The Cryptid Zoo: Horned Cats

Reports of horned cats are usually associated with legends of demon cats and not taken very seriously by cryptozoologists or any other scientists. One exception is the horned cat that is supposed to be native to two islands near Java, Alor and Solor. This animal, dubbed the Lesser Sundas cat, is the size of a housecat. It has two little knobs on its head like small horns, each one located just above an eye. It sounds weird, but it is at least slightly possible that this animal could exist. The islands off southeast Asia hold many of the world's most bizarre animals, and small islands can often have primitive relics or creatures with truly weird evolutionary adaptations.

Horns have evolved independently many times, so it is at least slightly possible that a cat or an animal resembling a cat could develop something like this. If it exists and is not a true cat, the animal could be a feline look-alike such as a civet or perhaps a catlike marsupial. It could even be a variety of primitive ungulate that happens to look a bit like a cat, perhaps even a mesonychid. Whatever it is, it seems likely that if it exists, it would be a new species.

You can find out more about Horned Cats from the following sources:

Moggycat. Anomalous Felids

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Newton, Michael. Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide to Hidden Animals and Their Pursuers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2005. Pages 258, 361, 445

Saunders, Nicholas J. The Cult of the Cat. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991. Pages 11, 25

Shuker, Karl. The Beasts That Hide From Man: Seeking the World's Last Undiscovered Animals. New York: Paraview Press, 2003. Pages 266-267