Flat headed cats of south east Asia are the most unusual members of the cat family, with their long, narrow head and flattened forehead. In appearance, they bears a strong resemblance to the civets, which are not cats, but members of the Viverridae family.

About the size of a domestic cat, they have an elongated body, short legs with small, rounded paws, and a short tail. The coat is thick, soft and long, reddish-brown on top of the head and dark brown on the body, with a fine speckling of grey and buff on the tips. The muzzle, chin and cheeks are white, with short white stripes at the inner edge and along the lower margins of eyes, and two dark streaks on each cheek. A yellow line runs up from each eye to near the ear. Underparts are also white, and generally more or less spotted and splashed with brown. Large brown eyes are set closely together, as are the short rounded ears. The legs are short with long narrow foot pads, and can have some indistinct horizontal markings. The short tail is thickly furred, reddish- brown above and yellowish underneath.

Flat headed cats share one characteristic with the cheetah Acinonyx jubatus and fishing cat Prionailurus viverrinus, in that their claws are not fully retractile, and can be seen at all times. Filling the role of a semi-aquatic carnivore, the long, narrow jaws and pointed and backward facing teeth are adaptations to catching and holding slippery prey such as fish and frogs. Their paws have some webbing between the digits. Their large eyes indicate a nocturnal lifestyle. These cats may well be more deserving of the name ‘fishing cat’ than the species that already has that name.

In Kuala Lumpur, a kitten was kept in captivity for nearly a month before it died. When provided with a basin of water, the kitten immediately entered and played in it, sometimes for hours. He played with various objects placed in the water, and seized pieces of fish with his mouth from a depth of 12 cm, fully submerging his head. He often washed objects in the water, much like a raccoon. When his cage was washed with a hose, he would play in the stream of water. He captured live frogs placed in his cage, but completely ignored sparrows. When food was offered he pounced on it, snarled and always carried it at least 4.5 metres away from where it was offered. This would suggest that in nature, their slippery prey such as frogs or fish, once caught, would not be able to re-enter the water.

Although almost nothing is known about these cats, they are thought to frequent riverine habitats in lowland jungles and deep forest. Their former range included Malaysia, Borneo, and Sumatra. Once declared extinct in 1985, a small number were later found in palm oil plantations in Malaysia, preying on the numerous rats.

In 1995, two flat headed cats were observed by zoologists along the Merang River in Sumatra. The animals were seen in primary peat swamp forest and secondary lowland forest, the latter suggesting some tolerance of modified habitats. These sightings were the first confirmed record for Berbak National Park, and park officers had never observed or heard of the species.

The scant information available on the flat headed cat’s reproductive habits includes a young kitten that was found in the wild in January. It had much the same colouration as the adults except that it was somewhat greyer. It developed adult colouration at one year of age. Gestation is approximately 56 days, with one to four kittens born. Captive animals have lived to 14 years of age.

Water pollution in the form of agricultural run-off and logging activities pose a serious threat to these cats through contamination of their prey. In addition, waterways are often the areas first cleared as settlement expands. Flat headed cats are seldom encountered and believed to be rare. While they are fully protected over most of their range, hunting is allowed in Singapore, and they have no legal protection in Brunei. Along with the Bornean bay cat Catopuma badia, the flat headed cat is one of the most obscure cats in the world, and the danger is great that they will disappear before we have a chance to ensure their survival. CITES has placed them on Appendix I.

 
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