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An overview is presented on Olga, a Siberian tigress that was radio-collared in 1991 to provide data for the US-Russian Siberian Tiger Project. Olga has provided the conservation project with crucial information regarding the species' health and habitat, including threats such as poaching.

In total, 177 of 245 terrestrial carnivores are described as solitary, and much of carnivore ecology is built on the assumptions that interactions between adult solitary carnivores are rare. We employed Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and motion-triggered cameras to test predictions of land-tenure territoriality and the resource dispersion hypothesis in a territorial carnivore, the puma Puma concolor. We documented 89 independent GPS interactions, 60% ofwhich occurred at puma kills (n = 53), 59 camera interactions, 11 (17%) ofwhich captured courtship behaviors, and 5 other interactions (1 F-F, 3 M-F, and 1 M-M). Mean minimum weekly contact rates were 5.5 times higher in winter, the season when elk Cervus elaphus were aggregated at lower elevations and during which puma courtship primarily occurred. In winter, contacts rates were 0.6 ± 0.3 (standard deviation (SD)) interactions/week vs. 0.1 ± 0.1 (SD) interactions/week during summer. The preponderance of interactions at food sources supported the resource dispersion hypothesis, which predicts that resource fluxes can explain temporary social behaviors that do not result in any apparent benefits for the individuals involved. Conspecific tolerance is logical when a prey is so large that the predator that killed it cannot consume it entirely, and thus, the costs of tolerating a conspecific sharing the kill are less than the potential costs associated with defending it and being injured. Puma aggregations at kills numbered as high as 9, emphasizing the need for future research on what explains tolerance among solitary carnivores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the launch of a field project to protect jaguar populations in Mexico's Sierra Madre region. The project is a collaboration between local and United States conservationists. Implications for other conservation programs for the region are also discussed.

Eight traditional subspecies of tiger (Panthera tigris), of which three recently became extinct, are commonly recognized on the basis of geographic isolation and morphological characteristics. To investigate the species' evolutionary history and to establish objective methods for subspecies recognition, voucher specimens of blood, skin, hair, and/or skin biopsies from 134 tigers with verified geographic origins or heritage across the whole distribution range were examined for three molecular markers: (1) 4.0 kb of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence; (2) allele variation in the nuclear major histocompatibility complex class II DRB gene; and (3) composite nuclear microsatellite genotypes based on 30 loci. Relatively low genetic variation with mtDNA, DRB, and microsatellite loci was found, but significant population subdivision was nonetheless apparent among five living subspecies. In addition, a distinct partition of the Indochinese subspecies P. t. corbetti into northern Indochinese and Malayan Peninsula populations was discovered. Population genetic structure would suggest recognition of six taxonomic units or subspecies: (1) Amur tiger P. t. altoko; (2) northern Indochinese tiger P. t. corbetti; (3) South China tiger P. t. amoyensis; (4) Malayan tiger P. t. jocksoni, named for the tiger conservationist Peter Jackson; (5) Sumatran tiger P. t. sumatroe; and (6) Bengal tiger P. t. tigris. The proposed South China tiger lineage is tentative due to limited sampling. The age of the most recent common ancestor for tiger mtDNA was estimated to be 72,000-108,000 y, relatively younger than some other Ponthera species. A combination of population expansions, reduced gene flow, and genetic drift following the last genetic diminution, and the recent anthropogenic range contraction, have led to the distinct genetic partitions. These results provide an explicit basis for subspecies recognition and will lead to the improved management and conservation of these recently isolated but distinct geographic populations of tigers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cougar (Puma concolor) is a cryptic species in which social learning or opportunity learning has yet to be documented in the wild. "Opportunity teaching" is teaching in which an animal creates opportunities for conspecifics to observe or participate in operant learning. We present video data on an observation of Cougar kittens exhibiting social learning and inefficiency and inexperience in attempting to kill a live Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) fawn. Our observations provide evidence for the importance of maternal care and they help explain why Cougar kittens less than a year of age have low survival rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predator tourism is one strategy to improve tolerance for predators, and support biodiversity and ecosystem health. Torres del Paine National Park (TdP) – a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in southern Chile - supports productive livestock industries and nascent puma tourism. We compared interviews conducted in the region prior to puma tourism, with results from interviews collected across 45 ranches post-puma tourism. We assessed rancher attitudes regarding pumas, puma-livestock conflict, puma tourism, and linked them with socio-ecological factors. Respondents who viewed pumas as a threat experienced higher livestock losses. Respondents who reported higher sheep losses were inclined to support the lethal removal of livestock-killing pumas, and to initiate a puma hunt, whereas respondents who supported puma tourism disagreed with hunting pumas. Using the Potential for Conflict Index, we found that participants exhibited the highest consensus on the benefit of puma tourism and the lowest consensus over lethal removal of pumas. Our results suggest predator tourism has increased tolerance for pumas but is creating new potential for conflict. Previous to puma tourism, ranchers were almost entirely negative about pumas and unanimously supported illegal puma hunting. Now, most believe that pumas are part of Patagonia's heritage. This divide was best explained by distance to TdP: ranches closer to TdP experienced greater losses to pumas but had neighbours that benefitted most from puma tourism. Therefore, we suggest that tourism revenues supplement community compensation insurance programs that reimburse rancher losses to pumas to mitigate the growing divide between those benefiting from pumas and those experiencing economic hardship. • Predator tourism has increased tolerance for pumas, but is creating new potential for conflict among ranchers. • Respondents who reported higher sheep losses were inclined to support the lethal control of livestock-killing pumas. • Respondents who supported puma tourism disagreed with hunting pumas. • Ranches closer to the National Park benefitted most from puma tourism but had neighbours that suffered the greatest costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the effects of human disturbance on endangered wildlife populations is critical to their conservation. We examined the effects of roads and human disturbance on the survivorship and foraging efficiency of Amur tigers (  Panthera tigris altaica) on and near Sikhote-Alin State Biosphere Zapovednik, Primorye Krai ( province), Russia. To evaluate the effects of roads, we estimated survivorship of radiocollared tigers and their cubs living in three types of areas: (1) areas with primary roads, (2) areas containing secondary roads, and (3) areas with minimal or no road access. We classified a tiger into one of these three treatments based on which types of roads bisected their 50% minimum convex polygon home ranges. Over a 9-year period (1991-2000), adult female survival was greatest (χ  2 = 12.2, df = 2, p = 0.002) for radiocollared tigers in roadless areas. All adult female tigers in roadless areas survived their tenure in those locations (n = 2), whereas all died or disappeared prematurely from areas with primary roads (n = 6). Cub survival was lower in areas with primary and secondary roads than in roadless areas (χ  2 = 10.9, df = 1, p < 0.009). We evaluated the effects of human disturbance at kill sites by examining 86 kills made by 15 tigers determining whether human disturbance had occurred at the kill site, and examining prey carcasses after tigers left, to estimate the percent meat eaten and whether the tiger abandoned the kill following human disturbance. Tigers undisturbed at kills consumed more meat (  Z = 3.71, p = 0.0002) from each kill than disturbed tigers did. Undisturbed tigers also spent more time at each kill site than disturbed tigers did (  Z = 2.3; p = 0.02). Abandonment of kills occurred in 63% of 24 instances when tigers were disturbed by people. Because roads decrease the survivorship and reproductive success of tigers, we recommend that in habitats managed for tigers, construction of new roads should be prohibited wherever possible and access to secondary roads (e.g., logging roads) should be reduced or prevented wherever possible. Protected areas seem to cease functioning as source populations where road access exists, and unprotected areas-the majority of Amur tiger range-cannot sustain stable populations with the increasing threat of human access to tiger habitat.