Mainland Leopard Cat

About this species

Size

Head and body 39–66cm in the tropics; tail 17–31cm

Weight

0.55–3.8kg in the tropics

Diet

Small mammals, especially rats and mice; also birds, lizards, amphibians, insects, eggs and some grass

Habitat

Evergreen and deciduous forest, scrub and forest edges, up to about 4,470m in the Himalayas

Litter size

2–3 kittens

Gestation

60–70 days

The leopard cat is about the size of a domestic cat but more slender, with longer legs and webbed toes. Its tawny to yellowish-brown coat is marked with black spots of varying size and two to four rows of elongated spots along the back, and the underparts are white. Two dark stripes run from the eyes to the ears, and the backs of the rounded ears are black with a central white spot. The tail is about half the head and body length, with a few faint rings near a black tip. Colour and spotting vary a lot across its huge range: northern animals are paler and silver-grey (Wikipedia, general species account).

Across its range the leopard cat is mostly solitary and hunts mainly at night, though some animals are active by day. It is a good climber and rests in trees or in dense thorny undergrowth, but seldom swims. Small rodents are the main food. It kills with a quick pounce and bite and, unlike many small cats, does not play with its food, which may be linked to the large share of birds it takes. In the tropics kittens are born through the year, after a gestation of 60–70 days (Wikipedia, general species account).

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