Researchers have photographed a uncommon cat in Thailand that hasn’t been seen within the nation for nearly 30 years — and it is lovely.
Flat-headed cats (Prionailurus planiceps), named after their flattened foreheads, dwell in fragmented pockets throughout Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, however they have been feared extinct in Thailand.
Researchers rediscovered the cats using remote camera traps in Thailand’s Princess Sirindhorn Wildlife Sanctuary in 2024 and 2025 — the first detections in Thailand since 1995. Cat conservation organization Panthera announced the rediscovery on Friday (Dec. 26), which is also Thailand’s annual Wildlife Protection Day.
“For decades, the flat-headed cat has been classified as ‘likely extinct,’ but after years of sustained protection, strong scientific partnerships, and community stewardship, we can now celebrate its return to Thailand this National Wildlife Day,” Suchart Chomklin, Thailand’s minister of Pure Sources and Surroundings, stated in a press release.
Flat-headed cats have webbed toes to traverse wetland habitats, comparable to waterlogged peat-swamp forest, the place the species is assumed to primarily hunt fish. Nevertheless, researchers know little or no about their lives. The enigmatic cat is the smallest in Southeast Asia, weighing around 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) — lower than a home cat — and is scarcely seen by people.
The Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) last assessment of the species, carried out in 2014, concluded that flat-headed cats have been endangered. They’re primarily threatened by the loss and degradation of their wetlands and lowland forests, in addition to different human pressures like overfishing and searching.
Researchers went in search of the cats in distant areas of Thailand in what Panthera described because the “largest-ever survey of the species.” The work is a part of a brand new Panthera-led IUCN evaluation of flat-headed cats, which Panthera expects to publish in early 2026.
The digital camera traps photographed a number of flat-headed cats, together with a feminine with a cub, demonstrating that they aren’t solely residing in southern Thailand but in addition breeding within the area.
“Rediscovery of the flat-headed cat in southern Thailand is a major win for conservation in Thailand and the broader southeast Asia area the place the species remains to be discovered,” Atthapol Charoenchansa, the director basic of Thailand’s Division of Nationwide Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, stated within the assertion.
