Flat-Headed Cat(Prionailurus Planiceps)
The flat-headed cat is distinguished by the extreme depression of the skull, which extends along the nose to the extremity of the muzzle, the sides of which are laterally distended. The general habit of body is slender, and the extremities are delicate and lengthened. The head itself is more lengthened and cylindrical than in the domestic cat. The distance between the eyes and the ears is comparatively great. The cylindrical form and lateral contraction of the head is contrasted by an unusual length of the teeth. The canine teeth are nearly as long as in an individual of double its size.
The thick fur is reddish-brown on top of the head, dark roan brown on the body, and mottled white on the underbelly. The face is lighter in color than the body, and the muzzle and chin are white. Two prominent buff whitish streaks run on either side of the nose between the eyes. The ears are rounded. The eyes are unusually far forward and close together, compared with other cats, giving the felid improved stereoscopic vision. The teeth are adapted for gripping onto slippery prey, and the jaws are relatively powerful. These features help the flat-headed cat to catch and retain aquatic prey, to which it is at least as well adapted as the fishing cat. Legs are fairly short. Claws are retractable, but the covering sheaths are so reduced in size that about two-thirds of the claws are left protruding. The anterior upper premolars are larger and sharper relative to other cats. The interdigital webs on its paws help the cat gain better traction in muddy environments and water, and are even more pronounced on this cat than those on the paws of the fishing cat. It has a head-and-body length of 41 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) and a short tail of 13-15 cm. It weighs 1.5-2.5 kg.
Habitat
The flat-headed cat's distribution is restricted to lowland tropical rainforests in extreme southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and on Borneo in Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei Darussalam and Kalimantan. It primarily occurs in freshwater habitats near coastal and lowland areas. More than 70% of records were collected less than 3 km away from water. The flat-headed cat occurs in both primary and secondary forest.
In Peninsular Malaysia, flat-headed cats were recorded in the Pasoh Forest Reserve in 2013.[11] As the Pasoh Forest Reserve contains no major rivers or lakes and is generally covered by hill dipterocarp forest, this detection provides new evidence of the species' potential habitat range. The reserve ranks as low probability of occurrence in a previously published species distribution model.[9] Pasoh's surrounding landscape is dominated by plantations that have been established since the 1970s. The detection, occurring < 1.5 km (0.93 mi) from oil palm plantations, suggests that the flat-headed cat is more tolerant of changes in its surrounding environment than previously assumed.[11]
In Kalimantan, flat-headed cats were recorded in mixed swamp forest and tall interior forest at altitudes below 20 m (66 ft) in the vicinity of Sabangau National Park.
