Research overview: flat-headed cat distribution in Sundaland

The flat-headed cat is a highly specialized wetland felid restricted to Sundaland, occurring on Borneo and Sumatra and in parts of the Malay Peninsula and southern Thailand. This overview compiles records linking the species tightly to lowland riverine and wetland habitats, including swamp forest, riverbanks, and the margins of lakes and marshes. Its distribution is naturally limited and now severely fragmented by the loss of lowland wetlands. Among the least known of all cats, it is recorded only rarely, so distribution rests on scattered camera-trap and museum records. Clarifying where the species persists is urgent because its narrow habitat requirements and the rapid destruction of Sundaland wetlands place it among the most imperiled small cats in the world.