14 DAY TRIAL // Ask any wildlife researcher, and they will tell you that bay cats very much prefer to keep to themselves.
Hence the fact that scientists first became aware of the existence of bay cats back in 1874. However, the first photo of a living specimen was only taken decades later, in 1998.
Well, leave it to specialists with the Zoological Society of London and the Imperial College London to shine the spotlight on these elusive creatures.
According to Mongabay, these researchers have set up camera traps in the state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, and have managed to snap pictures of several such creatures. One of these pictures is available above.
What's interesting is that the animals were not photographed in remote areas where no human has ever set foot. On the contrary, the pictures were taken in areas that have been heavily logged these past few years.
The researchers say that, all things considered, this just goes to prove that rare species are not as opposed to the idea of living in logged forests as most people assume them to be.
“We were completely surprised to see so many bay cats at these sites in Borneo where natural forests have been so heavily logged for the timber trade,” says Robert Ewers with the Imperial College London.
Furthermore, “Conservationists used to assume that very few wild animals can live in logged forest, but we now know this land can be home for many endangered species.”