Rare and elusive bush dog caught on camera in Panama
Bush dogs 鈥� one of the world鈥檚 most mysterious species 鈥� have been caught on camera in Panama.
Not much larger than a house cat, bush dogs are an elusive canid species that live throughout South America. Typically running through tropical forests in packs up to 10, bush dogs mainly eat rodents.
Despite their broad habitat from Panama to Paraguay, bush dogs (Speothos venaticus)聽are rarely seen by humans.
鈥淭he bush dog is that we photograph,鈥� said Smithsonian Research Associate Ricardo Moreno, the study鈥檚 co-author. The authors set up camera traps to survey other, larger mammals such as jaguars, but the bush dog snapshots came as a pleasant surprise.聽
鈥淭o give some idea of the difficulty of studying the species, out of more than almost 32,000 camera-days,鈥� the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute said in a statement.聽
In fact, most of what is known about the behavior and physical characteristics of bush dogs is gleaned by studying captive populations.聽
But the elusiveness of bush dogs is making it difficult for scientists to protect the species from population decline.聽
Unlike other Panamanian carnivores like jaguars and pumas, bush dogs are not directly persecuted by humans. But the small, wild dogs are still experiencing serious population decline from habitat loss. Between 1990 and 2000, 15 percent of Panama鈥檚 forests have cut down. Other threats include loss of prey from hunting by humans and potential diseases carried by domestic dogs in the area.聽
The (IUCN), a globally respected database for the population status of the worlds鈥� species, has the bush dog listed as 鈥渘ear threatened.鈥� As the level listed just after the category of 鈥渓east concern,鈥� 鈥渘ear threatened鈥� essentially evaluates the bush dog population as viable.聽
The IUCN estimates a 20 to 25 percent decline in the bush dog population in the past 12 years. So in its evaluation of the bush dog, IUCN recognizes that the bush dog is approaching a 鈥渧ulnerable鈥� status.聽
But because they are so elusive, the researchers behind the article say the bush dog should be listed as 鈥楨ndangered鈥� even if the ICUN doesn鈥檛 have the population data to support the status change.聽
鈥淭he limited amount of data does not allow us to determine reliably or compare bush dog density with other regions and other biomes, nor estimate their population size,鈥� the authors write in their study. 鈥淗owever, despite numerous surveys undertaken across the country for ten years substantiates their rarity in the isthmus.鈥澛�
