Abstract
Little is known about the ecology of the Sand Cat Felis margarita throughout its range in the deserts of northern Africa to central Asia. We present observations of the Sand Cat in the southern Kyzylkum Desert, Uzbekistan, potentially preying upon a large bird and returning to the kill on subsequent nights. This record contributes to the knowledge about the feeding ecology and varied diet of the Sand Cat and its opportunistic hunting strategy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 13492-13496 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Threatened Taxa |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Mar 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding: The Ahmed bin Zayed Charitable Foundation.Acknowledgements: The authors are funded by the Ahmed bin Zayed Charitable Foundation. We are grateful to Angie Appel for her insightful knowledge and valuable feedback, to Erasil Khaitov for his tracking expertise and extensive knowledge of the desert, and to the Emirates Bird Breeding Center for Conservation (EBBCC) for their support. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments that helped improve the manuscript. Field research into Asian Houbara ecology is conducted under permissions from Gosbiokontrol, Uzbekistan.
Data Availability Statement
No data availability statement.Keywords
- Asian Houbara
- Bukhara region
- camera trapping
- Chlamydotis macqueenii
- conservation needs
- opportunistic feeding
- scavenging