IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Sheil, D. | |
| An encounter with an African golden cat _Caracal aurata_: one of the World's least known felids | |
| 2011 African Journal of Ecology (49): 367-369 | |
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park ('Bwindi') is a steeply rugged World Heritage Site of just over 330 km2 in the Kigezi Highlands of Southwest Uganda. The area ranges from 1190 to 2560 m above sea level. On 26 September 2009, I was driving inside the park heading north to ITFC at Ruhija. It was 5:40 p.m. It had just stopped raining. At about 8 km from Nteko gate, we spotted an animal crouched on the road. The light was poor but we took photographs (Fig. 1). It was a reddishbrown cat with mangy grey fur on its back. It was slightly larger than a domestic cat (4-5 kg). It was eating a longtailed mouse holding it between its front paws. It occasionally turned to look at us but showed no fear at our proximity. Even at only 10 m away, the cat calmly continued eating for 5 or 6 min. Finally, the cat glanced our way, stood up and jaunted briskly away along the road away from us. After about 30 m, it turned off the road and was lost from sight in the dense vegetation. The colouring and markings seen on the photographs were later enough to confirm that this was a small African golden cat (black behind the ears, white chin and light patches around the eyes, see Fig. 1). |
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