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An elusive wild cat lengthy feared extinct in Thailand has been rediscovered three many years after the final recorded sighting, conservation authorities and an NGO stated Friday.
Flat-headed cats are among the many world’s most threatened wild felines, with the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature estimating that simply 2,500 adults exist within the wild. The uncommon animals are concerning the dimension of a home cat and have distinctive, spherical, close-set eyes.
Flat-headed cats are discovered solely in Southeast Asia and usually dwell in dense wetland ecosystems like peat swamps and freshwater mangroves. Such areas are underneath risk: Thailand’s peat swamp forests have been closely fragmented, largely resulting from land conversion and agricultural growth, stated veterinarian and researcher Kaset Sutasha of Kasetsart College. The final confirmed sighting of a flat-headed cat in Thailand was in 1995.
Final 12 months, wild cat conservation group Panthera and Thailand’s Division of Nationwide Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation started an ecological survey that used digicam traps within the nation’s Princess Sirindhorn Wildlife Sanctuary.
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Flat-headed cats have been detected 29 instances in the course of the survey, Panthera and Thai officers stated. It was not instantly clear what number of people the detections symbolize, because the species lacks distinctive markings, so counting is hard. Pattanarangsan stated the survey’s findings counsel a comparatively excessive focus of the species.
The footage included a feminine flat-headed cat together with her cub — a uncommon and inspiring signal for a species that usually produces just one offspring at a time. The species has additionally struggled to breed throughout remoted areas, contributing to its endangerment.
Kaset, who was not concerned within the survey however has researched wild cats for years, stated the “rediscovery is thrilling” however is barely a “place to begin” for future conservation efforts.
“What comes after that is extra vital — methods to allow them to dwell alongside us sustainably, with out being threatened,” Kaset stated.
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Along with Thailand, flat-headed cats might be present in Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo, in response to the Felidae Conservation Fund. They’ve a eating regimen dominated by fish, frogs and shrimp, and are nocturnal, elusive animals.
A lot concerning the species stays a thriller due to their rarity and the issue of accessing their habitats, Panthera conservation program supervisor Rattapan Pattanarangsan stated.
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