Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MSc (Veterinary Tropical Diseases)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print format.

No description available.

This thesis describes and compares the feeding ecology and social organization of felids, especially the Scottish wildcat and the domestic cat, with the aim of understanding the adaptive significance of interand intro-specific differences in social behaviour. The field work was conducted over three years from November 1975. Wildcats were studied at Glen Tanar Estate, Aberdeenshire. Domestic cats were studied in two areas; they were either 'free-ranging' when living unrestrained in farmland in the Outer Hebrides or 'feral' on the uninhabited Monach islands.The main food of wildcats and domestic cats was rabbits, especially young rabbits and rabbits with myxomatosis, which were taken in proportion to their availability. These rabbits showed different anti-predator behaviour than adult rabbits. Rabbits occurred in patches in particular habitats and fewer were present in winter than insummer. Cats hunted-by-themselves and they were more successful in finding and catching rabbits by moving around and stalking (mobile strategy) than by lying in wait at rabbit holes (stationery strategy). Differences in hunting success between cats were related to differences in social status; by excluding subordinate cats from good hunting areas, dominant cats had more opportunities to catch rabbits.Radio-tracking revealed that wildcats were solitary and territorial;they also used faeces as scant marks within their territories. Adults had larger ranges than young wildcats but all were centred on forestscrub habitats which provided most food, cover for stalking and refugefrom bad weather in winter. Ranges of males sometifes partly overlapped the ranges of females, but the ranges of females never overlapped.Free-ranging domestic cats had overlapping hunting ranges but each cat hunted alone. Most litters were born in the fields and breeding pairs were more aggressive, urine-sprayed more frequently and excluded othercats from an area surrounding their dens. In winter, these cats relied on food handouts and scavenging from the farms and lived more communally to exploit this highly clumped food.The feral cats on the island were solitary and dominant cats defended territories centred on rabbit stronghold areas. Faeces were used as scent posts, as in wildcats, but unlike subordinate and free-ranging domestic cats who usually buried faeces. Litters were born at any time of year but during the years of study, all kittens died of starvation in winter,These results were compared with other studies of felids. Most felids are solitary but lions and domestic cats may live in groups, or alone, or a mixture of these life styles, and this intraspecific variation is at least as large as the interspecific variation shown between felids. I concluded that the availability, dispersion and acquisition of food is an important selective force acting on social organization. The basic hunting technique of all felids is solitary stalking but where prey is abundant, relatively large sized or easy to acquire, andpatchily distributed, cats may live in groups. In contrast, where prey is lose abundant, smaller and more dispersed, cats live and hunt solitarily in larger defended territories.

Thesis--Princeton University.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on April 1, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-117). Also issued in print.

Phylogeny of several fur characters has been studied in the family Felidae. Fur characters were compared with other morphological, ecological and behavioral characters based on basic phylogenetic parameters (L, CI, RI). I detected character states for ancestor of specific well-supported clades (lineages) and described characters evolution in Felidae. Some basic fur characters were statistically analyzed for possible correlations with some ecological and behavioral characters

Phylogeny of several fur characters has been studied in the family Felidae. Fur characters were compared with other morphological, ecological and behavioral characters based on basic phylogenetic parameters (L, CI, RI). I detected character states for ancestor of specific well-supported clades (lineages) and described characters evolution in Felidae. Some basic fur characters were statistically analyzed for possible correlations with some ecological and behavioral characters

