Non-invasive monitoring of the European wildcat in a recently colonized area in the Northern Apennines (Italy)

摘要: Acquiring up-to-date information on the distribution of a species is an issue of paramount importance to set up proper conservation strategies and to assess its conservation status over time. The European wildcat has recently expanded its distribution in different parts of its range in Italy, including the Northern Apennines area. The current study represents the first wildcat systematic monitoring in the central part of Northern Apennines. Non-invasive genetic sampling—based both on valerian and catnip lures—was applied, integrated with camera trapping within two Regional Parks. This approach is needed in order to obtain hair samples to be genetically analyzed, since cross-breeding with domestic cats can make wildcat identification based only on coat characteristics misleading. Videos obtained from camera traps allowed the identification of several individuals (image capture rate of 1.04/100 trap-nights), including …