Food Habits of the Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus) in Korea

Prionailurus bengalensis is divided into 12 subspecies from India and Southeast Asia to Russia, which vary clearly in appearance (Nowell and Jackson 1996; Groves 1997). Among them, P. b. euptilurus is reported to inhabit Manchuria, the northeastern part of China, East Russia, Tsushima Islands of Japan, and Korea (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Prionailurus bengalensis is widely distributed but threatened by habitat loss, hunting, and commercial trade in Southeast Asia. Currently, P. bengalensis has been listed and protected under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES 2011). The subspecies P. b. bengalensis has also been designated as endangered by the United States Department of the Interior (Nowak 1999). In an attempt to understand the status of the wild population, several researchers have focused on this species’ distribution, potential impacts on population dynamics, and feeding behavior (Rabinowitz 1990; Tatara and Doi 1994; Grassman 2000; Rajaratnam 2000; Austin 2002; Grassman et al. 2005; Rajaratnam et al. 2007; Izawa et al. 2009). Prionailurus b. euptilurus became endangered in Korea because of secondary poisoning through un limited use of poisonous rodenticides, such as Fratol (sodium monofluoroacetate), after the Korean War (Won 1967). The leopard cat has been protected in Korea since 1998 from the risk of extinction from habitat loss and traffic accidents. According to Choi (2007), the 103 leopard cats were killed by car accidents from 2004 to 2006. Studies have been conducted in Thailand to investigate the ecological and dietary habits of P. bengalensis (Rabinowitz 1990; Grassman 2000; Austin 2002; Grassman et al. 2005), and feeding strategy studies of P. bengalensis inhabiting Tsushima Islands have been carried out in Japan (Inoue 1972; Tatara and Doi 1994; Izawa et al. 2009). In addition, feeding habits and habitat selection studies have been conducted on Iriomote cats (P. b. iriomotensis) and leopard cats (P. b. borneoensis) (Schmidt et al. 2003; Rajaratnam et al. 2007). Despite that P. bengalensis is a globally threatened species, it has only recently been studied internationally. Since P. b. euptilurus was first referred to as a Chosun animal species by Won (1968), taxonomic studies based on the appearance of P. b. euptilurus have been reported in Korea (Oh 2002). The home ranges and habitat selection of P. b. euptilurus that live in and around artificial landscapes (e.g., roads and small-scale ecological parks) have also been reported (Woo 2010). Until recently, only fragmentary studies of P. b. euptilurus, have become available, with very few basic ecological studies, and baseline data are required for this species in Korea. The aim of this study is to report basic ecological data and information about the prey species of P. b. euptilurus using fecal samples.