The bay cat (''Catopuma badia''), also known as the Bornean bay cat, is a small wild

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the island of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

that appears to be relatively rare compared to

sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

wild cats, based on the paucity of historical, as well as recent records. Since 2002, it has been listed as

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

because it is estimated that fewer than 2,500 mature individuals exist, and that the population declined in the past. The bay cat has been recorded as rare and seems to occur at relatively low density, even in pristine habitats.

Taxonomy and evolution

''Felis badia'' was the

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

proposed by

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for a z ...

in 1874, who first described a bay cat skin and skull collected by

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...

in 1856 in Sarawak. This cat was first thought to be a kitten of an

Asian golden cat The Asian golden cat (''Catopuma temminckii'') is a medium-sized wild cat native to the northeastern Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and China. It has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2025, and is threatened by poaching ...

. In 1932,

Reginald Innes Pocock Reginald Innes Pocock, (4 March 1863 – 9 August 1947) was a British zoologist. Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward's ...

placed the species in the

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

''Badiofelis''. In 1978, it was placed in the genus ''Catopuma''. Tissue and blood samples were acquired only in late 1992 from the female brought to the Sarawak Museum. Morphological and

genetic analysis Genetic analysis is the overall process of studying and researching in fields of science that involve genetics and molecular biology. There are a number of applications that are developed from this research, and these are also considered parts ...

confirmed the close relationship with the Asian golden cat, and that the two species had been separated from a

common ancestor Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. According to modern evolutionary biology, all living beings could be descendants of a unique ancestor commonl ...

for 4.9 to 5.3 million years, long before the

geological Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

separation of Borneo from mainland Asia. The bay cat's classification as ''Catopuma'' was widely recognized until 2006. Because of the evident close relationship of the bay cat and the Asian golden cat with the

marbled cat The marbled cat (''Pardofelis marmorata'') is a small Felidae, wild cat native from the eastern Himalayas to Southeast Asia, where it inhabits forests up to an elevation of . As it is present in a large range, it has been listed as Near Threatene ...

, all three species were suggested in 2006 to be grouped in the genus '' Pardofelis''.

Characteristics

The bay cat's fur is of a bright chestnut colour, but paler beneath, the limbs and the tail being rather paler and more reddish. The ears are rounded, covered with a short blackish-brown fur at the outer side, paler brown within and with a narrow brown margin. The tail is elongated and tapering at the end, with a white central streak occupying the rear half of the lower side, gradually becoming wider and of a purer white towards the tip, which has a small black spot at its upper end. Its short, rounded head is dark greyish-brown with two dark stripes originating from the corner of each eye, and the back of the head has a dark M-shaped marking. The backs of the ears are dark greyish without any white spot. The underside of the chin is white, and two faint brown stripes are on the cheeks. In the years between 1874 and 2004, only 12 specimens were measured. Their head-to-body length varied from with long tails. They were estimated to have an adult weight of , but too few living specimens have been obtained to allow a more reliable estimate.

Distribution and habitat

In the 19th century, only seven bay cat skins surfaced, and the first live female caught in 1992 on the

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

–

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

n border was brought to the Sarawak Museum on the verge of death. In the mid-1990s, the most reliable sightings have been reported in

Gunung Palung National Park Mount Palung National Park () lies on the island of Borneo, in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, north of Ketapang and east of Sukadana. History Mount Palung was first protected in 1937 as a forest nature reserve covering . In 1981, ...

and the upper

Kapuas River The Kapuas River ( Old Indonesian spelling: Kapoeas River) is a river in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, at the geographic center of Maritime Southeast Asia. At in length, it is the longest river on the island of Borneo, the longest ri ...

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan () is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital and largest city is Pontianak. It is bordered by East Kalimantan and Central ...

. Two concentrations were reported in the island's interior at the time, in habitat types varying from swamp forests, lowland

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...

forest to hill forests up to at least . One unconfirmed sighting occurred at on

Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran'' or ''Nulu Nabalu'', ) is the highest mountain in Malaysia and Borneo. With a height of , it is the third-highest peak of an island on Earth, the 28th highest peak in Southeast Asia, and 20th most prom ...

. It inhabits dense

tropical forest Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...

s, and has been observed in rocky

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

outcrops and in logged forest, and close to the

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

. At least three specimens were found near rivers, but this was probably due to collector convenience rather than evidence of habitat preference. In 2002, a bay cat was photographed in Sarawak's

Gunung Mulu National Park The Gunung Mulu National Park, also known simply as the Mulu National Park is a national park in Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that encompasses caves and Karst topography, karst formations in a mountainous ...

