Flat-headed Cat

About the Flat-headed Cat

The flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps) is a small wild cat with short reddish-brown fur. Its head is elongated, and its ears are rounded. Its slender body is 41 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) long with a tail of 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in), and it weighs 1.5 to 2.5 kg (3.3 to 5.5 lb).

The flat-headed cat was first described in 1827 based on a zoological specimen collected in Sumatra. It is also native to the Thai-Malay Peninsula and Borneo, and inhabits wetlands like mixed freshwater swamp forests, peat swamp forests and lowland freshwater swamps near rivers and coastal areas. It preys foremost on fish, frogs and crustaceans.

The flat-headed cat is threatened by habitat destruction due to conversion for settlements, agriculture and oil palm plantations. It has been listed on the IUCN Red List as Endangered since 2008. The scientific name Felis planiceps was proposed by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827, who first described a skin of a flat-headed cat specimen collected in Sumatra.

Prionailurus was proposed by Nikolai Severtzov in 1858 as generic name for spotted wild cats native to Asia. He proposed the generic name Ictailurus for the flat-headed cat... Wikipedia →