(and living in the mountains of Crete)
The Cretan wildcat is in a satisfactory state of preservation according to the results of a recent research programme conducted by the Natural History Museum of Crete and the University of Crete, on behalf of the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (NECCA). The programme’s findings state that on the three mountain massifs of Levka Ori, Psiloritis and Mt Dikti, the research recorded between 0.5 and 2 individuals per square kilometer of suitable habitat.
As we reported in a post on 30th January 2023, a tender for the research project was first issued in that month, with a budget of €82,000 and an expected completion date of the end of 2023. At the time the species was considered to be on the way to extinction, and the research project involved setting camera traps to track the populations, as well as collecting and providing a résumé of all existing knowledge about the species and putting forward proposals for its preservation.
Subject of the research
The Cretan wildcat (Felis silvestris cretensis) is the sole wild feline in Crete and the largest purely carnivorous creature living on the island. It was considered a vanished species up to 1996, when two students from Perugia, members of an Italian scientific expedition studying the carnivores of Crete, trapped the creature in question, putting flesh on what had hitherto been the myth of an indigenous wildcat.
Since it is a particularly secretive species, camera traps were placed in its known habitats to track the animal’s presence. As Petros Lyberakis, a researcher with the Natural History Museum of Crete explains, the project to record the species was important because the wildcat is a peak predator in the food chain and when there is a problem in a particular ecosystem, the peak predators are the first to disappear. Hitherto there had only been sporadic scientific data on the population and its distribution.
The Cretan wildcat is maintaining satisfactory numbers despite the challenges it faces, which are chiefly that of hybridism with the common cat, poisoned baits, fragmentation of its habitats with the uncontrolled opening of roads, conflicts with stock-raising (since most stock breeders believe that the Cretan wildcat predates on young lambs and causes losses to their flocks), and to a lesser degree stray dogs.
Given the problem of hybridism, and also of the lack of knowledge of the species’ taxonomic status, the next stage is the collection of genetic material for molecular analysis so as to monitor the extent of the hybridism problem and to establish the species’ taxonomic rank in relation to the European and African wildcats (Felis silvestris and Felis libyca).
“The Cretan wildcat is an emblematic species of our homeland and its protection is of primary importance,” says NECCA’s CEO Kostas Triantis. “The effective protection of Greece’s biodiversity requires robust scientific data. In this direction NECCA will continue to collaborate with our country’s scientific community.”
What is NECCA?
The Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency is a private legal entity whose mission is to implement the policies drawn up by the ministry of the Environment and Energy for the management of protected areas in Greece, conservation of biodiversity, promotion and implementation of sustainable development actions and mitigation of climate change.
Units of its Protected Areas Management Directorate are responsible for 24 different protected areas and national parks across the country, including the Samaria National Park.
(Haniotika Nea, 26/03/24)