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West Africa’s forgotten felines endangered by conflict and research gaps

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In the border region between Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso lies a network of protected areas that form one of the largest intact wildernesses in West Africa. The W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) Complex is a mosaic of gallery forests, savannas and riparian habitats, and the last refuge for many of the region’s most iconic species, including West African lions (Panthera leo leo), savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) and cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus). With conservation focused on these threatened and beloved species, it’s easy for the small cats to get lost. There are three species of small cats — servals (Leptailurus serval), caracals (Caracal caracal) and African wildcats (Felis lybica) — in the WAP complex. Though all three have a conservation status of least concern on the IUCN Red List, there are few hard facts about their numbers in the WAP Complex or West Africa. With continuing insecurity plaguing the region, and little money for small cat research, these species risk falling even further into obscurity. “If I had to summarize in a sentence the situation of small cats in the WAP (and in West Africa in general), I would say that we barely know anything about them and the threats they are facing,” Marine Drouilly, regional carnivore monitoring coordinator for West and Central Africa at the cat-focused NGO Panthera, tells Mongabay in an email. “There is a very big lack of research on all aspects of their ecology, from their distribution to their population dynamics, their biology and their relations with people.” A serval…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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