Chamarajanagar: While wildlife conservationists have captured images of the world’s smallest feline, the Rusty Spotted Cat through camera trappings in forests, this shy cat has proved extremely elusive whenever photographers have tried to capture it with their lenses in the wild.
But a zoology student of Mysuru city was lucky enough to photograph the cat in a direct sighting during a safari in Bandipur National Park a couple of days ago. A final year student of zoology at the St Philomena College in Mysuru, Abdul Shez, says he was excited to see the lone Rusty Spotted Cat in a bush at around 5 pm while on a safari in the park and managed to take a picture of it in the 30 seconds it appeared before vanishing from the spot. He is clearly jubilant as this is not common by any means. For instance, a naturalist, Somashekar, says he has been trying in vain to capture these cats on camera for the last five years.Scientist, Honnavalli Kumar, when contacted, explained that these cats spent most of their time on trees and came out in the dark. “It requires a great deal of effort to photograph the Rusty Spotted Cats in a direct sighting,” he says, adding that he has himself seen them in Bandipur, Nagarhole, Chamundi Hills, Nugu and Kappatagudda in Gadag.
Mr. Raghuram, a representative of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) attached to Bandipur, says although these cats are nocturnal, it is possible to sight them in the wild.
