Undated file photo shows a Pallas's cat at Saitama Children's Zoo Park in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, eastern Japan. l REUTERS
A NEW study published in Cat News may have identified the first-ever report of Pallas's cat on Mount Everest, in the Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal.
This groundbreaking finding arose from the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition, the most comprehensive single scientific expedition to the mountain in history.
Scat, the scientific word for animal poop, was recovered from the two separate sites located over 5 km apart at 5,110m and 5,190m above sea level, confirming there were Pallas cats in the area.
Known as the “original grumpy cat” before the famous internet meme cat was born, Otocolobus manul, or Pallas’ cat, stands among the most charismatic and unique wild Felidae on Earth.
This mountain specialist is found at high elevations across Asia and is a super-predator of small mammals. Super-predators are extremely successful predator animals, surprisingly, most super-predators tend to be much smaller than one would think.
According to the science and tech site Phys.org, the analysis of the scat showed that the feline was feeding on pika, a close relative of the rabbit and mountain weasel.
These were also astonishing findings as these species were previously unknown in the national park which is a UNESCO Natural Heritage site.
Dr Tracie Seimon, of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Zoological Health Programme and leader of the expedition, told the media that “it is phenomenal to discover proof of this rare and remarkable species at the top of the world”.
“The nearly four-week journey was extremely rewarding not just for our team but for the larger scientific community. The discovery of Pallas’s cat on Everest illuminates the rich biodiversity of this remote high-alpine ecosystem and extends the known range of this species to eastern Nepal,” Seimon said.
The Pallas’s cat went undetected in this park until this study in 2019 and demonstrates how conservation genetics and environmental sampling can be utilised as a powerful approach to discovering and studying elusive species.
This species is currently classified by the IUCN as a species of no concern. It is one of the few small wild cat species that are currently not under threat.
Sponsored by National Geographic, the research team included members from eight countries.
17 Nepalese scientists conducted research in biology, glaciology, meteorology, geology, and mapping, to better understand the changing of their high-altitude world.
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