Elusive Pallas’s Cat Recorded by Camera Traps in Iran
Camera traps set up by a wildlife photographer in Iran have captured the rarely seen Pallas’s cat.
Famed for their grumpy faces, Pallas’s cats are small wild cats that are very secretive; little is known about them in Iran, including how many there are.
Wildlife enthusiast Majid Batebi set up camera traps in the mountainous region of Mazandaran in northern Iran. The curious Pallas’s cat approached the camera, inspecting it carefully.
“The Pallas’s cat is one of Iran’s rarest and least-known felids, and precise data regarding its distribution and population status within the country remain unavailable,” says Batebi.
“The primary habitat of this elusive cat lies in Central Asia, with Iran situated at the westernmost edge of its global range. Its sighting in Mazandaran is of particular significance, underscoring once again the importance of protecting the province’s mountainous habitats — especially those lying outside the Hyrcanian forest zones.”
Pallas’s cats in Iran primarily prey on pikas, small mountain-dwelling mammals that are closely related to rabbits.
Covert Kitty
Pallas’s cats are slightly larger than a domestic cat and generally inhabit Central Asia; Iran is the farthest west they are found.
They are famous for having a flat face, small rounded ears, and dense fur adapted for living on cold mountains. There are an estimated 60,000 Pallas’s cats in the wild, and CNN reports their habitat is being degraded by overgrazing, mining, and herding dogs pushing higher into the slopes.
The cats are so reclusive that a BBC Discover Wildlife report claims that Pallas’s cats weren’t photographed until 2012.
However, the advent of camera trap systems has enabled far more sightings: earlier this year, a family of Pallas’s cats was filmed in Qinghai Province, China, which is the easternmost region of the feline’s range.
And in 2025, cameras placed in the rocky habitat of Himachal Pradesh in India recorded the first-ever photographic evidence of the Pallas’s cat (also known as a Manul) in the region.
Image creditsPhotographs by Majid Batebi
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