Flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps)

Species information

Images

Threats

Although the exact status of this obscure, seldom-encountered cat is not fully understood, it may be especially vulnerable because of its apparent association with watercourses (4). Habitats along rivers are often the first to be exploited and encroached upon by humans as settlements and agriculture expand (5). Perhaps an even greater threat to the species is water pollution, particularly by oil, organochlorines and heavy metals associated with agricultural run-off and logging activities, contaminating the cat’s prey (1).

Conservation

The flat-headed cat is fully protected across most of its range, with hunting and trade prohibited in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, and hunting regulated in Singapore (1), although no legal protection is afforded in Brunei, Borneo (7). However, if the species is adaptable and can survive in palm-oil plantations as reports suggest, then it may be able to cope with considerable habitat disturbance and the future would not seem quite so bleak (2).