Leopard Cat:

August 7, 2016

Cats are human being best friend and partner from ages but not all the types of cats are friendly. Some cats are wild cannot be tame and live only in forests like leopard cats. These cats look same like leopard and lives in a south-east part of Asia. There are almost eleven different kinds of species of these cats living in Asians jungles.

Appearance:

Leopard cats are beautiful attractive wild cats having same spots on their fur as leopards have. The standard size of leopard cat is the same as of domestic friendly household cats but the legs of these cats are longer than domestic cats and have sharp webs between his toes. The length of this cat is approximately 66 to 105 centimetres. The weight of this cat is in-between 9 to 16 kg. Its colour is golden brown with white and black lines on his chest and looks like a leopard. These cats have amazing swimming ability.

Habitants:

Leopard cat lives in tropical jungles, semi-desert scrubland and woodlands regions that are comparatively close to the water area. The leopard cat is widely spread in their particular area and is found in some parts of Indonesia, Borneo, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, China, Cambodia, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Korea, Pakistan and India.

Behaviour and Ecology:

These cats are solitary and territorial. They mark their territories in the jungle by scratching trees or with urine. They are night time animal and spend their day in resting on trees. Leopard cats are carnivorous and eat by hunting birds, rodent, hares, small ungulates, reptile, birds, lizards, frogs and eggs from birds nest on trees. These cats hunt small prey with a bite. Their vocalisations comprise of spitting, hissing, meowing, growling, purring, and gurgling.

In spite of his comparatively small size, these cats are however a dominant marauder in its territory so there are only a few animals that can feed on them. The major predators of these cats are tigers, wild dogs, large snakes and leopards.

Reproduction:

Reproduction behaviour of these cats is still not known in forest whereas in captivity it is observed that the female Asian golden cat become an adult in between 18 to 24 months. They can mate any time of the year. A female cat can give birth to up to four kittens at a time after pregnancy period that ends from eight to 10 weeks. The little kitten opens their eyes after 15 days of birth. Both parents raise the kittens for 10 months.

Threat:

Leopard cats are hunt mainly in china because of their beautiful leopard-like fur. According to the survey in the year, early 90’s about 200000 furs of these cats was export. After that, European Union banned its export but still some greedy smuggler smuggle its skin. Secondly, due to deforestation in their regions, these cats are declining in populating day by day. In order to save these beautiful wild cats from extinction, these should be serious action taken in against deforesting.

References:

http://qz.com/304236/theres-science-behind-your-inexplicably-close-relationship-with-your-cat/

http://a-z-animals.com/animals/leopard-cat/

http://bigcatrescue.org/leopard-cat-facts

http://bigcatrescue.org/leopard-cat-facts/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_cat#/media/File:Tsushima_Cat_001.jpg