IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library
   

 

View printer friendly
Lamichhane, B.R.; Kadariya, R.; Subedi, N.; Dhakal, B.K.; Dhakal, M.; Thapa, K.; Acharya, K.P.
Rusty-spotted cat: 12th cat species discovered in Western Terai of Nepal
2016  Cat News (64): 30-33

Rusty-spotted cat _Prionailurus rubiginosus_ is the smallest wild cat, believed to be distributed only in India and Sri Lanka. Recently it was discovered from wider areas than previously thought but never recorded from Nepal. During a camera trap survey primarily targeted for tigers _Panthera tigris,_ rusty-spotted cat was photographed multiple times on a single camera trap station in Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in January and February 2016. The camera trap location is in dry-deciduous Sal Shoresa robusta forest in core area of the reserve at a distance of approximately 5 km from settlements. This is the first photographic evidence of rusty-spotted cat captured in camera traps in Nepal. Similarly, a photograph of a cat species taken by a park visitor in 2012 from Bardiya National Park was confirmed as rusty-spotted cat. With this record, Nepal has 12 felid species: tiger, common leopard _Panthera pardus_, snow leopard _Panthera uncia_, clouded leopard _Neofelis nebulosa_, Eurasian Lynx_ Lynx lynx,_ Asiatic golden cat _Catopuma temminckii_, fishing cat _Prionailurus viverrinus_, jungle cat _Felis chaus_, leopard cat _Prionailurus bengalensis_, marbled cat_ Pardofelis marmorata_, Pallas's cat _Otocolobus manul_ and rusty-spotted cat. 

PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here

 

(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union)