Recent footage of a rare “fire tiger” from a trail cam in Thailand has gained attention online. Though it’s not common to spot this animal in the wild, we dug up some more video clips of this elusive predator.
The Asiatic golden cat—nicknamed “fire tiger”—is a medium-sized cat. It’s 16 inches tall and weighs up to 33 pounds. Scientists have a lot to learn about this animal, which is supposedly nocturnal, though many of the rare glimpses of this species on trail cams are during daylight hours.
A compilation of footage from late 2016 through August 2017 shows fire tigers on trail cameras in Sumatra, a large Indonesian island. The Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) shared the clips on YouTube from its Wildlife Protection Unit.
“Animals are very good at hiding, especially in dense rainforests,” FZS says in the caption. “But we’re getting good at finding them. Using camera traps, Dr. Alexander Mossbrucker and the FZS Wildlife Protection Unit in Sumatra have exposed mammals that most of us have never heard of, let alone seen.”
The fire tiger is a great example of a mammal many people have never heard of or seen. Watch several clips of the animal here:
FZS compiled a Sumatran Mammals field guide using data from its trail cams. You can learn more about the Asiatic golden cat in the guide.