. From 2003 to 2005, 15 single bay cats were observed in Sarawak,

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

and Kalimantan, but none in

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

. Almost all the historical and recent records are from close proximity to water bodies such as rivers and

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen and remove sal ...

, suggesting the bay cat may be closely associated with such habitats. In central Sarawak, only one individual was recorded in more than a year of

camera trap A camera trap is a camera that is automatically triggered by motion in its vicinity, like the presence of an animal or a human being. It is typically equipped with a motion sensor—usually a passive infrared (PIR) sensor or an active infrared ...

ping between August 2010 and November 2011 in an area that was regenerating from

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksDeramakot Forest Reserve yielded one photo of a male bay cat in an area of about in a total survey effort of 1916 camera trap nights. This record expanded the known range of the bay cat to the north. Between May and December 2011, it was also recorded in the Kalabakan Forest Reserve, a highly-disturbed commercial forest reserve that had been logged between 1978 and the early 2000s; natural forest remains in an area of , and large terrain is covered by an oil palm

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

and access roads. The bay cat was photographed off-trail in seven of eight records, indicating that it tends to avoid logged areas. A repeated survey in Kalabakan Forest Reserve in 2018 yielded records in just eight of 74 locations during more than 7,200 camera trap days. One individual was recorded in

Danum Valley Conservation Area Danum Valley Conservation Area is a tract of relatively undisturbed Borneo lowland rain forests, lowland dipterocarp forest in Sabah, Malaysia. It has an extensive diversity of tropical flora and fauna, including species such as the rare ...

. Data from 578 camera trapping stations in eight forest reserves and two plantation sites in Sabah revealed that the bay cat inhabits core forest areas with no to little disturbance at elevations of , but does not live in plantations. In

Kalimantan Kalimantan (; ) is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area, and consists of the provinces of Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan. The non-Ind ...

, it was recorded in at elevations from in Kutai National Park, Wehea Protection Forest and Sungai Wain Protection Forest during surveys in 2012 and 2013. In

Central Kalimantan Central Kalimantan () is a provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is one of five provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. It is the largest province in Indonesia by area since 2022, bordered by West Kalimantan to the west ...

, a single bay cat was recorded in a mosaic of

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

and

peat swamp forest Peat swamp forests are tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical moist forests where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat. Large areas of th ...

in the Rungan River catchment area during surveys between 2016 and 2018.

Behavior and ecology

Bay cats recorded in Sabah exhibited a diurnal activity pattern with a peak in the morning and another peak in the early afternoon. Bay cats recorded in nine study areas in both protected and non-protected areas in Sarawak were also diurnal. In Sarawak, a bay cat was allegedly observed on a branch from the ground close to the river during a night hunting expedition. Nothing is known about its diet and reproductive behavior.

Threats

The bay cat is forest-dependent and increasingly threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

following

deforestation in Borneo Deforestation in Borneo has taken place on an industrial scale since the 1960s. Borneo, the List of islands by area, third largest island in the world, divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, was once covered by dense tropical rainforest ...

. Habitat loss due to commercial logging and conversion to

oil palm ''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms, called oil palms, containing two species, native to Africa and the Americas. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. Description Mature palms are single-stemmed, and can gro ...

plantations pose the greatest threat to the bay cat. Oil palm plantations are likely to expand in the future as a result of the push for

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

s. Borneo has one of the world's highest deforestation rates. While in the mid-1980s, forests still covered nearly three-quarters of the island, by 2005 only 52% of Borneo was still forested. Both forests and land make way for human settlement. Less than 6% of Indonesia's and Malaysia's land region is protected.

Poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

for the illegal wildlife trade also poses a significant threat. Bay cats have been captured in the wild for the trade as pets and skins.

Conservation

The bay cat is listed on

CITES Appendix II CITES (shorter acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of inte ...

. It is fully protected by national legislation across most of its range. Hunting and trade are prohibited in Kalimantan, Sabah, and Sarawak. The bay cat remains one of the least studied of the world's wild cats, hampering the development of conservation actions.

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q213044 Endemic fauna of Borneo Carnivorans of Borneo Mammals of Indonesia Carnivorans of Malaysia Mammals described in 1874 Taxa named by John Edward Gray Fauna of the Borneo montane rain forests Catopuma