Footprints of ghost

In October when the nights are often filled with rain, I refuse to use it as an excuse to stay indoors and I went out taking ride twenty kilometers to get glimpse of fog on my favorite spot. After walking for nearly thirty minutes, darkness and silence still filled the air. As rainwater continued to drip from the trees, the only sound breaking the silence morning is my footsteps.

Suddenly the birds started making loud noises few meters away, indicating a moment of alertness. I quickly can guess that some predator had emerged early for their hunt, especially evident when the yellow-billed babblers joined to make their loud calls in groups. These birds known for their social structures where one member always keep an watch from a higher vantage point for threats such as snakes or raptors. Adding to the chorus of alarm were other birds like Prinia, bushchat and Common tailor birds. Rarely witnessed such gathering of every bird in the surrounding before, so I slowed my pace and began to observe.

The birds started circling around the slope near a pond where bushes provided cover. I noticed movement among the bushes and although the view was obscured, I kept my camera aiming towards the area of clear view hoping it would cross. Then came some mongoose looking at me as if questioning “are you stupid enough to disturb us this early hour?”.

False alarm! Why are these birds making such a scene where there is no threat, considering that mongooses are natural predators of snakes and commonly spotted in this area. Their presence usually doesn't bother the birds. As I lowered my camera channeling my inner Sherlock, another creature emerged from the bush casting a gaze that momentarily froze me in place. It appeared to be a cat, but something is odd about this one. His forehead had a beautiful pattern which I have never seen and its eyes had an unusual quality color. Could it be a Jungle cat? Before Sherlock could react, the cat disappeared into the wilderness.

Later I found that it’s a Rusty-spotted cat!! I am aware that small wild cats are rare and discovering one so early in the morning was jackpot. This sparked my curiosity, googling about behavioral studies which appear to have never been conducted due to the scarcity of observations of this species. India is home to eleven species of small cats with Tamil Nadu hosting three of them. The Jungle cat, found across various habitats throughout the country is notably larger. The Leopard cat resides in the Western Ghats which has leopard like patterns and compact size. While the Rusty-spotted cat has patterns on head with spots on the body and has different eye color also comes under IUCN red list which holds the title of the world's smallest cat. All these species are nocturnal animals emerging usually after sunlight but the early morning appearance might happen because of the night rain.

From that day onwards I dedicated almost a month waking up early morning and patiently waiting in this area hoping to capture a photograph of this elusive creature. I was well aware that encountering such a rare species was not a normal occurrence. However, even after two months of effort there was no sign. The more I tried to understand this creature the more I realized that it remained an mystery in the scientific world. Its existence seemed almost ghost-like. At this point I just wanted to take a record shot of this being and show I wasn't day-dreaming.

Nearly eight hundred meters away I came across another spot where I found footprints of smaller animals which doesn’t match mongoose or hare that lives here, footprints were as smaller than one-rupee coin. The freshness of these footprints after the morning rain provided a clear indication of recent activity, I could only make assumptions as there is no clear evidence yet.

I began exploring deeper into the new spot and wondered how a cat could adapt to certain lifestyle of avoiding human contact, parallel to my own way of living. It was strange to notice the environment had more silence filled with trees and plants but absence of insects and birds felt odd.

At the center was a giant fruit tree encircled by thousands of flowers. Sensing a shift in the atmosphere to this place I decided to remove my shoes and walked barefoot that day. I found myself day-dreaming that the cat truly resided in this enchanting location, a sight of him walking around blooming flowers. This spot had no connection to the first sighting area as there was human intervention and building in between. Therefore I focused more on the first sighting spot which was easier to access and free from interruption.

More than domestic cat this species have evolved with high sense of hearing, smell and night vision eyes for increasing the chance of hunting they choose night life which makes them perfect ghost in existence. So I decided to come up with an idea that in order to capture a ghost we have to trap through  stillness of time - yes camera trapping which is more ethical and preserves the area without causing any disturbance or damage. But no Indian company available at this point so I began doing my own with my nerd friend instructions and it took me almost two months to fine-tune the trigger mechanism, my room turned into mini electronic shop.

