Work

CHARACTERISTICS OF DEFECATION SITES OF THE GEOFFROY'S CAT Leopardus geoffroyi

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: Little is known about the use of feces in scent marking by small wildcats. We analyzed the characteristics of 357 Geoffroy’s cat, Leopardus geoffroyi, defecation sites in five protected areas of Argentina. Defecation sites were mainly found in trees (47.6%) or on the ground (38.1%), and the frequency of occurrence of the types of sites differed between areas. Almost half (47.3%) of defecation sites were latrines, with 6.1 ± 3.6 (mean ± SD) feces each. Geoffroy’s cats were flexible in the choice of defecation sites, but mainly deposited feces in latrines located in conspicuous sites. These results suggest that Geoffroy’s cats use feces in olfactory/visual communication.

Source: Americanae (AECID Library)

Authors: Lucía Soler, Mauro Lucherini, Claudia Manfredi, Mariano Ciuccio, Emma B. Casanave

Institutions: Universidad Nacional del Sur, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Language: English

Topic: Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Subfield: Ecology

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W1608378596

FWCI: 1.073

Cites: 12

Cited by: 23

Related to: 10