Research

To promote long-term conservation of wild cats in Central America

If these cats and their habitat are going to be saved, then we need to know a lot more about them. How many are there? How much space do they need to maintain healthy populations? What kind of habitat and prey do they prefer? How can the impact of human pressure be lessened? Finding answers to these questions means detailed research into the cats' lives in the wild.

LiFeline is setting up a wild cat study centre in Belize, involving local biologists, Belizean colleges and government and non-government agencies. The research will involve gathering extensive scientific data to determine cat habitats, numbers, and behaviour. It will also study methods to reduce persecution of cats by farmers and hunters.

LiFeline will produce the first comprehensive study of sympatric cat species in Central America. This information will be fed into the national parks system and local community initiatives, to give decision makers sound data to further the conservation of Belize's small cats.

Belize is the second smallest country in Central America, with a human population of only 220,000. It is politically stable and unlike its neighbours has more than 70% of its forest cover remaining. Animals which are scarce in other parts of Central America are believed to still exist in healthy numbers in Belize.

LiFeline has had links with the country since 1990. We have exchanged animals with Belize Zoo - our first margays came from there - and we were among the first supporters of the Programme for Belize's project to save and manage the Rio Bravo forest.

Belize has a large number of protected reserves and national parks, including the world's first reserve specifically set up to protect jaguars, in Cockscomb Basin. Most parks are managed by the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources, or by the Belize Audubon Society, but there are also a number of privately run reserves. Within the country there are thought to be good populations of all five native cats - jaguar, puma, ocelot, margay and jaguarundi. This gives plenty of scope for field research on cats in practically undisturbed habitat. On the reserve borders, and in unprotected areas, cats are increasingly coming into conflict with humans, and ways must be found to minimise this.

LiFeline's Reserve

We own approximately 60 acres of rainforest in Cayo District. This is our base, and is already operated as a private nature reserve. It borders the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, which is in turn flanked by other parks, forming the largest continuous area of protected forest in Belize.LiFeline's land is on a forestry road, and is rich in wildlife - tapir, peccary, ocelot, margay, and many species of birds including keel-billed toucans. Puma and jaguar are in the vicinity. There is a cave used as a bat roost, and the site also contains a small Mayan ruin.

How LiFeline will operate

LiFeline is established as a non-profit organisation in Belize.

This is being done firstly by the use of camera traps. These are remote units triggered by the animal passing through an infrared beam. Cameras are placed at various locations to establish the presence of cats and give an initial idea of their distribution.

After this, ocelots, margays and jaguarundis will be live-trapped. Box traps will be used, set and constructed to minimise risk of injury to the cats, and they will be checked regularly. Captured cats will be sedated, weighed, measured, and fitted with radio-collars. They can then be tracked by radio telemetry. This will establish their home range sizes, resting sites, distance travelled, and hunting activity.

In addition, fecal samples will be assessed to determine what kind of prey the cats are taking.

Once good baseline data has been gathered in undisturbed protected habitat, the study will be extended to compare cats' behaviour in interface areas which are more widely affected by human impact. Potential and real conflicts between cats and humans will be identified and information and advice will be made available to relevant parties such as farmers, local communities, and conservation managers.

The initial project will be extended after 3 years to become a long-term research programme following several generations of cats to find out how they disperse, assess gene flow within a population, and the factors that affect the stability of a population over time. We need to see how cats can react and adjust to the impact of habitat loss and human encroachment, and how to ensure their survival for decades to come.

Training Belizean Nationals

LiFeline will actively encourage local people to take part in the research programme. We will forge links between Belizean colleges and UK academic institutions in order to train Belizean students as field biologists. This will mean the project can be expanded throughout Belize to establish the effect of human encroachment on cat habitats. Students we have trained can set up local projects elsewhere in the country; and in future it is hoped our research will also have benefits further afield in Latin America.

LiFeline staff who will be working on the project are: Helen Miles, our Co-Director, who has radio-tracked ocelot and jaguarundi in Mexico and is currently working on neotropical felid behaviour. Our consultant advisers for the project are Dr Andrew Kitchener, of the Royal Museum of Scotland, and Dr John Lewis, of the International Zoo Veterinary Group.

LiFeline's associate and parent organisation, The Ridgeway Trust for Endangered Cats, co-ordinates the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme for the margay, and has conducted small cat research since 1988.