Guiña – Kodkod (Leopardus guigna) Classification

The Güiña (Leopardus guigna), the smallest Neotropical feline, inhabits central and southern Chile and western Argentina. This communication reports the first documented instance of a güiña swimming in a marine environment, observed in the Refugio Channel, which separates Refugio Island from the mainland in Northern Patagonia, Chile.

In April 2023, a local resident recorded video footage of a güiña swimming near the eastern shore of the channel, emerging from the water, shaking off, and climbing a tree to groom itself. This observation suggests that the güiña might use the seacoast when searching for food, particularly during periods of low terrestrial prey availability during the winter.

The ability of the güiña to adapt to such environments underscores the species’ ecological flexibility, previously undocumented in this context, and highlights the need for integrating marine resources into the species’ conservation strategies. The video’s quality is limited due to the simplicity of the recording device, but it provides crucial visual evidence of this behavior.

Sielfeld, Walter & Guzmán, Jonathan & Clark, Arturo & Cubillos, Juan. (2024). An Audacious Maneuver: First Record of Leopardus guigna in the Marine Environment. Animals. 14. 2879. 10.3390/ani14192879.

Leopardus guigna (Molina, 1782) is a felid commonly called the kodkod. It is the smallest cat in the Americas—about the size of a small house cat—and is 1 of 13 species in the genus Leopardus.

Leopardus guigna has the smallest distribution of any New World felid, restricted to southern Chile and Argentina where it is strongly associated with the Chilean Matorral and Valdivian Temperate Rainforest ecoregions.

Leopardus guigna is listed on Appendix II of the Convention for the International Trade of Endangered Species and as “Vulnerable” (VU) by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature due to habitat loss and fragmentation, human persecution, and its declining population.

Peckham, Catherine. (2023). Leopardus guigna (Carnivora: Felidae). Mammalian Species. 55. 10.1093/mspecies/sead001.

Carnivores play an important role in ecosystem functioning as apex predators. However, most carnivore species are threatened or have been extirpated in human-dominated landscapes. The Mediterranean region of central Chile is a biodiversity hotspot, but expansion of agricultural areas such as vineyards is degrading wildlife habitat.

We estimated the species richness and composition of carnivore communities in remnant fragments of sclerophyllous forest-shrubland in the vineyard landscapes of central Chile to evaluate the effects of human disturbance at different spatial scales. We tested two hypotheses: (1) vineyard landscapes with higher levels of human disturbance support a lower diversity of native carnivores in fragments of remnant native vegetation compared to landscapes with larger areas of natural habitat, and (2) habitat specialists and generalists respond differentially to human influence at the habitat vs landscape spatial scale.

We used camera traps at 12 sites across the study area and evaluated the impact of human disturbance indicators on the richness and detection frequency of carnivore species.

We found that human population density negatively affected carnivore richness and was associated with a lower detection frequency of the Vulnerable guina Leopardus guigna. The presence of domestic dogs also had a negative effect on the detection frequency of the guina and the two native species of foxes, the culpeo Lycalopex culpaeus and South American grey fox Lycalopex griseus.

We conclude that protecting remnants of native forest in vineyard landscapes is crucial for carnivore conservation in central Chile.

Garcia, C.B.; Svensson, G.L.; Bravo, C.; Undurraga, M.I.; Diaz-Forestier, J.; Godoy, K.; Neaman, A.; Barbosa, O.; Abades, S.; Celis-Diez, J.L.
Remnants of native forests support carnivore diversity in the vineyard landscapes of central Chile
2021 Oryx (55): 227-234

Across the globe, mammalian faunal extinctions are poorly understood. Despite increasing risk of extinction, data are lacking on the causes of population declines, as well as ecological and biological considerations for conservation. Although the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) provides a catalogue of global species status, many species are ranked as data deficient, due to this lack of information.

We used Chile - a biodiversity hot-spot, with 1,569 endemic species and several endemic species lineages - as a case study to assess trends in available ecological and biological information relevant to conservation planning for threatened and endangered terrestrial mammals. Specifically, we assessed the amount of research by topic and taxonomic group for 22 IUCN Red-listed species.

Although the number of published articles has been increasing over the last 19 years, we found that 7 species (31%), including the one critically endangered species, had little available research (less than 10 articles), and over 25% of species were missing critical information regarding basic biological and life history characteristics.

Our finding of substantial gaps in information for at-risk Chilean mammals highlights the importance of developing strategic research agendas for at-risk species in Chile, as well as across the globe.

Gaulke, S.; Martelli, E.; Johnson, L.; Letelier, C.G.; Dawson, N.; Nelson, C.R.
Threatened and endangered mammals of Chile: Does research align with conservation information needs?
2019  Conservation Science and Practice (1): 1-8

The interaction between humans and small carnivores is a phenomenon especially frequent in rural fringes, as is the case of communities surrounding natural areas. In Chile, two species of threatened carnivores, the Darwin's Fox and the Guigna, have increased their contact with humans due to human-induced changes in their habitat.

The objective of this study was to characterize the interactions of these species with humans by assessing human perceptions and attitudes toward them, and to assess livestock and poultry ownership and management practices in local communities to evaluate their possible roles in the phenomenon.

We conducted semi-structured interviews in rural communities adjacent to natural protected areas of two different regions in southern Chile.

We found that people have a more positive perception of Darwin's Foxes than Guignas, but both species are considered damaging due to poultry attacks. Livestock and poultry management was generally deficient. Improvements in animal management and education programs could lead to a significant decrease in negative interactions.

Sacristan, I.; Cevidanes, A.; Acuna, F.; Aguilar, E.; Garcia, S.; Lopez, M.J.; Millan, J.; Napolitano, C.
Contrasting human perceptions of and attitudes towards two threatened small carnivores, Lycalopex fulvipes and Leopardus guignas, in rural communities adjacent to protected areas in Chile
2018  Journal of Threatened Taxa (10): 11566-11573

Fragmentation and human-wildlife conflicts represent severe threats to wildcats such as the kodkod cat (Leopardus guigna), endemic to the heavily impacted Chilean temperate rainforest.

Here we assess to which extent this vulnerable forest specialist is able to use altered habitat (agricultural matrix, forest edge, human presence) by studying its home ranges, habitat use, and patch selection in privately owned rainforest remnants.

We radio-tracked five individuals over 33-376 days. Mean 95% kernel home ranges were 623 ha, with a mean 50% core area of 191 ha. Ecological-niche and Mahalanobis distance factor analysis confirmed forest-dependency and revealed that the individuals made intensive use of forest edges, close to water. They did not avoid houses. Generalized linear mixed models showed that the monitored kodkods selected elongated woodland patches.

We conclude that the kodkods compensated the non-forest space by maintaining larger home ranges and making efficient use of forest edges probably due to higher prey availability. Future studies should identify ecological traps, and describe connectivity and source-sink dynamics in the agricultural matrix to develop long-term conservation efforts for the smallest cat of the Americas.

Schuettler, E.; Klenke, R.; Galuppo, S.; Castro, R.A.; Bonacic, C.; Laker, J.; Henle, K.
Habitat use and sensitivity to fragmentation in America's smallest wildcat

2017  Mammalian Biology (86): 1-8