Scientists once believed the Flat-Headed Cat had gone extinct—but they were wrong. The first confirmed sighting of the feline in 29 years in the wilds of Thailand is strong evidence that the Kingdom has revitalized its forests through sustained conservation and environmental efforts.

“Rediscovering Flat-Headed Cats in southern Thailand is an extraordinary moment for conservation,” said Wai Ming Wong, Director of Small Cat Conservation Science at Panthera, a civil society organization dedicated to protecting more than 40 species of wild cats worldwide.

“It shows that, where wetlands and river systems remain intact, even the most elusive and threatened carnivores can persist,” he added.

The announcement by Thai conservationists in December came more than a year after the initial sighting, as scientists needed time to confirm the discovery and determine the extent of the population.

They also required time to ensure that protection measures could be put in place to prevent the extremely rare cats from falling prey to poachers and traffickers once their existence became public.

Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation worked with Panthera to deploy camera traps in southern forests. The cameras recorded 13 instances of Flat-Headed Cats (Prionailurus planiceps) in 2024 and a further 16 records in 2025.

Prior to that, the last confirmed sighting of a Flat-Headed Cat occurred in 1995, near Thailand’s border with Malaysia.

Thailand has also recorded other conservation successes involving wild cats. Most notably, over the past decade, the number of Tigers documented in the Kingdom’s forests has been rising, making Thailand one of the few countries to reverse the species’ long-term decline.