The Pallas's cat, or Manul, Otocolobus manul, belongs to the small felines. In Russia this species is located at the northern periphery of its range. Potential habitats of this species within its Russian range's part have been highlighted on the base of remote sensing data, topographic maps and digital cartographic models. Maps of the Pallas's cat's records in Russia have been compiled using literature data, authors' own data and information provided by contributors of the online database «Small Wild Сats of Eurasia». We have shown the representation of potential habitats of the Pallas's cat and its actual registrations within Protected Areas of Russia. The total area of potential habitats for this species in Russia is assessed as 145,150 km 2 . The presence of Manul is confirmed for five regions of Russia: Republic of Altai, Republic of Tyva, Republic of Buryatia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Trans-Baikal Krai. The registration of the species' records mainly corresponds to the location of its potential habitats. The main categories of both federal and regional Russian Protected Areas cover 10.8% (13.5% taken with the buffer zones) of the total area of potential habitats for the Pallas's cat. The significance of each Protected Area for Manul conservation has been considered in detail. We have discussed whether the representativeness of the existing Protected Areas is sufficient for conservation of this species. We have identified the main territorial gaps that reduce the Pallas's cat protection in some parts of the Russian range.

In May and June 2018 and June 2019 we surveyed breeding populations of large raptors (principally Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos, Eastern Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca, Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis, Long-Legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus, Saker Falcon Falco cherrug and Eagle Owl Bubo bubo) in the north-west of the Ustyurt Plateau within the boundaries of the Atyrau Province, Kazakhstan. The area surveyed was ca. 1000 km2 represented the wider area of 3400 km2. Total 12 species of birds of prey were recorded and 8 of them considered as large raptors. Golden Eagle was found nesting on the Donyztau escarpment, 4 breeding territories were recorded and 3 of them successful; nesting density is estimated at about 5.0–6.7 pairs per 100 km of cliffs, the distance between neighboring pairs was ca. 6 km. Imperial Eagle: 5 breeding territories found on the Donyztau and Zheltau escarpments, 4 of them successful; average nesting density is 3.8 pairs per 100 km of cliffs. Steppe Eagle: 14 breeding territories (25 nests) revealed, among them 6 are successful (1–2 nestlings) and on other 3 breeding was failed; average nesting density is estimated at 1.3 pairs per 100 km2. Average distance between neighboring active nests is 2.5 km in Sholkara hill ridge but the distance between successful nests here is much bigger and makes about 13 km. Long-Legged Buzzard: 13 breeding territories (30 nests) found, of which 11 territories were actually occupied and 8 of them had successful breeding. Saker Falcon is found nesting on Donyztau escarpment: 4 breeding territories, including 3 successful; the average nesting density is 6.7 pairs per 100 km of cliffs. Eagle Owl recorded throughout the surveyed area; 11 breeding territories revealed, the average nesting density is 7 breeding territories per 100 km of cliffs and steep slopes. Two other species, Short-toad Eagle and Cinereous Vulture, recorded only occasionally, nesting in the area is not found. In general, our findings demonstrate the area is important for conserving several species of large raptors in the Atyrau Province.

SummaryIn the present paper, we the report the fi rst documented occurrence in the wild of Toxocara cati in the sole representative of the genus Otocolobus, the Pallas' cat. The identity of the parasite was confi rmed by morphological characteristics and by genetic barcoding of the second internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA. The morphological measures of the T. cati specimens from the Kyrgyz Pallas' cat were comparable to values reported. We discuss the conservation implication of our fi nd.

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