IUCN COMMISSION GROUP

IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group

Overview and description

Description:

The high degree of specialization that the cats have acquired during their evolution makes them vulnerable to environmental changes; 45 % of the 38 cat species are threatened. The IUCN SSC Cat ...

Dr Christine BREITENMOSER-WÜRSTEN

Chair Emeritus

Dr Urs BREITENMOSER

Chair Emeritus

I am a carnivore ecologist and former senior scientist at the University of Bern and the former director of the Foundation KORA – Carnivore Ecology and Wildlife Management. I have been involved in research projects on carnivore ecology for 40 years and have supervised projects in the frame of the Swiss carnivore projects. My main field of interest is the reintroduction of Eurasian lynx and the re-integration of large carnivores into human dominated landscapes.

Chair Emeritus

I am a carnivore ecologist and former senior scientist at the University of Bern and the former director of the Foundation KORA – Carnivore Ecology and Wildlife Management. I have been ...

Dr Sugoto ROY

Co-Chair

I have developed and managed national, regional and global project portfolios on invasive species, carnivore ecology, human wildlife conflict and wildlife management for government, NGOs, IGOs and universities for over 25 years. These have focused on the UK, the UK Overseas Territories, South and South East Asia, Japan, the Indian Ocean and Southern Africa. Over the last ten years I have focused on large carnivore conservation. This included establishing and running a tiger conservation programme at IUCN, and coordinating a series of projects in Southern Africa, as part of the "Africa Range-Wide Cheetah Conservation Initiative". I am now working with the SSC Cat Specialist Group, developing and coordinating projects across the group.

Dr Tadeu Gomes De OLIVEIRA

Co-Chair

Dr. Tadeu G. de Oliveira is an Adjunct Professor at Maranhão State University (UEMA) and researcher for Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, whose main interests are the ecology, conservation and natural history of felids, carnivores and endangered species. Currently he is leading a long-term, continental-wide conservation program on the smaller Neotropical felids: Wild Cats Americas Conservation Program, which is doing hard-core conservation actions, population monitoring, status assessment, and understanding their ecology and natural history. He is also the founder and current chair of the Tiger Cats Conservation Initiative – TCCI (https://tigercatsconservation.com/), and founding member of the Ocelot/Margay/Jaguarundi Working Group and Pampas Cats Working Group. Other research includes mammalian community composition and monitoring in rainforests, savannas and semi-arid scrub of Brazil, as well as statewide biodiversity assessment towards the Ecologic-Economic Zoning of Maranhão State.

Dr Samantha Nicholson

Deputy Chair

I am a conservation scientist specialising in African large carnivore conservation, with a particular focus on African lion ecology, conservation planning, threat analysis, and large-scale biodiversity data management. I currently serve as Deputy Chair of the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group and as Manager of the African Lion Database (ALD), a continent-wide initiative aimed at strengthening evidence-based lion conservation across Africa. My work focuses on integrating scientific research, spatial analyses, and conservation policy to support lion conservation, human-wildlife coexistence, and landscape-level conservation planning. I collaborate extensively with governments, NGOs, researchers, and international conservation organisations across Africa and have co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications on lion conservation and emerging threats facing the species.

Deputy Chair

I am a conservation scientist specialising in African large carnivore conservation, with a particular focus on African lion ecology, conservation planning, threat analysis, and large-scale ...

More about the Specialist Group

The Cat Specialist Group is active in many of its own initiatives, focusing on the development of tools for the assessment of the species’ status, on the compilation and distribution of intelligence and on supporting the work of its members. A central concern is to promote the dialogue among scientists and practitioners throughout the world. The group believes that cooperation and sharing of knowledge are critical for the conservation of the wild cats.

The main ...

Mission

The Cat Specialist Group is responsible for the global monitoring and conservation of all 40 wild living cat species.

Specialist Group work

Cat conservation faces a number of specific challenges as a consequence of biological features of the felids and their particular relations with humans.

TERMS OF REFERENCE AND SELECTION CRITERIA FOR MEMBERS QUADRENNIUM 2026–2029