The highly endangered rusty-spotted cat, Prionailurus rubiginosus, was recently spotted in Uttarakhand’s Jim Corbett National Park. This species, with its well-known fawn grey coat, is a little smaller than the domestic cat and is one of the smallest wild cats in the world.

The cat is on the verge of extinction, having been targeted by poachers for its valuable fur.
The presence of the cat in the park was revealed by the photographs by a research team of the Wildlife Institute of India at a camera trap station at the Morghati forest rest house in end July and early August.

Wild life enthusiasts and researchers are delighted with the news as, the cat specie has earlier been found largely in the Western Ghats and in some pockets of Jammu and Central India.

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