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Hair Snares for Noninvasive Sampling of Felids in North America: Do Gray Foxes Affect Success?
Author(s) -
DOWNEY PATRICIA J.,
HELLGREN ERIC C.,
CASO ARTURO,
CARVAJAL SASHA,
FRANGIOSO KERRI
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the journal of wildlife management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1937-2817
pISSN - 0022-541X
DOI - 10.2193/2006-500
Subject(s) - gray (unit) , geography , leopardus , sampling (signal processing) , biology , cartography , ecology , medicine , computer science , filter (signal processing) , radiology , computer vision
Hair‐snare sampling has become a popular technique to assess distribution and abundance of felids. Using standard hair‐snaring protocols, we sampled for margays ( Leopardus wiedii ) in Mexico and mountain lions ( Puma concolor ) in California, USA, without success. However, we noted a preponderance of gray fox ( Urocyon cinereoargenteus ) hair at sampling stations. Our review of recent literature suggests a pattern of failure to detect target felids in hair‐snare surveys conducted within the range of the gray fox. We propose, among several alternative explanations, that marking by gray foxes interferes with the tendency of felids to face‐rub at sampling stations.