Photo Ark
African Golden Cat
Caracal aurata celidogaster
Park Assango, Libreville, Gabon
Vulnerable
The African Golden Cat is infrequently observed in the wild, and generally considered rare. In areas of heavy human hunting, Golden Cats were not recorded (e.g. Dibouka village in central Gabon (Henschel 2008) and Korup National Park (NP) in southwest Cameroon (TEAM, http://www.teamnetwork.org)). In an area of putatively suitable habitat in Equatorial Guinea, just 16% of the area was found to be occupied by African Golden Cats due to human disturbance (Martinez Marti 2011). Read More
At least 6.5% of forest (projected from FAO 2011) in Golden Cat range countries has been lost in the past three Golden Cat generations (15 years, Pacifici et al. 2013). This translates into, at minimum, an equivalent loss of range for the Golden Cat as a result of habitat loss and fragmentation. Prior to the year 2000, West and East Africa had already suffered an 88-92% reduction in rainforest, while Central Africa’s rainforest extent was reduced by 40% (Laurance et al. 2006).Intensive hunting for bushmeat (>1 million tonnes per year harvested in the Congo Basin, the species’ main stronghold; Wilkie ... Read More
Bahaa-el-din, L., Mills, D., Hunter, L. & Henschel, P. 2015. Caracal aurata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T18306A50663128. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T18306A50663128.en