Pallas’s cats persist near Mongolia’s capital despite human activity

Camera surveys found the small wild cats in Bogd Khan Mountain, even as people, livestock and dogs used the landscape.

Editorial illustration — not from the study.

Researchers used camera traps from April to August over three years to study where Pallas’s cats occurred in Bogd Khan Mountain, a protected area in north-central Mongolia. They compared cat records with habitat features, potential prey activity and signs of human disturbance.

The cats were recorded in the mountain’s mixed forest-steppe landscape, with most detections at forested sites. Their occurrence was positively associated with the relative abundance of Eurasian red squirrels, although squirrels could also be indicating broader prey availability or suitable forest conditions. The study found no strong relationship between cat occurrence and human activity, livestock, dogs or distance from urban areas.

Where the cats occurred

The mean predicted occurrence of Pallas’s cats across site-year sampling units was 0.31, with a standard error of 0.08. The best-supported analysis found a positive association between cat occurrence and the relative abundance of Eurasian red squirrels, a potential prey species that can also reflect suitable forest habitat or wider prey availability.

Forest cover itself was not supported as a key factor, but most cat detections were at forested sites. The researchers found no strong response to the measures of human activity, livestock activity, dog presence or distance to urban areas. Activity records showed moderate to high overlap between cats and squirrels, livestock, people and free-ranging dogs.

Why the cats’ presence matters

The findings provide evidence that Pallas’s cats continue to occur in a protected mountain landscape facing increasing human pressure near Mongolia’s capital. They also show that the cats use a heterogeneous forest-steppe area rather than being represented only by a simple relationship with total forest cover.

Because the study found no strong response to the disturbance measures examined, continued monitoring will be important for understanding how the cats respond as the surrounding landscape changes.

Evidence and caveats

The study used camera-trap data collected from April to August over three years and analyzed the records with an occupancy-based approach, which estimates where a species occurs while accounting for the chance of detecting it. Detection probability varied among years.

Pallas’s cat detections were sparse, and the survey was not designed specifically for this species or its main prey. As a result, the relationships with squirrels, habitat and human activity should be interpreted as tentative ecological associations. The study also measured only the disturbance factors included in its analysis and does not establish that human activity has no effects on the cats.

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