At over 3,500 meters altitude in the Andean mountain range, camera traps can pass weeks without recording a single movement. In these landscapes, where everything seems so still, the Andean mountain cat (Leopardus jacobita) only appears for a few moments.
Little more than 1,330 of these wild felines are estimated to remain in Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. The statistic is low and at the same time uncertain. The “phantom of the Andes”, one of the most endangered felines in South America, continues to be difficult to study and thus to protect. This little predator lives in dry landscapes, extreme temperatures and scarce vegetation.
Little more than 1,330 of these wild felines are estimated to remain in the Andes mountain range of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.
For two decades now, the Alianza Gato Andino (Andean Mountain Cat Alliance) has brought together researchers and conservationists from the four Andean countries to study and protect this endangered species on the American continent.
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According to an investigation by Mongabay, a non-profit science and conservation news agency, the first documented records of the cat in Arequipa, Peru, date back to 1957, and in Puno, also in southern Peru, in 1969. But, the animal’s presence in the region is much older.
Long before the cat appeared in scientific articles, it was already a part of Andean culture as a sacred animal, associated with fertility, abundance and mountain spirits.
Its form appears in petroglyphs and its skin was used in rituals, adorned with coca leaves, maize and different-colored fibers, to launch the crop sewing and harvesting season. Some of these practices are still around today, especial in agricultural ceremonies.
This ancestral connection co-exists with new threats and the effort to recover value within the communities living in the region.
The Andean mountain cat has evolved in one of the most extreme environments in the Andean range. The aridity, harsh temperatures and scarce vegetation define the high-altitude landscapes.
This Andean feline moves around water sources and rocky terrain that serve as a refuge for its prey, which is mainly the mountain viscacha (Lagidium spp.), a rodent closely related to the chinchilla, and forms the basis of the cat’s diet.
Expansion of mining and water extraction and degradation of high-altitude marshes are changing the ecosystems rapidly, reducing the habitat for this species.
The cat weighs around 6 kg and needs large stretches of land to survive. The territory of a single male can range from between 35 and 45 square kilometers, in part because it cannot find enough food in small areas.
But this equilibrium is fragile. Expansion of mining and water extraction and degradation of high-altitude marshes are changing the ecosystems rapidly, reducing the habitat for this species. To this can be added a less visible risk: shepherd dogs. In many cases, the dogs roam without supervision, attacking the cats and can transmit potentially fatal diseases.
For over 25 years, the Alianza Gato Andino disseminates the work of scientists and organizations in the four countries where the species lives. The network includes researchers, protected natural areas and local communities who contribute directly to monitoring the cat in the wild and other actions to protect it.
One of its best-known programs is 24/7 in the field, dedicated to gathering information on the cat throughout its distribution area. Monitoring is mainly done through camera traps and genetic analysis from samples collected in the field. Both methods allow information gaps to be filled concerning its distribution and to understand better the threats the cat faces, including transmission of diseases from domestic animals.
For more than 25 years, researchers and local communities have been working together to protect one of the most elusive species in the Andes.
More specifically, the camera traps permit the obtention of images and data relating to the feline’s behavior without intervening in its environment. This material has helped visualize the species and the pressures it faces. In some of these images, the cat appears for barely more than a few seconds, crossing between rocks, but this is enough to confirm it’s still there.
Technical personnel belonging to the Alliance also carry out educational programs for students. In some communities, these programs seek to raise awareness about the value of the Andean mountain cat and the ecosystem it inhabits.
In spite of these efforts, the cat is still a species difficult to protect in South America. Every cat that is newly documented confirms the species’ presence, but its future is vulnerable. In the high mountains of the Andes, where almost no-one comes across the animal, its survival depends on something more than science. The ecosystems needed to sustain the Andean mountain cat, and the communities living nearby, have to resist pressures advancing quicker than the knowledge that is being accumulated about the species.