The Houston Zoo is involved in a number of efforts in Borneo focusing on elephants and orangutans and help out where we can in other areas. One of those areas is the Conservation of Carnivores in Sabah managed by our friends from Leibniz Institute for Wildlife Research and The Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ITBC). The two primary investigators have recently shared some amazing footage with us from the project which can be seen here on the BBC Earth News Website.
The website notes: The film, the first footage of the cat in the wild to be made public, has been released by scientists working in the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia. The Sundaland clouded leopard, only discovered to be a distinct species three years ago, is one of the least known and elusive of all cat species. Two more rare cats, the flat-headed cat and bay cat, were also photographed.
There are 5 species of cats in Borneo and all five can be found at the research site which is pretty unique in itself. That the project has turned up a species known as the (Borneo) bay cat is newsworthy as the cat is little known and rarely seen, and even more rarely photographed. Other cats on the island include the Marbled cat and the Leopard cat.
We need to take this opportunity to thank our supporters in “Wildcat” conservation – the students of Velasquez Elementary in Richmond, Texas who for the second time in three years, have held a fundraiser to support wildcat (which is the school mascot) conservation in Borneo.
