The month-long study started a week ago after installing four types of sophisticated cameras in Nar, Fu and Nessyang VDCs in Manang, conservationists said.

A team of conservationists, including Gangaram Regmi, Paras Bikram Singh, Tashi R Ghale, Rinjan Phujok Lama and Maha Krishna Suwal, has been mobilised.

The small cat species (Otocolobus manul), which lives in the grassland and steep regions of Central Asia, was trapped in a camera in the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) this year. The camera was installed at an altitude of 4,600 meters above sea level by local resident Ghale with support from the ACAP.

“Movements of the species, its numbers and habitat will be studied thoroughly and scientifically,” team member Lama said, adding that they will also carry out a study of the species in Mustang and other areas.

“The number of newly-spotted species will be ascertained through this study,” Singh said. He said the study also aims at conserving the animal. Though Nepal has been considered as a potential habitat for this cat species resembling the domestic cat, there was no previous record of its presence in any geographical area in the country. In 2012, Bhutan too recorded the first photographic evidence of this animal which is found in 15 Central Asian countries, including Iran, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, China and Mongolia. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has enlisted this cat under “near threatened” category for their dwindling populations due to hunting, habitat loss and decline in their prey.

The cat was named after Peter Simon Pallas, a German zoologist and botanist who discovered it in 1776. This cat is called as ‘Tashi biralo (cat)’ in Nepal. The animal is 46 to 65 meters long and weigh 2.5 to 4.5 kilograms.