Trail Camera Captures Rare Images of World’s Most Elusive Cat
Trail cameras captured images of the rarely-seen Pallas’s cat — a feline more elusive than the snow leopard.
The trail cameras, set up by researchers at Snow Leopard Trust, in the rocky habitats of Himachal Pradesh, India, recorded the first ever photographic evidence of the Pallas’ cat (also known as a Manul) in the region.
In incredible images, the highly secretive Pallas’s cat can be seen strolling along a mountainous trail with its signature short legs, dense fur, and flat ears.
The researchers captured the images of the little-known animals from three camera trap sites at elevations reaching up to 13,500 feet in India’s mountainous Himalayan region.
The small wild cat is known to inhabit areas further north in Mongolia and China. But the trail camera shots reveal that the species’ habitat may be increasing and that Pallas’ cat is now living in Himachal Pradesh too.
According to the researchers at Snow Leopard Trust, the trail camera images are encouraging as the Pallas’s cat is under threat as a species.
“These small felines are perhaps more elusive than the snow leopard, which makes long-term studies difficult,” Snow Leopard Trust writes in a Facebook post accompanying the images.
“Despite their smaller stature, manul face many of the same threats as snow leopards and a declining population due to habitat fragmentation, illegal wildlife trade, climate change and growing numbers of feral dogs.”
The researchers add that: “The cat’s habitat in this trans-Himalayan region also faces pressures from military activities, unregulated tourism and infrastructure development.”
Because it is so challenging to track and monitor Pallas’s cats, raising awareness about conservation efforts for the felines is much harder than for more iconic species like snow leopards or tigers. Pallas’s cats are so elusive and understudied that exact numbers are unknown.
‘The Grumpiest Cat in The World’
Sometimes referred to as “the grumpiest cat in the world” because of its perpetually annoyed-looking appearance, Pallas’s cats’ thick fur coats and short, sturdy legs make them perfect mountain dwellers. The Pallas cat’s small, flattened ears are shielded from the cold by its dense fur, which also insulates the rest of its body.
Its wide paws help it navigate snowy terrain while offering extra warmth, much like natural snowshoes. To conserve heat, the Pallas’s cat can also curl its tail around its body.
They prefer to live at higher elevations, using their expert camouflage markings to blend in with their surroundings. Naturally secretive, it is rarely-seen and little-known.
About the size of a house cat, Pallas’s cats, also called manul, are solitary animals that feed on small mammals and birds. Unlike other cat species, they have distinctive round pupils, which give them better eyesight to hunt in their preferred prowling times of dawn and dusk. Their wide-set and flat ears are another unique feature, allowing their outline to be less noticeable by skittish prey.
Pallas’s cats are believed to live up to six years in the wild and can give birth to up to eight kittens, according to the Conservation of the Pallas’s cat.
The full study on the trail camera images of the Pallas’s cat can be seen here.
Image credits: All photos by Wildlife Wing-Himachal Pradesh Forest Department and Nature Conservation Foundation via Sharma, C., Thuktan, T., Tobge, R., Angrup, D., Chhering, D., Sherab, T., Suryawanshi, K. (2024). ‘First Photographic Evidence of Pallas’s Cat (Otocolobus manul) from Himachal Pradesh, India’ published in Snow Leopard Reports
