Cat Museum, Kuching, Sarawak
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| SARAWAK MUSEUM | CAT MUSEUM | CHINESE MUSEUM | ISLAMIC MUSEUM | TEXTILE MUSEUM |
Cat Museum, Kuching, Sarawak
A Collection from all over the world about CAT in Cat City
...Museum for cat lover in the Cat City...
Welcome to Kuching Cat Museum in the Cat City of the world
| The people in Kuching are crazy about cats. Huge, colorful cat statues dominate
the town. The fishing cats dominate the centre square, the beckoning cat stands
at the crossroads and the smiling cat stands guard at roundabouts. Part of the local fascination stems from the fact that kuching means cat in Malay. Lively discussions centre on whether this refers to the wild cats that dominated the area in times past, or the proliferation of a local fruit tree whose lychee-like fruit is nicknamed mata kuching or cat’s eyes. Kuching announced it was a Cat City on August 1, 1988 and threw itself into celebrating the cat. To kick it off, the Sarawak Museum took over a cat display from the National Museum, Kuala Lumpur. As it proved popular and the collection grew, the exhibition was given its own space in a new museum in Kuching’s North City Hall in 1993. Experience and discover for yourself the fascinating world of cats at one of the world's unique cat museum. Explore our galleries and you will definitely be amazed at the variety of species and other assortment of artifacts from other parts of the world on display. The World's first Cat Museum, devoted to all things feline, is in Petra Jaya in the Kuching City North City Hall. Cat lovers will find a range of exhibits, photos, feline art and cat souvenirs. Tel: 446688. Open daily 9 am to 5 pm (closed public holidays). Admission free, camera fee RM 3, video fee RM 5. Petra Jaya Transport bus No 2C or 2D. |
| INTRODUCTION The Cat Museum is under the management of Kuching North City Hall. The collection for the useum began since it was with the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur in 1987 and was later brought to Kuching City (The Cat City) under the care of Sarawak Museum and displayed for the first time on 7 August 1988 at Dewan Tun Abdul Razak.The works continued until it was officially handed over to Kuching North City Hall at the "Cat Museum" in 1993. The idea of forming a cat museum was originally contributed by The Right Honourable Chief Minister and his wife. |
| The Cat Museum as a "Cat Information Centre". Moreover, with a collection in various fields about cats will make the Cat Museum as a centre of meeting place for all researchers and cat lovers from all over the world. They will also be able to do research on cats, based on historical, social and legendary aspects related to human traditions and beliefs. The Cat Museum, can be as a meeting place as well as seminar and international conference venue for cat lovers' clubs from all over the world. |
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LOCATION
The Cat Museum is located on the top of a hill called "Bukit Siol" which stands 60 meters above the sea level with beautiful sceneries of the city of Kuching. The actual floor area of the Cat Museum is 1,035.9 sq. meters. There are of four main galleries having more than 2,000 cat artifacts and memorabilia from all over the world. OPENING HOURS Tuesday - Sunday (Including Public Holidays) 9.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m. Close on Monday CONTACT CAT MUSEUM UNIT |
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WILD CATS AND NATURE
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 Recently
I came across the above project by Andrew Hearn and Joanna
Ross on Bornean Wild Cat (see web link above) and spotted this photo of
leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis).
