Mammals
Bay Cat
Catopuma badia · also called Bornean bay cat
Padding silently through the undergrowth of a Borneo forest, a bay cat flashes its chestnut coat only to a lucky camera trap, one of the least-seen cats on Earth.
Overview
The bay cat, Catopuma badia, is an Endangered small cat found only on the island of Borneo. Its reddish-brown coat, extreme rarity, and poorly known biology make it one of the most mysterious wild cats in the world.
A cat the world barely knows
Few large mammals are as poorly documented as the bay cat, which has been recorded so rarely that even basic facts about its diet and behaviour remain uncertain.
Status
Endangered, with a population believed to be small and declining as Borneo’s forests are lost.
Bay Cat: common questions
Why is it called the bay cat?
It has a rich reddish-brown, or bay, coat, a colour that gives the species its common name.
Where does the bay cat live?
It is found only on the island of Borneo and nowhere else in the world.
Why is so little known about the bay cat?
It is so rarely recorded in the wild that for many years almost nothing was known about its behaviour, and its ecology remains poorly understood.
Is the bay cat related to other cats?
Yes, it belongs to the same small lineage as the Asian golden cat and the marbled cat.