The African golden cat is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. In the National Red List of Uganda, the species is listed as Endangered. It is poorly known and only very rarely observed in the wild. This is largely due to the moist forest habitat in which it lives and its shy nature which have made it difficult to study. Evaluating its conservation status has thus far been challenging due to the resulting lack of information on its biology and ecology. Most information comes from a few dietary studies and museum specimens. The African golden cat is generally considered as rare and no reliable density estimates exist. 

The African golden cat is endemic to the African tropical forest and occurs throughout equatorial Africa, from Senegal throughout the Congo Basin over to Uganda. However, there are no confirmed records from The Gambia, Togo or Benin. This indicates a possible separation of African golden cat populations between Western and Central Africa. In Kenya, a dead African golden cat was found in 2019 next to a road, which is the first confirmed record since 1946 from that country.

In Gabon, density estimates ranged from 3.8 individuals per 100 km² in a site with subsistence bushmeat hunting to 10.2–12.8 per 100 km² in two logging concessions and 16.2 per 100 km² in a protected area.

The African golden cat is a forest-dependent species and is strongly associated with moist forest habitats. It favours primarily equatorial forests with little human disturbance. Nevertheless, it seems to be quite adaptable and also occurs in montane, bamboo and secondary forests as well as in coastal forest habitat and wooded savannahs.

The African golden cat apparently adapts well to sustainably logged areas, perhaps due to the resulting dense secondary undergrowth that produces high rodent abundance. The periphery of the African golden cat’s range stretches into savannah regions bordering forests associated with river drainages. The golden cat has been recorded at elevations up to 3,600 m in Uganda.

Biology, distribution and social structure of the African golden cat are largely unknown and the information available comes from a few observations. Although the species has been known for almost 200 years, the first live individual was pictured in the wild in Gabon in 2002. In 2008, an African golden cat was pictured in the Kibale National Park of Uganda and in 2009 an individual was seen catching a small mammal on a road in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. Since 2010, golden cats have been captured hundreds of times by camera traps in studies in Gabon and Uganda. These studies confirm the species to be solitary. Competition or predation by leopards (Panthera pardus) may also negatively impact the African golden cat. It sometimes gets killed by leopards and both species seem to take similar prey species. There are indications that the African golden cat’s activity pattern is dependent on its surroundings: golden cat activity was cathemeral (active at any time of day and night) in the presence of largely nocturnal leopards, but mostly nocturne-crepuscular in areas where leopards are absent. However, as leopard absence was concurrent with and probably caused by high human pressure, it was impossible to determine whether the change was a response directly to the increased human activity, or indirectly to the absence of the apex predator.

Little is known about the African golden cat’s hunting behaviour. It probably hunts most of its prey on the ground but may also hunt in trees to some extent. Very little is known about its reproductive biology. The only data comes from a captive pair from the 1970s, which produced a total of 4 litters with 2 kittens per litter. Only one of these 4 reproductions was documented in detail, with gestation lasting 75 days.

The African golden cat is included in Appendix II of CITES. It is only fully protected over part of its range. Hunting is prohibited in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo. Hunting is regulated in Gabon, Liberia and Togo. The African golden cat is not legally protected in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda and domestic trade is not controlled in Congo and Sierra Leone. No information is available from Burundi and Guinea.

How much the African golden cat can adapt to changing habitat conditions and what current levels of threat are in place cannot be answered due to a lack of information. However, recent studies found newly logged concessions to be important habitat for golden cats, and should thus be incorporated within the conservation estate.

There is an urgent need for further research on the African golden cat’s distribution, density in various habitats and general status. More information about its ecology, demography and behaviour are also very important in order to get a detailed understanding about the essential characteristics and needs of this species. This is fundamental for its status evaluation and for planning and implementing appropriate conservation measures.