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Asiatic wildcat confirmed in Bandhavgarh for the first time

The species’ presence has been confirmed with photographic evidence for the first time

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Elusive Asiatic wildcat spotted at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve — Bandhavgarh Forest Department
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For a change, it’s not tigers that are hogging all the limelight at Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR). For the first time ever, presence of the elusive Asiatic wildcat has been confirmed here with photographic evidence, and has wildlife enthusiasts cheering. Asiatic wildcat is one of the five subspecies of the wildcat and is also a sub species of the desert cat.

Late last month, camera traps set up by the forest department for tiger survey in the park captured the image of this nocturnal cat.

“Several species exist in the forest landscape, but there may not be evidence recorded of their presence. It’s always delightful when such evidences are recorded by chance. We can now officially say that this cat, which is legally protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act (1972) has its home in Bandhavgarh,” said Mridul Kumar Pathak, Field Director of BTR.

Not too long ago, a research team also managed to spot and get images of the Asiatic wildcat, DNA found. Dr Sharad Kumar, Deputy Director, The Corbett Foundation (TCF), said that they managed to get the images of Asiatic wildcat in 2016 while carrying out a study on dispersal of tigers and other wildlife in the buffer zone of BTR.

 “After taking the images, we consulted various experts and once we were certain that it was the first ever documentation of this cat in BTR. The finding will be published in a scientific journal this month.

Kumar said that the team had spotted individual cats and a female with kittens, that indicates that they were breeding successfully in this landscape.

“Asiatic cats are similar in size to domestic cats and mostly found around human habitats, “raising chances of mating with domestic cats creating hybrids. Hence a specific study will throw more light on these cats, he said.

Why the sighting matters

Kedar Gore, Conservationist and Director of TCF said, “Generally, the focus in the forest is only on tigers, and existence of several important species at times never get reported. The worry is that no one would ever know if such species were to disappear altogether from the landscape.”

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