Upon completing the setup, I had to leave town for emergency purpose and returned after three months. But never had the opportunity to deploy the camera in those areas, as I struggled to get the necessary permits even after few months of trying in this forest area. This play of powers and behind talks of my idea dragged me behind rather supporting. So, I started shifting my focus towards even more significant mystery of the "Stonekeepers".

By the time I solved this mystery I resumed my chase towards the cat because I couldn't give up, so I had to start all over again. Realizing that my best chance of encountering the cat was during the night where I can’t sneak DSLR trigger setup I started making Esp32 camera ( a basic camera the size of SD memory card )for monitoring activities which didn’t help at night so I purchased a trail camera which is cheaper than DSLR and had night vision capabilities (this wasn’t available when I made motion trigger). The plan was to set up in the evenings and retrieving it each morning because of human activities in daytime.

On the first day of trapping, I successfully captured couple of civet, these are rare nocturnal creatures as well. Hoping cat is not that far I tried everyday but even after several attempts cat remained elusive.

Indian Civet

Indian Gerbil

Jungle Cat

Indian Hare

Again I started to wake up more early like three in the morning, covering a distance of twenty kilometers each day bought some unwanted attention of cops. Yet I remained prepared with answers I had rehearsed beforehand.

As I was strolling on this lonely path of giant trees with no lights , some trees illuminated by fireflies and stars covering the sky looked other-worldly. Standing in the darkness for extended periods gave enough visibility to see bats swooping around me in pursuit of mosquitoes, the owls gliding nearby, hares darting and lizards rushing over dry leaves. It would be a crime to put that in words but in short Earth felt was so alive like never before with breeze and darkness. Feeling like a nocturnal animal myself, I can appreciate the luxury of affording such a lifestyle. Despite this nocturnal activity this cat remained supernatural.

October arrived already, marking the anniversary of my sighting of the cat last year. Even after an year focusing on this species not a single trace of him was observed evidently. It has been a year filled with numerous hunches, thrills and learning experiences especially in uncovering and comprehending specific locations. Also found how some departments is as useful as unity statue for India. 

When creature the size of a human palm can leap through trees with the agility of a chimpanzee that completely evolved for night life, who has the sharp senses like any other usual animal cannot be captured that easily, not on their realm. Also permit for camera trap seems impossible even for short duration. Thus, I decided to stop the chase as it started to make more of disturbance than a dream shot.

After few weeks of giving up cat chase while I was walking back from birding around few kilometers on sunny day, suddenly I heard bird noises again. I started to move towards the direction of sound near dense bush down the slope. Bending to see through the foliage, I discovered two Rusty-spotted intimated by each other on a tree. Instead of the birds around making the hush they noticed me and started to descend from the tree.

My adrenaline surged through veins and had no control of my legs which ran through sliding down the slope.  Even though I took multiple shots which is useless yet I saw empty ground beyond the tree which I might have chance of clear view if they ran across the field but they disappeared in front of my eyes and in return ended up bleeding my leg because of thorns which I ran through.

This image I captured that day attained research-grade status on iNaturalist.

The encounter happened at the second spot, in the same tree I day-dreamed as the perfect location for the cat before few months. Was it merely a coincidence? What are the ODDS?!  Maybe   It could have been one second if I have not put the camera down during my first sighting last year or could have been one week if I got permit but everything unfolded according to its own timeline. After all, the thrill of life often lies in the thrill of the moment itself.

This is the only observation of this species made during the daytime. I studied this area for few days before shifting myself to different city and observed how simple giant old trees not only adopt neighboring plants through underground network but also a home for some mysterious beings of nights.

During a fortunate night walk you may catch a glimpse of this elusive cat or could require hundreds of cameras to unravel its mysteries - yes! following the sighting of Rusty spotted cat with kitten, the Keoladeo National Park deployed around hundred trap cameras to study this species.

When I revisited the place on June 8th 2024, after a gap of six months just standing there aimlessly. This cat casually walked past me with its tail held upright and the tip gently wagging and i failed to click the shot.