The First Confirmed Record of African Golden Cat Caracal aurata from Kenya Since 1946

Abstract

The African golden cat Caracal aurata (Temminck, 1827) is an IUCN Red List ‘Vulnerable’ species (Bahaa-el-din et al., 2015b) and is considered Africa’s least known felid (Bahaa-eldin et al., 2015a). This species is restricted to forested habitats in equatorial Africa, with Kenya at the eastern limit of the species’ distribution (Butynski et al., 2012; Ray & Butynski, 2013). The status of C. aurata in Kenya remains unknown. Until now, the only confirmed records are two skins collected by A. Toschi in 1946 from Ogiek tribesmen in the Mau Forest (Toschi, 1946; Butynski et al., 2012). One of the skins (Accession No. 3369/332A) is currently at the National Museums of Kenya (NMK). All other records from the country are sight records that lack a supporting photograph or specimen (Butynski et al., 2012). On 19 May 2019, a dead cat, presumably killed by a vehicle, was found beside the section of the Kamae-Thika road that bisects the Kieni Forest Reserve in the southern Aberdares (0°52'12.9144"S and 36°45'05.4684"E; figure 1). It was immediately identified as a possible C. aurata and taken to NMK (Accession No. NMK-MAM-192942). Upon inspection of the specimen, and in consultation with experts in the field (L. Bahaa-el-din (pers. comm.); T.M. Butynski (pers. comm,); D. Mills (pers. comm.)), the specimen was confirmed to be a C. aurata. This is the first confirmed record of C. aurata for Kenya since 1946, and the first record of this species east of the Eastern Rift Valley. This specimen was collected ~2300 m above sea level in Afromontane forest at the edge of the bamboo zone. It was a female of the golden/reddish-brown morph (Bahaa-el-din et al., 2015a; figure 2) with the following weight and body measurements: weight: 3.1 kg, headbody length: 60 cm, and tail length: 26.5 cm. This specimen appears to be a large kitten or a