Jungle Cat

About this species

Size

Head and body 59–76cm

Weight

2–16kg

Diet

Mainly rodents, also hares, birds, fish, frogs, insects and small snakes; some fruit in winter

Habitat

Wetlands, reedbeds, riverbanks, grassland, scrub and farmland such as sugarcane fields; up to about 2,300m in the Himalayas

Litter size

1–5 kittens, usually 2–3

Gestation

Nearly two months

The jungle cat is a long-legged, slender cat and the largest of the true Felis wildcats. The coat is a plain sandy, reddish-brown or grey with dark-tipped hairs that give a speckled look, and adults have no spots, though kittens are striped and adults may keep faint leg rings. The tail is short with two or three dark rings and a black tip, the ears carry small black tufts, and a spinal crest can be seen. With its long legs, short tail and ear tufts it looks a little like a small lynx. Melanistic and albino individuals have been reported from the Indian subcontinent (Wikipedia, general species account).

In India the jungle cat is the most common small wild cat. It lives close to water and dense cover, in wetlands, tall grass and scrub, and is often found in crop fields and near villages. It is active by day, resting in the heat of noon, and often sunbathes in winter. It stalks prey and then sprints or leaps, and can jump to take birds; in a Sariska Tiger Reserve study rodents made up as much as 95% of its diet. Females are in oestrus from January to March, and litters are born between December and June (Wikipedia, general species account).

Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)