September 17, 2009
Rare and unique photographs of an African golden cat (Profelis aurata) have been taken.
One of the most elusive of all wild cats has been photographed deep in the jungle of Uganda.
Three images of a wild African golden cat were taken by a digital infrared camera trap set up by biologist Dr. Gary Aronsen of Yale University in the US.
To his knowledge, just one other image of a wild African golden cat has ever been published [from the wild, taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo].
Although taken in black and white, the new photos reveal this particular golden cat actually has a dark coat.
The cat is so rare few researchers working in African forests have seen it….
~ Matt Walker of Earth News
Anecdotal evidence suggests that while many villagers and locals may see the cat crossing roads, or maybe raiding domesticates, there are just not that many researcher sightings. We’re usually looking for other things.
There is very little known about this felid, what kind of habitat it prefers.
It is spread across equatorial Africa, but it is cryptic and we presume solitary, making observations few and far between.
The golden cat is melanistic, meaning that its colour varies over its lifetime, and across the continent.
I was disappointed that the cameras could not give me more data on [the cat’s] colour, but the images suggest it is a ‘dark phase’ cat.
For the most part, the cameras capture amazing images of elephants, monkeys, chimpanzees, duiker and buffalo. The cameras also can record movies, so you can see multiple animals in a group, such as chimpanzees.
That meant that the camera was located within the cat’s core area.
Given that three images were captured within an old-growth patch, I’d say that the Kibale golden cats may prefer this habitat. But the range of any cat is large, and so they can go anywhere to hunt.
~ Dr. Gary Aronsen, Yale University
Aronsen’s report and photographs are published in the African Journal of Ecology.
Thanks to the news tip to Cryptomundo from correspondent Mike Olshan.
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About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Filed under Breaking News, CryptoZoo News, Mystery Cats, Photos, Weird Animal News