A Borneo bay cat (Catopuma badia), about the size of a large domestic cat though with an extra long tail, triggered a remote camera in daylight on June 27, yielding a lone image from what was a two-month monitoring period.
Azlan, who previously tracked tigers in Peninsular Malaysia using so-called camera traps, said the data suggested there were at most a few of the animals in the area of the Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary under study.
“In up to two months of camera tracking, we got a single photo, which means it must be low in abundance or density.”
The sanctuary, a tropical rainforest area closed to the public and adjoining a sister park across the border in Indonesia’s Kalimantan, is home to orangutans, Bornean gibbons and hundreds of tree species.
Azlan said his project was seeking funds and support from international donors for more research into the bay cat, only seven specimens of which have been documented — the last in 1992.