The Wild Cats of Monteverde Cloud Forests Costa Rica
Wild cats in Monteverde Costa Rica. The recent find by traffic police of a dead puma outside the cloud forests reserves in Monteverde, as well as frequent spotting by farmers are pointing to the fact that pumas are not as uncommon as thought.
The unfortunate puma was taken to the Santa Elena to be prepared for display (for educational purposes) by Costa Rica`s leading taxologist (Jorge Porras, Natural Science Museum La Salle). The puma is to be used as symbol for the need for drivers to take care when driving in Monteverde. The builders of the new road to Monteverde are providing wildlife "corridors"- under the road: the accident with the puma supports the need for this type of green passages.
The following article is By Dr. Kara Lefevre, 4 February 2014
No doubt one of the main reasons you want to visit Costa Rica is its unparalleled biological diversity. We have already talked about the cloud forest’s stunning array of plants, insects, herptiles and bird life — and yes, the furry animals follow that same splendid pattern. The country is home to about 207 species of mammals, at least 120 of which can be found in Monteverde’s high-elevation habitats.
As a group, mammals are more enigmatic than all of those other flashy creatures. They are typically nocturnal and shy, making them more difficult to observe. So, while Monteverde’s biota (the total collection of organisms of a geographic region) is well-studied within the country, the research that has been conducted on most mammals concerns basic information about species distributions, and not much more.
Often the animals that visitors are most excited about seeing are the large, charismatic species.
For example, you may wonder, do large wild cats even persist in this area, and will you have a chance to spot them.
Well, yes and no. Happily, among Monteverde’s 120 species from 10 mammalian orders and 25 families are 6 (!) species of cats, the members of family Felidae (that’s pretty impressive, considering that the felids throughout the Neo tropics number only 12 species).
The Cats of Monteverde
(with data from Timm & LaVal 2000, and Ruiz-Garcia & Shostell 2013).
| Family Felidae | Common names (English, Spanish) | Local Abundance |
| | | |
| Leopardus pardalis | Ocelot | uncommon |
| | Manigordo,Ocelote | |
| | | |
| Leopardus tigrinus | Little Spotted Cat | uncertain |
| | Tigrillo, Gatotigre, Oncilla | |
| | | |
| Leopardus wiedii | Margay | uncommon |
| | Caucél | |
| | | |
| Panthera onca | Jaguar | rare |
| | Tigre | |
| | | |
| Puma concolor | Puma, Mountain Lion, Cougar | uncommon* these cats are being seen regularly by hidden cameras in the Santa Elena Reserve - so perhaps not too uncommon! |
| | Puma, León de montaña | |
| | | |
| Puma yaguaroundi | Jaguarundi | uncommon |
| (=Herpailurusyaguaroundi) | Tcholomuco | |
uncommon = observed occasionally in appropriate habitats
rare = very few records for Monteverde
The cat fauna of Costa Rica is believed to have originated from North America. In fact, this species assemblage is relatively recent, compared to the groups of cats found on other continents. Costa Rica forms part of a narrow land bridge between North and South America that facilitates the spread of species between the two areas, starting sometime around the boundary between the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs (roughly two million years ago).
Details about the ecology of wild cats are not well known. These fascinating animals occupy the highest trophic levels in their ecosystems, and they attract the passionate interest and attention of people. However they are even more elusive than mammals in general, and they need large home ranges with plenty of space to live, hunt and roam. They therefore have spotty distributions across large and often remote areas, making them all the morechallenging and expensive to study. Studies of cat community structure, breeding and behaviour have not been conducted in Monteverde.
Worldwide — and certainly in the Neotropics — wild cats face steep population declines. The main pressures on them are human population growth, along with the inevitable deforestation, habitat degradation, hunting, and associated ecological change that happens when people move into natural areas. Carnivores do not respond well to sudden/large-scale habitat changes, due to their small population sizes, slow growth rates, and large space requirements.
The creation of protected areas like those in Monteverde is one of the main strategies for safeguarding the critical habitat of these animals. While the odds of actually seeing a cat while you are on a forest walk are fairly slim, spotting signs of them is entirely possible. The Desafio guide Rodrigo Solano recently took this picture (left) in the Monteverde Cloud Forest.
And to make sure you really know what to keep your eyes open for, here are some facts about the six species that live in the cloud forest, ordered from smallest to largest cat. Good luck spotting, and happy trails!
References
- Henderson CL (2002). Field Guide to the Wildlife of Costa Rica, University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, USA.
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (accessed 4 Feb 2014)
- http://www.iucnredlist.org/
- Morales MM &Giannini NP (2013).Pleistocene extinctions and the perceived morphofunctional structure of the Neotropical felid ensemble.Journal of Mammalian Evolution.doi10.1007/s10914-013-9244-3.
- Ruiz-Garcia M &Shostell JM (Eds),Molecular Population Genetics, Evolutionary Biology and Biological Conservation of Neotropical Carnivores.Nova Publishers, New York, NY, USA.
- Timm RM & LaVal RK, Eds. (2000). Mammals. Pages 223-244 inNadkarni NM & Wheelwright NT (Eds). Monteverde: Ecology and Conservation of a Tropical Cloud Forest. Oxford University Press, New York, USA.
