婆罗洲金猫种

行为

婆罗洲金猫的毛皮通常为红褐色，也有少数灰色变种。研究分析表明它们与亚洲金猫是近亲，但两者的头骨结构有所差别，婆罗洲金猫要小得多。婆罗洲金猫体长约53-67厘米，尾长30厘米。

食物

婆罗洲金猫在夜间活动，以鸟类、啮齿类以及小型猴类为食。

栖息地

婆罗洲金猫居住在茂密的雨林与山岩突起处。

The bay cat (Catopuma badia), also known as the Bornean bay cat, is a small wild cat endemic to the island of Borneo that appears to be relatively rare compared to sympatric wild cats, based on the paucity of historical, as well as recent records. Since 2002, it has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List 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 proposed by John Edward Gray in 1874, who first described a bay cat skin and skull collected by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1856 in Sarawak. This cat was first thought to be a kitten of an Asian golden cat.

In 1932, Reginald Innes Pocock placed the species in the monotypic genus 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 confirmed the close relationship with the Asian golden cat, and that the two species had been separated from a common ancestor for 4.9 to 5.3 million years, long before the geological separation of Borneo from mainland Asia.

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.

Distribution and habitat

In the 19th century, only seven bay cat skins surfaced, and the first live female caught in 1992 on the Sarawak–Indonesian 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 and the upper Kapuas River in West Kalimantan. Two concentrations were reported in the island's interior at the time, in habitat types varying from swamp forests, lowland dipterocarp forest to hill forests up to at least 500 m (1,600 ft). One unconfirmed sighting occurred at 1,800 m (5,900 ft) on Mount Kinabalu.

It inhabits dense tropical forests, and has been observed in rocky limestone outcrops and in logged forest, and close to the coast.

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 1 m (3 ft 3 in) 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 following deforestation in Borneo. Habitat loss due to commercial logging and conversion to oil palm 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 biofuels. 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 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. 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.