Black-footed cat females rely on burrows
Monday, 21st October 2024
The underground cat: burrow use by female black-footed cats (Felis nigripes)
Brindley, H., O’Riain, M.J., & Sliwa, A.
Abstract
The black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) is the smallest and one of the rarest cats in Africa. Endemic to the semi-arid
regions of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, this nocturnal carnivore spends daytime in burrows, thus avoiding
high temperatures and diurnal predators. Despite the importance of burrows, den usage has never been studied
in detail for this species. Here we report on the frequency with which female black-footed cats use burrows of
different dimensions and compared with burrow availability. The entrances of 50 dens, used by five radio-collared
black-footed cats over four weeks, were scanned with LiDAR to measure tunnel width (mean = 15.2 ± 3.9 cm) and
height (mean = 13.9 ± 3.6 cm). Of these, 98% (n = 49) most closely matched the dimensions of springhare (Pedetes
capensis) burrows. Each cat used a mean of 11.6 den sites and spent a mean of 2.0 consecutive days in a den
before selecting a new one. When kittens reached an age of 44–50 days, mothers switched from using a den for a
mean of six days-per-den, to changing dens every day. Our results suggest that female black-footed cats are reliant
upon springhares to provide suitable daytime refugia and maternity dens in southern Namibia. Further studies
should be conducted to determine what den sites are selected in the absence of springhare, and whether localised
persecution of springhare impacts the survival of black-footed cats.