

September 2, 2011\u2014Camera-trap footage of an African golden cat preening and hunting in Gabon may be the first publicly released video of the little-understood wild cat, according to the cat conservation organization Panthera.

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The African golden cat is rarely seen, and seldom recorded with cameras, but this video was recently released by Panthera, the non-profit organization dedicated to conservation of wild cats.

The camera trap was set up in Gabon in western Africa as part of research into how African golden cats are affected by human activity.

The cat, seemingly unaware of the camera, preens itself and rests on the forest floor.

Another scene from Panthera\u2019s video shows the same golden cat at night, apparently hunting a bat.

Panthera reports that most records of the African golden cats are from photographs taken by remote camera traps, or of dead animals.

This is believed to be the first publicly released video.

The golden cat typically weighs about 28 pounds and grows to about 3 feet long. Studies have shown the majority of their diet is rodents. But it is perhaps the least studied of any wild cat in the world.

The IUCN Red List has the cat listed as Near Threatened.

Logging and hunting of its prey are diminishing the cat\u2019s habitat, and Panthera hopes release of the video will encourage other scientists and locals in Gabon to devote more effort to studying the African golden cat, and working toward its conservation.

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