This snow leopard (Panthera uncia) self portrait was taken by a camera trap set at 14,000 feet elevation on the Karlung Ridge above Rumbuk village, in Ladakh, India. The Trailmaster camera unit functioned well despite temperatures in January-March 2003 of -22 degrees Fahrenheit. The Snow Leopard Conservancy is researching the status of snow leopards in this area, and working with local people on a range of community-based conservation and income-generation initiatives.

Adult male puma (Puma concolor), one of three identified so far by camera traps in the São Francisco de Paula National Forest in southern Brazil, near the Atlantic coast. Peter Crawshaw is working with local sheep rangers on techniques to minimize puma predation on livestock. Read Peter's progress report Conservation of Puma concolor in southern Brazil ( MS Word document). More photos from the document are in a separate document (MS Word, 900 Kb).

This project is sponsored by a generous donation from Charlie Knowles.

The Borneo Bay Cat Catopuma badia is the undisputed mystery cat of the family Felidae. It is found only on the island of Borneo and known only from a handful of records and museum specimens. Due to its rarity and limited range, it is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. Researcher Mohammed Azlan from the University of Sarawak, Malaysia hopes to shed some light on the subject. Thanks to a generous donation from CAT supporter Gibson Anderson, and with camera traps and expertise provided by Jim Sanderson, Azlan will carry out the first comprehensive distribution and status survey for this rare small wild cat.

•Read the project proposal: Give a new lease of life to bay cats: Distribution and Relative Abundance of Bay Cats and Other Felids in Borneo (MS Word)

Thanks to wildlife photographer Art Wolfe for providing use of his photo of a captive Borneo Bay Cat: the only known image of a live animal. Copyright Art Wolfe from his book The Living Wild <www.artwolfe.com>

Read the Borneo Bay Cat species account from the Cat Specialist Group's Cat Action Plan. Funding of a status survey for this species addresses a major gap in global wild cat conservation.