Notable observations on the melanistic Asiatic Golden cat ( Pardofelis temminckii ) of Sikkim, India

During our investigations on the status of carnivores and their prey in Prek Chu Catchment (182 km²) of Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (BR), Sikkim, from January 2009 to August 2010, we obtained the first photographic confirmation of Asiatic Golden cat Pardofelis temminckii from Sikkim and also a new altitudinal record (3,960 m) for the species. Of the five felids recorded from the area, the Asiatic Golden cat had the second highest photo-capture rate of 0.50±0.16 (mean±S.E) photo-captures/100 trap days. Interestingly, all the photographs of the Asiatic golden cat from different parts of Prek Chu were of melanistic form and did not resemble any of described three subspecies of Asiatic Golden cat viz ., Catopuma. t. temminckii, C. t. dominicanorum, and C. t. tristis . We hypothesize that either all the golden cats of Khangchendzonga BR are melanistic or they could be a different subspecies. Further research on these aspects using molecular genetics is underway.