World’s smallest wild cat spotted on camera traps in Bengal district

The sighting of rusty-spotted cats (Prionailurus rubiginosus), considered one of the world’s smallest wild cat species, in the Purulia district of West Bengal earlier this year has excited both forest officials and environmentalists alike. It is the ninth wild cat species identified in the state.

In January 2025, the cats were photographed by camera traps set up by the Kolkata-based NGO Human and Environment Alliance League, or HEAL, as part of another project, supported by the Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust.

“The project, initiated in June last year [2024], is an exploratory study to understand the conservation status and threats faced by pangolins in Purulia district. Initially, we installed six camera traps but now we have 17-18 camera traps which we are trying to deploy phase wise in different forest patches of the district,” ecologist Vasudha Mishra of HEAL told Mongabay India.

HEAL shared on social media that the presence of the rusty-spotted cat had not been detected in previous surveys or in British archival data from the region. “The forests of Purulia, where this remarkable sighting took place, fall within the Chotanagpur Plateau ecoregion, which shares ecological characteristics with Jharkhand and Odisha – both states where the rusty-spotted cat has been previously recorded,” stated the post.

Speaking to Mongabay India, Anjan Guha, divisional...

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