The skin pattern of the dead cat above resembled to that of a leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) (photo insert left). If this dead animal I saw proved to belong to this rear wild cat species of Borneo, |
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DOMESTIC CAT Scientific Name : Fefis Catus Malay Name : Kucing Rumah Domestic cat like this Sarawak Cat is always associated with man. This Sarawak Cat is distinguished from its other cousins by its short tail which is sometimes bent. Its body color is variable with white, grey, black or orange. |
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CLOUDED LEOPARD CAT Scientific Name : Neofelis Nebulosa Malay Name : Harimau Dahan Status : Totally Protected This is the largest of all Bornean cats. Its body has a set of stripes on an orange gold background like a tiger. This cat is rare. It is arboreal and more around in the trees, often hunts monkeys for its food. It is found in the rainforest. |
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LEOPARD CAT Scientific name : Felis Bengalensis Malay name : Kucing Batu Status : Protected This cat is fairly common around secondary forest in all parts of Sarawak. It has a pattern of black spots on a tawny yellow coat. Its tail is short. The cat is usually nocturnal and feeds on small mammals and birds including domestic chickens. |
| FLAT-HEADED CAT Scientific Name : Felis Pleniceps Malay Name : Kucing Hutan Status : Totally Protected This cat is found in Peninsular Thailand, Malaysia and Sumatera. In Borneo island, it was recorded being sighted in Sandakan areas in Sabah, Tasik Merimbun in Brunei, several areas in Sarawak, South Kalimantan and West Kalimantan. It appears brownish in color at a distance, but the hair of the upper parts is brown with fine grey and pale buff speckling. The chin and chest are white in color, the ear are small and the top of the head is long and flattened. This cat is nocturnal, terrestrial and probably feeds mainly on fish. It is also known to inhabit tall and secondary forest. |
| HOW KUCHING CITY GOT ITS NAME The Sarawak river and the whole state including Kuching town were formerly known as Sarawak. no body knew how this capital town to be called Kuching. Kuching is a Malay word which means CAT and it is possible that in those days, cats were abundant along the Sarawak river bank, thus it was named 'Kuching'. In 1839, James Booke (the first white Rajah of Sarawak) referred to the town as Kuching which might suggest to an old word Cochin or port, as in India or Indochina. The town in 1870s had a river running through it known as Sungai Kuching for it passed through a hill with a large growth of fruit trees locally known as 'MAT A KUCING '(Nephelium Malaienes). Thus, it's settled that in 1876 the town |; became officially known as Kuching |
| BAY CAT Scientific Name : Felis Badia Malay Name : Kucing Merah Status : Totally Protected This cat is the rarest of all cats in the world. It is found only in the rainforest of Borneo. Record shows that this species had been sighted in Baram. Sarawak and Danum Valley in Sabah. It differs from all other cats by the apparent absence of stripes or spots. The cats has two colour phases of golden brown and chestnut colours .with patches on the underside of the tail to its tip. The specimen in the photograph was mounted without internal bone and therefore does not look perfect. Its bone anatomy is displayed by its side. This is the only mounted specimen in the world today. |
| MARBLE CAT Scientific Name : Felis Marmorata Malay Name : Kucing Dahan Status : Totally Protected This Cat is very similar in pattern to the Clouded Leopard Cat. It has soft thick fur and umerous black spots on his legs. This cat is a nocturnal animal, arboreal and feeds mainly on rats. It can be found in secondary forest. |
| MALAY CIVET Scientific Name : Viverra Tangalunga Malay Name : Musang Tenggalong Status : Protected All civets or Musang, Bear Cats or Binturong are not really cats because they belong to a different family of animal called Viverridae. The general colour is grey marked with black and a black stripe along its spine to tail, with black spots on the sides of its body. |
| WILD CATS ECOLOGY Wild cats have developed powerful claws and are able to attain great speed in capturing their prey. These cats roam the rain forest, the larger species are usually solitary hunters. The cats are arboreal, but sometimes travel on the ground and become sociable during the mating season. The diet of the Clouded Leopard consist of wild deer. monkeys and small mammals. The Leopard Cat feeds on rats and insect. Some of the wild cats have moved from the primary forest into secondary forest in search of food near to human settlements. Not much is known about the ecology of our wild cats in Borneo. Some suggested that they could be ancestral from our domestic cat (Felis Catus), but the origin and evolution of these animals could not be traced with certainly. |
| CAT BIOLOGY Female cats to breed twice a year. Scratching by female cats indicates the beginning of a breeding season. Gestation last for about two to three months and number of kittens or cubs are bom depending on the species. Kittens and cubs are blind at birth and are dependent on their mother. The mother cat feeds their young, keeps them clean and protects them from the male who would normally devour them. |
| CONSERVATION All wild cats in Sarawak are protected by the Wildlife Protection Ordinance (1990). No one is allowed to hunt or kill or keep Wild Cats as pets without a valid licence from the Forest Department as they become endangered and rare. The specimens you see in this gallery are Museum specimens meant for informing you on the different types of Wild Cats in Borneo. You may be able to see some of these cats in our National Parks. Please help to conserve the^c beautiful cats by informing your sightings of Wild Cats to the nearest Wildlife Officer or the Museum. Vvild Cats are part of our environment and heritage, so we should help to preserve them. |
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INDEX of Kuching City May 10, 2008 06:46:11 PM |
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