A new study heralds the reappearance of a lost species in India.
The Asiatic golden cat was captured on trail cameras in the early morning hours of consecutive winters in 2019-20 and 2020-21, researchers said in a recent paper.
The feline was last seen in the area in 2007, and it was not spotted in 39,700 camera trap days from 2011 to 2018, The Times of India reported. The images came from two locations about five miles apart in Manas National Park in Assam.
"The rediscovery confirms that there is a cat in the park," the newspaper stated.
The Asiatic golden cat is an incredible creature able to survive in dry deciduous forests, subtropical evergreen forests, tropical rainforests, temperate and subalpine forests, and even above 12,200 feet of elevation, according to the authors.
They noted the 4,039-square-mile (6,500-square-kilometer) Transboundary Manas Conservation Area — featuring MNP and Bhutan's Royal Manas National Park in the sub-Himalayan region of northeastern India — is home to many big cats. Rangers occasionally find snares while on patrol, and animals such as tigers and leopards are among those recovering.
"From the mid-1980s to 2003, MNP experienced long-term ethnopolitical conflict and political instability that continued in parts of the park until 2017," the researchers wrote. "Although studies suggest that the mammalian carnivore assemblage appears intact … confirmatory records of species are still trickling in."
They stressed the importance of the golden cat sighting to conservation efforts, as information about its population status and distribution can help to understand how the felids live in the landscape.
Other wild cats are on the comeback trail, too, showing that Mother Nature can respond with even the smallest helping hand. In Arizona, an ocelot was spotted for the first time in at least 50 years, and rare strawberry leopards were filmed in Tanzania.
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"Research on the small cats' interactions and responses to the growing big cat populations will be critical to ensure efficient management of the entire felid community in the park," the authors stated in their report.
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