and herbicide control. The farm boundaries extend to
the Jordan River, and the farm’s landscape features riparian vegetation
dominated by Common Reed Phragmites communis,
Cattail Typha domingensis, and Athel Tree Tamarix aphylla. Additionally, various shrubs and herbs
thrive, including Sieber’s Wormwood Artemisia sieberi, Christ’s Thorn Jujube Ziziphus
spina-christi, Arabian Fagonia
Fagonia arabica, and Common Mallow Malva sylvestris.
The farm serves as a sanctuary for migratory birds such as ducks, herons,
egrets and storks. Despite this, the dense reed may pose a fire hazard,
prompting farmers to actively manage it through removal, controlled burning or
herbicide application to maintain a sustainable farming environment.
We
deployed four Dark Ops HD MAX Browning camera traps that were set to a trigger
speed of 0.6 seconds with a trigger delay of one second. The cameras were
active for 24 hours at the same locations during the entire study period and
were checked monthly. They were fastened to iron sticks anchored in the
riverbed and positioned approximately 40–50 cm above ground in both south and
north directions to avoid false records during sunrise and sunset. No bait was
used to ensure neutral data collection. Their locations were determined using a
Garmin eTrex 20x device set to datum WGS84.
Our
total survey effort covered 2,548 camera trap days at four locations from 1
June 2020 to 28 February 2022. We obtained five photographs of solitary Jungle
Cats at all four camera trap locations. Four records occurred during late-night
or early-morning hours and one in the afternoon. In 2021, the Jungle Cat was
photographed on 12 January at 1258 h, 17 January at 2133 h, 11 April at 2135 h,
and 3 September at 2241 h. The only record in 2022 occurred on 30 January at
0212 h (Image 1).
During
the survey, several other species were recorded, including the Golden Jackal Canis aureus, Egyptian Mongoose Herpestes ichneumon, Wild Boar Sus scrofa, Red Fox
Vulpes vulpes, various rodent and numerous
bird species.
Our
survey is the first camera-trapping study in the Jordan River basin. Our
results confirm the continued presence of the Jungle Cat in the lower reaches
of the Jordan River nearly 22 years after two dead specimens were found near
the Yarmouk River, a tributary of the Jordan River (Abu Baker et al. 2003).
However, the limited number of photographs did not allow to determine the
number of individuals in our study area.
We
consider the agricultural setting of our study area and its surroundings to
represent a suitable habitat for the Jungle Cat. Thick and dense riparian
vegetation along riverbeds has been suggested to provide ideal hiding and
movement spaces (Abu Baker et al. 2003; Masseti 2009; Sanei
et al. 2016; Eid et al. 2020; Mishra et al. 2020; Desai et al. 2022). As
documented by our survey, the area also hosts abundant rodents, which
constitute the most important prey items of the Jungle Cat (Mukherjee et al.
2004; Majumder et al. 2011; Rostro-García et al. 2021).
The
camera traps frequently documented four feral dogs Canis
familiaris on the farm, which the owner kept
after rescuing them. Despite more than 18 months of study duration, the Jungle
Cat was recorded rather infrequently. The low detection rate can be attributed
to the dense growth of reed plants, which significantly hindered visibility,
affected the quality of photographs and resulted in numerous photographs of
plants swaying in the wind. This situation required considerable effort to
repeatedly remove reed growth. Active agricultural operations of workers,
roaming feral dogs, Golden Jackals and other wildlife using the same habitat
day and night
added complexity to the recording environment. However, this challenging
setting might also benefit the Jungle Cats, allowing them to manoeuvre quietly through dense vegetation (Abu Baker et
al. 2003) and avoid encounters with humans, feral dogs and other competitors.
The low detection rate of the Jungle Cat can also be attributed to the
exceedingly small population within our study area and its surroundings.
We
identified several human-induced threats to the Jungle Cat population,
consistent with findings by other scholars (Abu Baker et al. 2003; Eid et al.
