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Modelled Suitable Habitat in India Could Support About 309,000 Jungle Cats

Wild jungle cat crouching among dry grass in India
Conservation · Population & status

A nationwide study estimated that about 545,280 km² of India is potentially suitable habitat for jungle cat (Felis chaus) and that this habitat could support roughly 308,585 individuals. The figure is a model-based estimate of potential population size, not a direct count of jungle cats. The estimate was highly uncertain and should be read as a broad indication rather than a precise population count.

The researchers combined records from a nationwide camera-trap dataset with radio-telemetry, published information and verified sightings. After removing spatially redundant records, 6,151 occurrence locations were used to model suitable habitat across India.

Home ranges linked suitable habitat to potential population size

To translate the habitat estimate into a potential number of animals, the researchers used annual home-range sizes from 16 radio-collared jungle cats. Males used larger annual home ranges than females on average — 6.7 km² compared with 2.4 km² — and these sex-specific values were incorporated into the national estimate.

The estimate should therefore be read as the number of jungle cats the modelled suitable habitat could support, rather than as observed abundance. Much of the systematic camera-trap material also came from surveys of large carnivores concentrated in forested landscapes, so the authors note that some habitat types may be underrepresented.

Warm, semi-arid and relatively open landscapes were most suitable

Jungle cats were most strongly associated with warm, semi-arid and relatively open landscapes, including dry deciduous forest, grassland, desert and agro-pastoral mosaics. Suitability was highest where vegetation cover was moderate and human and livestock disturbance was low to moderate, and declined in dense forest and heavily modified landscapes.

The modelled distribution extended far beyond protected areas into agricultural and pastoral landscapes. The authors note that jungle cats remain underrepresented in India’s conservation agenda, while much of their suitable habitat lies in open and agro-pastoral landscapes outside core protected areas.

The authors identify habitat fragmentation, expanding infrastructure, road mortality, disease transmission from free-ranging dogs and possible hybridisation with domestic cats among the pressures facing jungle cats in India. They argue that conserving grasslands, savannas, open forests and semi-natural agro-pastoral mosaics outside protected areas will be important for maintaining the species across its broad national range.

Sources and image credit

  1. Bandyopadhyay, K., Jain, D., Koprowski, J., Qureshi, Q., & Jhala, Y. V. (2026). Distribution and conservation status of the jungle cat (Felis chaus) across India. Scientific Reports, 16, 7798. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39033-1Primary peer-reviewed article, published online 8 February 2026. The final filtered dataset contained 6,151 occurrence records; the ensemble model identified about 545,280 km² of potentially suitable habitat and estimated a potential population of 308,585 individuals (95% CI 157,917–459,253).

Image: Rodrick rajive lal / Wikimedia Commons — wild jungle cat (Felis chaus) photographed in Sultanpur National Park, Haryana, India, 9 December 2023. Representative wild jungle cat from India, not an individual from the 2026 nationwide study. · CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ · Source

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