Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1831) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in the semi-natural subterranean habitat in Karnataka, India

The Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus is distributed across India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, with India harbouring the larger part of its global population. During a rapid survey of three abandoned gold mines in Kappatagudda Wildlife Sanctuary in Gadag, Karnataka, India, we found a dead Rusty-spotted Cat in one of them. The identified individual was taken to Gadag Zoo to determine the cause of death. The gut contained a whole partly digested bat (Microchiroptera) of unidentified species. Our observations suggest that the elusive and little-known Rusty-spotted Cat contributes to this human-made subterranean habitat in various ways. The presence of the Rusty-spotted Cat, a ‘Near Threatened’ and Schedule-I species, in a human-made subterranean habitat demonstrates possible high conservation value of such abandoned subterranean systems and calls for additional research to explore underground ecosystems across the cat’s distribution range.