The Pallas’s cat is just one of several wildcats spotted in Arunachal Pradesh, which also supports snow leopards, common leopards, clouded leopards, leopard cats and marbled cats.
For the first time ever, a Pallas’s cat has been photographed in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh — expanding the known range of one of the world’s rarest and least-studied wild cats.
The camera-trap image, taken in the eastern Himalayas, shows the famously grouchy-looking feline perched in a snowy landscape at nearly 16,400 feet (4,992 meters) above sea level. Until now, the species had only been documented in India’s Sikkim region, as well as Bhutan and eastern Nepal.
Between July and September 2024, researchers from WWF India and the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department installed 136 camera traps across 83 remote, high-altitude sites in the West Kameng and Tawang districts. The survey spanned more than 2,000 square kilometers (770 square miles) of rugged terrain and ran for over eight months, enduring sub-zero temperatures and some of the world’s harshest conditions.
“This discovery at nearly 5,000 meters is a powerful reminder of how little we still know about life in the high Himalayas,” said Rishi Kumar Sharma, WWF India’s head of science and conservation for the Himalayas program. “That this landscape can support snow leopards, clouded leopards, marbled cats, and now Pallas’s cats — alongside thriving pastoral communities — speaks to its extraordinary richness and resilience.”
Pallas’s cats (Otocolobus manul) diverged from the leopard lineage around 5.2 million years ago, making them one of the oldest surviving species of wild cats. Small but stocky, with thick fur and distinctive round pupils, they are perfectly adapted to life in the cold. To keep their paws warm on icy ground, they balance on their bushy tails, which double as insulation. The cats are stealthy ambush predators, usually hunting rodents, birds, and reptiles at dusk.
The survey also documented five other wild cat species: snow leopards, clouded leopards, marbled cats, common leopards, and leopard cats. In one rare observation, a snow leopard and a common leopard were caught on camera marking the same site — offering scientists new insights into how these apex predators share overlapping ranges.
“The findings are remarkable,” said Taku Sai, senior project officer at WWF India. “Recording so many different wild cats at such extreme altitudes opens up exciting new opportunities for ecological research and conservation in this fragile ecosystem.”