If you’re expecting to see a big cat, you will be surprised at the sight of this little show-off in Borneo on a YouTube video that doesn’t allow embedding.
Sunda leopard cats are so seldom seen that the videographer expressed surprise that this individual was unafraid and stayed in the light for so long a time.
It’s a cat. It just felt like it. 🙂
With all those rosettes, it’s easy to see where “leopard” comes from, but “Sunda”?
That has to do with location.
What we know as the island of Borneo, the Indonesian archipelago, and some other places is actually all part of a peninsula jutting off southeastern Asia, called Sundaland.
During ice ages, sea level was much lower than it is today and much of Sundaland was dry. Wildlife ranged far and wide on it until a number of animals were stranded in isolated high areas that have become islands as the last ice age ended and sea level rose.
Separated from their mainland fellows, these new island dwellers have since evolved a little differently.
For the Sunda leopard cat, the differences appear rather subtle to this layperson, but experts have found enough evidence to recognize two subspecies:
- One on Java and Bali
- One on Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines
This sighting was on Java:
It isn’t unusual to see gray leopard cats — as we’ll see next time, this species is very adaptable and this has led to the many names that leopard cats have been given in various places along Eurasia’s Pacific coast, all the way up to the Russian Far East.
More information:
- Cat Specialist Group article on Sunda leopard cats.
- Wikipedia page.
- Borneo Nature Foundation article.
Featured image: Shivaram Subramaniam/Shutterstock
Flight To Wonder 