Return of Lost Species to Manas National Park Proves Conservation Efforts Working

The return of a rare species to India has people convinced conservation tactics are working.

Trees and grass in Manas National Park / Mandatory Credit - iStock

It had been a very long time since the Asiatic golden cat was spotted anywhere in India. Because of the changing climate and temperatures around the world, regions are changing, causing animals and wildlife to sometimes disappear.

That was the case at Manas National Park in Assam for about 12 years. There were no signs of the golden cat being present, as it was believed India had lost the species.

But, in a recent paper released by Dipankar Lahkar, Mohammad Firoz Ahmed, Ramie Husneara Begum and Nibir Medhi titled Cat News, the legendary feline was spotted.

In two straight winters, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, the Asiatic golden cat was spotted on cameras that line the trails. But, only during the early morning hours.

It was the first time since 2007 that the animal made its presence known. As shared by The Times of India, there were about 39,700 camera trap days from 2011 through 2018 and the cat was not spotted once.

As the newspaper stated, "The rediscovery confirms that there is a cat in the park.”

With a near threatened conservation status and the population of the animal dropping, it is certainly encouraging to know that there are some which still exist.

As shared by the authors of Cat News, “The Asiatic golden cat is an incredible creature able to survive in dry deciduous forests, subtropical evergreen forests, tropical rainforests, temperate and subalpine forests, and even above 12,200 feet of elevation.”

Conservation efforts may not seem like much to some, but this is evidence that the work does pay off. A little bit of help can go a long way as nature can heal itself and help the wildlife thrive.

Manas National Park isn’t the only place in the world that is seeing the return of species that were thought to be gone.

“In Arizona, an ocelot was spotted for the first time in at least 50 years, and rare strawberry leopards were filmed in Tanzania,” wrote Mike Taylor of The Cool Down.

The next step of their research will be to see how the smaller cats making a return interact with the larger cats, whose population is on the rise. Will they co-exist in the same ecosystem? It will determine how the entire community of wildlife grows and develops in the region.