5 Weird Species Of Wild Cat Found In North East India

Wild cats from Felidae family are solitary predators and very well adapted to forest habitats, mountainous terrain, mangroves and a few also to wetlands. North Eastern forest region of India is still unexplored and home to very rare and unique species of wild animals, wild cats are one of them.

Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary of Arunachal Pradesh is one of the best place to spot wild cats in North East India along with Buxa Tiger Reserve, Pakke Tiger Reserves and Kaziranga National Park.

* Clouded Leopard

Clouded leopard is the smallest big cat found in India, also the state animal of Meghalaya and occurs from the Himalaya to southeastern Asia. The wild leopard is a arboreal, nocturnal and solitary cat species, occurs in Manas National Park of Assam, Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary and Balphakram National Park of Meghalaya.

* Asiatic Golden Cat

Asiatic golden cat is a beautiful medium sized wild cat listed as Near Threatened due to habitat loss is native to the North East India and Asia. The golden cat prefers habitats of Buxa Tiger Reserve, Kanchenjunga, open grasslands of Assam and Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary.

* Fishing Cat

Fishing cat is the state animal of West Bengal, lives in the vicinity of swamps, wetlands and mangroves. The medium sized wild cat listed as Vulnerable due to destruction of wetlands, hunting and polluted rivers.

* Leopard Cat

Leopard cat is again native to the northeastern Indian subcontinent and distributed from the Sundarbans to foothills of the Himalayas. In the northeast India, Leopard cat mostly found around the rivers, valleys and in ravine forest.

* Marbled Cat

Marbled wild cat is another lesser known species of felid found in North East India, from the eastern Himalayas to Southeast Asia. The small wild cat is similar to a domestic cat in size but differ in terms of colour, patterned and black stripes with a very long tail.