Three little pigs

Three times, on our tenth night drive in Tabin, three little bearded pigs bolted across the road in front of us. Twice we saw oriental bay owls, like tiny mascara-ed barn owls, clinging to low vertical stems at the forest edge. A water monitor slept longways on a branch and at the edge of the reserve we met two new leopard cats, kittens where before I have seen only a single adult.

Among many things, the loveliest, to me, was a banded palm-civet, our second of the day, skipping along the track in front of us. A gorgeous burnt-sugar brown, its sinuous back cut with black wedges, its eyes bright and its nose sharp, in shape and sense, it was a joy to see.


Cats seen in 2015
cheetah Acinonyx jubatus fearonii            3
serval Leptailurus serval serval                3
leopard Panthera pardus suahelicus        2
lion Panthera leo nubica                          78

snow leopard Panthera uncia                   3
jungle cat Felis chaus                               2
tiger Panthera tigris tigris                          13

leopard Panthera pardus fusca                4
lion Panthera leo persica                          7
leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis       15
flat-headed cat Prionailurus planiceps     1