2020, 2022). These threats include habitat alteration, fragmentation and
degradation due to agricultural expansion, the burning of wetland reeds, prey
depletion from widespread pesticide use, and bycatch. An incident of bycatch
involved the capture of an adult Jungle Cat in November 2021 in the Al-Mashare’e area, approximately 6 km south of our study area.
The cat was caught in a net intended for chicken protection but escaped after
being video-recorded. Further investigations using citizen science may reveal
more instances of accidental or incidental hunting of the Jungle Cat,
potentially challenging literature that suggests no hunting of this species
occurs in Jordan (Abu Baker et al. 2003; Eid & Handal
2018). Elsewhere in its range, the Jungle Cat is threatened by the conversion
of natural wetlands to agricultural lands, excessive destruction and burning of
reeds, pollution due to extensive pesticide use, and poaching (Ogurlu et al. 2010; Gray et al. 2016; Sanei
et al. 2016;
Barkat et al. 2021).
Furthermore,
the restricted niche where wild and domestic species coexist exacerbates the
threat to the Jungle Cat. This was confirmed through species distribution
models assessing suitable habitats for the Jungle Cat in Jordan, which revealed
a significant decline in these habitats. Projections indicate a 33% reduction
by 2050 and a staggering loss of 90% by 2070 under the Representative
Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6 scenario. Even under the RCP 8.5 scenario, an
84% habitat loss is forecasted by 2070 (Eid et al. 2022). These alarming trends
emphasize the need for conservation efforts to protect the Jungle Cat from
extinction. It was not documented in Jordan’s trade or folk medicine (Eid et
al. 2011; Aloufi & Eid 2016). A single
individual, claimed to be brought from Syria, was confiscated at a private farm
in Mafraq city in eastern Jordan in 2005 (Ehab Eid, unpublished data).
The
designation of Yarmouk protected area in 2010 in the Yarmouk River valley and
the military control of border areas may be beneficial for the conservation of
the Jungle Cat, in view of historical records of dead specimens in this area
(Abu Baker et al. 2003). No sightings have been recorded within the protected
area to date (Sufian Al-Yahya, pers. comm. 3 February
2024). This absence of sightings may be due to restricted site access or
limited survey efforts. Therefore, targeted research and collaboration with the
military are essential to determine the Jungle Cat’s status.
Despite
the Jungle Cat being listed in Appendix I of the Wildlife Protection of the
Agricultural Law Number 13 of 2015, based on Regulation Number 43 of 2008, enforcing
these legal instruments in Jordan is ineffective. Mitigating threats and
preventing species extinction requires a thorough review and development of the
legal framework associated with effective implementation.
The
Jungle Cat’s presence within this limited access protected zone underscores the
critical need for targeted conservation measures. The Jordanian government,
particularly the Ministry of Environment and conservation organizations such as
the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, should explore establishing
Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs). Farhadinia
et al. (2022) recommended this approach to meet post-2020 biodiversity targets
in Asia, noting that achieving the ambitious 2030 goal requires a substantial
increase in protected area coverage. Currently, the riverbeds of the Yarmouk
and Jordan Rivers are under army protection, presenting a valuable opportunity
for species and habitat conservation and implementing OECMs, especially in view
of the area’s limited accessibility. Specifically, implementing OECMs through
strategic partnerships with military units along the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers
is essential to safeguard the Jungle Cat population and prevent its potential
extinction in Jordan.
The
results of this study are highly significant as they pave the way for further
research into the status of the Jungle Cat across the entire Jordan River basin
and its tributaries, extending northward to include the Yarmouk River.
Establishing effective communication and collaboration with military units will
facilitate and support the implementation of surveys. Regional cooperation with
the West Bank in Palestine and southeastern Syria adjacent to the Yarmouk River
valley is crucial, as it will likely yield important insights into the Jungle
Cat’s status and habitat use. Understanding the regional context will aid
conservation efforts, particularly during species Red Listing and considering
the rescue effect. These findings highlight the need for a coordinated approach
to wildlife management and conservation, enhancing our understanding and
enabling more effective protection measures for the Jungle Cat.
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figure & image - - click here for full PDF
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