Assessing Changes in the Distribution Patterns of the European Wildcat in Hungary
Chimed Otgontamir,
Ádám Fehér,
Gergely Schally,
Davaa Lkhagvasuren,
Zsolt Biró
Affiliations
Chimed Otgontamir
Department of Wildlife Biology and Management, Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly u. 1, H-2100 Godollo, Hungary
Ádám Fehér
Department of Wildlife Biology and Management, Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly u. 1, H-2100 Godollo, Hungary
Gergely Schally
Department of Wildlife Biology and Management, Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly u. 1, H-2100 Godollo, Hungary
Davaa Lkhagvasuren
Department of Biology, School of Arts and Sciences, National University of Mongolia, WWF9+6H6, Ulaanbaatar 14200, Mongolia
Zsolt Biró
Department of Wildlife Biology and Management, Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly u. 1, H-2100 Godollo, Hungary
The European wildcat (Felis silvestris Schreber, 1777) is an endangered and elusive carnivore that is slowly recovering in Central Europe after persecution and a decline in its distribution over the past two centuries, and specific conservation plans are needed in most of its range. Knowledge of the continent-wide distribution and status of this species is still poor. Using an online questionnaire, we evaluated the nationwide distribution of wildcats across three time periods (2004, 2014, and 2022) in Hungary. The species’ reported occurrence was analyzed according to binominal logistic regression using the percent cover of land cover categories as explanatory variables. We found that the spatial cover of broad-leaved forest was positively associated with the occurrence of wildcats, and the analysis revealed a positive trend in the larger 2004–2022 time frame. We also recorded that although wildcats have disappeared from areas of the central, southern, and western parts of Hungary, regions in the eastern, northern, and south-western areas appear to retain stable populations.
