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Rusty-spotted Cat Documented Using a Tree Cavity as a Daytime Den in Odisha

Rusty-spotted cat resting in a sheltered hollow
Research · Ecology

A 2026 field note from Keonjhar Wildlife Division in Odisha documents a rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus) using a natural tree cavity as a daytime den. The authors report that tree-cavity use by the species had not previously been documented from India.

The adult cat was found on 26 February 2025 while researchers were inspecting tree cavities during a survey of forest microhabitats. It was sleeping inside a hollow in an unhealthy Syzygium nervosum tree, with its head lowered between its forelegs.

The host tree was 24.8 m tall and had a girth of 106 cm at breast height. The cavity began 157 cm above ground and had formed naturally as the core of the main stem decayed. Its entrance measured 28 × 17 cm, with a vertical depth of 60 cm and a horizontal depth of 36 cm. The cavity faced northeast, and its floor was 18 cm wide.

A previous review had listed 517 vertebrate species using tree cavities in India but did not include the rusty-spotted cat because no such use had been documented. The authors therefore add the species to the known cavity-user list and highlight large old, dying and hollow trees as habitat structures that can provide shelter for cavity-using wildlife.

Sources and image credit

  1. Patel, B., & Dhamdhere, D. H. (2026). Use of tree cavity for denning by Rusty-spotted Cat in Keonjhar, Odisha. Mammal Tales #164. Zoo’s Print, 41(2), 37–39.

Image: David V. Raju / Wikimedia Commons — wild rusty-spotted cat photographed in India on 21 December 2015; representative image, not the individual observed in Keonjhar; cropped to 16:9 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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