The African golden cat is a rare animal that is seldom captured on film or photographed in its natural environment.
Recently, a team of scientists has managed to film an African golden cat while attacking a red colubus monkey in Uganda.
The video depicting the rare feline was released on January 27 and researchers believe this could be the first footage of the African cat hunting in broad daylight. Panthera, the conservation group that released the video said that they’ve never filmed this cat before in such context.
David Mills, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, said that although the scientists known more about the African golden cat than they used to a few years back, there is still little information about the feline’s behavior.
Mills said explains in his statement that a group of primatologists from Kibale have been observing the monkeys making alarm sounds when they sensed the African cat. After seeing the video in which the African golden cat attacks one of the monkeys, Mills says he understand why monkeys are so alarmed when they feel or see this reclusive cat.
The video of the African golden cat attacking a monkey was recorded by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.
The video shows a group of red colobus monkeys feeding and then suddenly being attacked by the African golden cat.
The African golden cat can be compared in size to the bobcat. An adult cat can weigh 5 to 16 kg (11-35 lbs).
This cat species is listed as being close to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. They live in the forests of west and central Africa, and were first photographed in the wild in 2002.
Two years ago, a team of researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society captured on film an African golden cat in Kibale. The researchers said they managed to lure the cat to the camera using the fragrance Obsession by Calvin Klein.
The cats are attracted to the smell because it contains civetone, which is extracted from the glands of civets, which is a species of small mammal from Africa and Asia.
Image Source: Dailymail
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