O presente estudo teve como objetivo utilizar a técnica de enzimaimunoensaio (EIE) com o Ac monoclonal CL425 na dosagem de metabólitos de progestinas fecais para caracterizar o perfil no início da atividade ovariana e durante o ciclo estral em onça pintada (Panthera onca) e durante a gestação e lactação em gato mourisco (Puma yagouaroundi). Foram estudadas três fêmeas de onça pintada em fases distintas (pré-puberes n=2 e adulta n=1) e três fêmeas de gato mourisco em duas fases distintas (gestantes n=2 e lactantes n=3). O protocolo empregado no EIE foi validado para a mensuração de progestinas em fezes de onça pintada e gato mourisco (r=0,98, p=0,0078; r=0,97, p=0,0130, respectivamente). Observou-se que os animais pré-puberes apresentaram início da produção de progesterona nos meses de setembro e novembro. As elevações das progestinas fecais na fêmea adulta de onça pintada não se sustentaram, indicando que não ocorreu ovulação espontânea nessa espécie. Houve diferença significativa entre as concentrações médias de progestinas fecais (p<0,001) dos animais pré-púberes e adultos no grupo das fêmeas de onça pintada. No grupo das fêmeas de gato mourisco, não foi possível diferenciar as concentrações de progestinas fecais durante a gestação e lactação.Obtivemos correlação entre as concentrações de progestinas fecais medida pelos métodos de radioimunoensaio (RIE) e enzimaimunoensaio (r=0,98, p<0,0001). / The present study had as objective to use the technique of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) with monoclonal antibody CL425 in the dosage of faecal progestin to characterize the profile during ovarian activity beginning and estral cycle in jaguar (Panthera onca) and gestation and lactation in jaguarondi (Puma yagouaroundi). Three female jaguars were studied in distinct phases (pre-pubertal n=2 and adult n=1) and three female jaguarondi were studied during two distinct phases (gestation n=2 and lactation n=3). The EIA used was validated for faecal progestin measurement in jaguar and jaguarondi (r=0,98, p=0,0078; r=0,97, p=0,0130, respectively). The beginning of progesterone production for pre-pubertal animals was in September and November. Elevations of progestin in the adult jaguar were not supported, showing that there was not spontaneous ovulation for this specie. There was significant difference between medium progestin concentrations (p<0,001) of pre-pubertal and adult jaguars. It was not possible to identify different progestin concentrations during gestation and lactation in female jaguarondi. The faecal progestin profiles measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA) corresponded well and were positively correlated (r=0,98, p<0,0001).

Thesis (MTech (Nature Conservation))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of whiskers has been used to identify temporal feeding habits, intra-population diet variation, as well as individual dietary specialisation of marine and terrestrial carnivores. However, the potential of the method to disclose such dietary information for large wild felids has been little explored. The accurate interpretation of stable isotope ratios along serially sampled whiskers is hampered by lack of information on species-specific whisker growth rates, whisker growth patterns and whisker-diet trophic discrimination factors (TDFs). Whisker growth rate and growth pattern informs on the time period encapsulated in the analysed segment of a whisker, while whisker-diet TDFs are required to make correct deductions of the prey species consumed by a predator. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the technique of using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of felid whiskers to quantify the diet of wild felids and in particular, to identify diet variation among individuals. To achieve this, lion Panthera leo and leopard Panthera pardus whisker growth rate and growth pattern, and lion whisker-diet TDFs were measured, using captive individuals held at the National Zoological Gardens, Pretoria. The viability and applicability of the technique was then explored on six free-ranging leopards in Phinda Private Game Reserve (hereafter Phinda), northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) whose diets have been intensively studied using traditional methods. Whisker growth rates and growth patterns were measured for four lions (three sub-adult females and one adult male) and an adult male leopard over 185 days using giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis meat as an endogenous biomarker to consecutively mark whiskers as they grew. The 13C-depleted, C3-derived giraffe meat with its characteristic isotopic signature could be discerned from the 13C-enriched diet of C4 grain-fed beef and chicken the felids were sustained on. Two whiskers were removed from each felid at the beginning of the experiment, and felids were fed the giraffe meat at four predetermined periods to mark the whiskers replacing the removed ones. The periods with low δ13C values, identified following serial sectioning of the regrown whiskers at 1 mm intervals (and stable isotope analysis of these sections), were then correlated to specific giraffe meat feeding bouts and hence growth periods. Knowledge of the duration between giraffe meat feeding bouts enabled the calculation of whisker growth rate and determination of growth pattern. δ13C and δ15N whisker-diet TDFs were estimated for five lions whose diet remained consistent over multiple years. Whiskers removed from four lions at the beginning of the whisker growth experiment, a whisker removed from a female lion as part of a pilot study a year before the experiment and the diet (chicken and beef) samples collected during the experiment were analysed for their isotopic ratios. These were used to calculate isotopic differences between lion whiskers and diet.