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Biased research and conservation efforts result in some faunal groups (e.g., small felids) being understudied, and hence these groups are often declining without adequate knowledge to manage for threat reduction. The Pallas's cat (Otocolobus manul) occurs across central and western Asia with declining populations and the largest population is likely in Mongolia.A potential threat to this felid is livestock encroachment across its range, including within protected areas, yet we lack a clear understanding of the impact of livestock husbandry on this cat.We used motion-sensitive camera data from 216 sites in 4 study areas in western Mongolia to study the occurrence probability of Pallas's cat in relation to habitat characteristics and occurrence of livestock, and conducted a local assessment within a strictly protected area where we obtained the highest number of detections. We estimated a relatively low occupancy (0.33 ± 0.10), which is associated with sites with natural vegetation, steeper slopes, and greater prey abundance.Occupancy also increased with increasing livestock occurrence, particularly large herds of sheep and goats. Such cooccurrence was partially adjusted by diel activity segregation, presumably to limit direct encounters. Our results suggest that the preferred habitat by Pallas's cat in the study region coincides with areas encroached by livestock. The Pallas's cat's

РезюмеПриведены данные по встречам хищных птиц в Восточно-Казахстанском мелкосопочнике и Северном Прибал-хашье, собранные главным образом во время полевых исследований в мае-июне и сентябре 2013 г., а также в марте и в мае 2012 г. Всего отмечено 15 видов соколообразных: степной орёл (Aquila nipalensis), беркут (Aquila chrysaetos), могильник (Aquila heliaca), орёл-карлик (Hieraaetus pennatus), змееяд (Circaetus gallicus), курганник (Buteo rufinus), черноухий коршун (Milvus migrans lineatus), степной лунь (Circus macrourus), лу-говой лунь (Circus pygargus), болотный лунь (Circus aeruginosus), ястреб-перепелятник (Accipiter nisus), ба-лобан (Falco cherrug), степной дербник (Falco columbarius pallidus), степная и обыкновенная пустельги (Falco naumanni, F. tinnunculus) и четыре вида совообразных: филин (Bubo bubo), болотная сова (Asio flammeus), домовый сыч (Athene noctua) и сплюшка (Otus scops). Для некоторых видов описаны особенности гнездования (данные о расположении гнёзд, размножении).

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