US EditionElusive wild cat last seen in 1995, feared extinct, rediscovered in Thailand
Camera traps recorded 29 flat-headed cat sightings in Thailand’s Princess Sirindhorn Wildlife Sanctuary, confirming the species’ presence and reproduction after nearly 30 years.
- Friday's announcement said Panthera Thailand confirmed flat-headed cats in Princess Sirindhorn Wildlife Sanctuary, the first sightings since 1995, with detections in 2024 and 2025.
- Conservation assessments note the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the flat-headed cat as Endangered and considered 'possibly extinct' in Thailand due to habitat loss, land conversion, agricultural expansion, and disease risks.
- Using fishing-cat study lessons, researchers used camera traps from Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation to capture footage of a female flat-headed cat with cub, showing reproduction.
- Panthera said the findings will feed into a Panthera-led International Union for Conservation of Nature assessment expected in early 2026, and Atthapol Charoenchansa, Director General of Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, called the rediscovery a significant conservation win urging expanded searches.
- The flat-headed cat is Southeast Asia's smallest wild cat, weighing around 4.4 pounds with webbed feet for wetland and peat-swamp forest habitats, but monitoring remains hard because individuals lack distinctive markings and favor nocturnal, inaccessible wetlands.
83 Articles
83 Articles
The flat-headed cat, one of the world's most threatened felines, has disappeared from radars for more than 30 years and has been found in southern Thailand. A glimmer of hope for a species on board
A flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps), one of the rarest cats in Southeast Asia, re-registered in southern Thailand after three decades without confirmation.The finding occurred thanks to photos and videos obtained during 2024 and 2025 by cameras installed at Princess Sirindhorn Wildlife Sanctuary.The international organization Panthera announced the re-election on 26 December.The last official record in the country gave from 1995. Faced wi…
Flat-headed cat once seen as 'possibly extinct' seen for first time in years
The endangered flat-headed cat, once considered "possibly extinct," was recently rediscovered in Southern Thailand for the first time in three decades. Called "one of the world's rarest wild felines," the flat-headed cat's existence was confirmed with remote camera trap images. Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation (DNP) and Panthera Thailand, a global wild cat conservation organization announced the rediscove…
Flat-headed cats, the size of a domestic cat, are among the rarest and most threatened wild cats in the world.
Conservation news
ecotopical.comYear-end ‘good news’ as flat-headed cats reappear in Thailand after 29-year absence
Flat-headed cats haven’t gone extinct in Thailand after all. A population is clinging on in the peat swamp forests of Princess Sirindhorn Wildlife Sanctuary, in the country’s south, after eluding detection for nearly three decades. Camera traps set up by wildcat NGO Panthera and Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) picked up 13 records of flat-headed cats (Prionailurus planiceps) in 2024 and a further 16…
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