Antara 10 Jan 12;
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in a research project conducted in 2011 obtained proof of the existence of five unique wild cat species in forest areas in Riau province, a Fund officer said.
The five wild cat species were the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), stone cat (Pardofelis marmorata), golden cat (Catopuma temmincki), and congkok cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), WWF animal expert Sunarto said here Tuesday.
The five rare cat species lived in an area located between the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park and Rimbang Baling Wildlife Reserve in Riau province and had been spotted by cameras mounted purposely at a number of points in their habitat.
The area where the cats` existence was recorded is known as a wildlife corridor or passage connecting the nature conservation regions of Bukit Tigapuluh National Park and Rimbang Baling Wildlife Reserve.
Sunarto said five different cat species were found in the area but no tiger species except the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae).
"There is no other tiger species than the Sumatran tiger in Riau. But its population number is alarmingly low," he said without mentioning the exact figure.
Sunarto said it was difficult to say how large the Sumatran tiger population now was exactly because a head count of the animals would require an intensive effort covering all natural forest areas in Riau.
"We are not even monitoring them yearly because doing so is quite costly. What we have done so far is just some research and sampling in a few places," he said.
Sunarto said that the main focus of the monitoring effort is in the central parts of Sumatra such as Tesso Nilo and Rimbang Baling, where Sumatran tigers are still found in several regions.
An effort to determine the Sumatran tiger population more exactly was also difficult because of the geographic variations in their numbers, Sunarto said.
(SYS/A050/H-YH)
Editor: Suryanto
