Cats
The Felidae family, commonly known as cats, consists of 38 species of carnivorous mammals. Cats are native to all parts of the world except for Australia and Antarctica. In the family are our familiar domestic cat, as well as Tigers, Lions, Leopards, Cheetahs, Jaguars, Pumas, Lynxes and Mountain Lions. Their acute senses, fast reflexes, explosive muscular strength and a supple skeleton make them excellent hunters. They stalk, chase and pounce on their prey, using their sharp canine teeth to kill.
The cat family evolved from a weasel-like animal about 20 million years ago. The domestic cat goes back to early Egyptian civilization when, as far back as 4000 years ago, people took a liking to it because of its ability to hunt small rodents and snakes, thus keeping food supplies safe.
Dr. Monirul Khan’s Photographic Guide to the Wildlife of Bangladesh lists seven wild cat species in Bangladesh. They are Jungle Cat, Clouded Leopard, Leopard, Bengal Tiger, Marbled Cat, Leopard Cat and Fishing Cat. Unfortunately none of these cats is easy to see in the wild. They are few in number and are extremely wary of humans. All I have managed to see are a Jungle Cat at Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary (at night with a flashlight), and an unfortunate Fishing Cat that had been killed and left by the side of the road (yes, people in our villages still kill wild animals ruthlessly.)
I had better luck overseas. My first cat in the wild was a Leopard I saw in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth Park. It crossed the road in front of our car and paused just behind some bushes, looking at us through the leaves for a few seconds before disappearing into the forest. In Kenya’s Masai Mara I saw Lions, Cheetahs and a Leopard. A bonus of the Kenya trip was a Serval, a smaller cat with distinctively tall legs.
But my best cat sighting was watching the Jaguar in the Pantanal, Brazil’s massive wetland. This beautiful creature had been almost hunted to extinction by ranchers until they realized the potential it held for attracting tourists. Today, numerous tourists visit Brazil to see Jaguars. While charting the massive Paraguay river by boat, I was able to see several Jaguars at a leisurely pace, including one that crossed the river with two infants in tow.
The Bengal Tiger and the African Lion are perhaps the two most fabled cats of the world. The man-eating habits of Bengal Tigers of yesterday have given rise to many thrilling stories close to our home. While it was widespread in our country at one time, today its habitation has shrunk to the mangrove forest of Sundarban where the inhospitable terrain allows it to escape the hand of man. Our other cats are scattered among the patches of forests that remain in our country.
I once met a photographer on Instagram whose goal is to photograph all members of the cat family. It is an ambitious project, considering the difficulty of reaching cats such as the Snow Leopard in the Himalayas and Geoffroy’s Cat in remote Argentina. But still, what an epic adventure it must be!
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