Diversity and activity pattern of wild cats in Way Kambas National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Camera trapping was applied for assess the diversity and activity pattern of wild cats in Way Kambas National Park on May 2013 to May 2014. Fifty-seven cameras were systematically set within 480 km2 area covering a total of 4,610 trap nights. Of 4,017 recorded videos, four wild cats species were capture and identified, those are sumateran tiger (Pathera tigris sumatrae), clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), leopard cat (Pardofelis marmorota) and marbled cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). The highest capture rate (video per 100 trap nights) was sumatran tiger and leopard cat (0.87) followed by marbled cat (0.11) and clouded leopard (0.09). Sumatran tiger and marbled cat were cathemeral. Sumatran tiger was found active during both day (51.6 %) and night (48.4 %) with its highest activity was between 05.00 – 06.00 hours and 05.00 – 06.00 hours, whilst marbled cat was active during the day (41.2 %) and night (58.8 %) with it highest activity found between 12.00 to 02.00 hours and 05.00 – 06.00 hours. The other two cat species, leopard cat and marbled cat were mostly nocturnal with the highest activity recorded at 05.00 – 06.00 hours and 21.00 – 22.00 hours for clouded leopard and 05.00 – 06.00 hours for leopard cat. Our study demonstrates that the Way Kambas National Park is an important habitat for wild cats in Sumatra, although the presence of other rarer cat species in the park, such as golden cat and flat-headed cat still needs to be confirmed by further long-term monitoring study.