An Introduction to Southeast Asian Ecocriticism

Abstract

In January 2017, a motion-sensing camera trap yielded unexpected images of jungle cats (Felis chaus, also known as reed or swamp cats) at Omkoi Wildlife Sanctuary in Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand, adjacent to the eastern border of Myanmar. After a nearly forty-year hiatus-causing wildlife biologists to speculate that the feline had gone extinct in the area - the ashen-eyed cat with a slightly-humped spine, oversized ears, spindly legs, and a banded black-and-gray tail pauses mid-stride, gazing indifferently at the photographic apparatus. Native to parts of the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and mainland Southeast Asia, the medium-sized feline prefers wetland or riparian habitats affording dense vegetative protection but-contrary to its colloquial name-tends not to occupy rainforest environments. Although The IUCN Red List classifies Felis chaus as a species of least concern, the report nevertheless describes the global population trend and habitat quality of the mammal as declining, notably in Laos and Thailand where confirmed sightings have decreased sharply in recent decades. In the book Mammals of Thailand (1977), the physician-turned-conservationist Boonsong Lekagul and the biologist Jeffrey McNeely characterized the jungle cat as an ordinary denizen of the tall grass, thick bush, deciduous forests, canal banks, and riverside thickets of the north of the country. In particular, Lekagul and Mc- Neeley emphasized the feline's capacity to live near rural settlements where the creatures were spotted regularly by village dwellers.