First-ever population estimate of the mysterious marbled cat from continental Asia revealed

[jpak]

https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/study-reveals-first-ever-population-estimates-of-the-mysterious-marbled-cat-from-continental-asia/

Several wildcats that trudge through the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia still remain a mystery.

The house-cat sized marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata), for instance, is one of the most secretive and little-known wildcats occurring in the region. Scientists have caught glimpses of the strikingly patterned cat in images and videos captured by motion-sensitive camera traps, but they still know very little about the cat’s population numbers or what threatens its survival in the wild. The only population density estimate for these cats is known from the island of Borneo.

Now, scientists have the first-ever estimate of population density of the marbled cat from continental Asia.

In a study published in the Journal of Mammology, researchers Priya Singh, affiliated to Researchers for Wildlife Conservation (RWC) in Bangalore, India, and David W. Macdonald of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford, have also estimated the population density of the elusive clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa).

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[liberalla]

1. Look at that long, thick tail! Wow!

there's a couple more photos at the link...