Far Eastern Cat (leopard cat): description, habitat, food

In a wild Far Eastern cat, relatives of the cat line live in warm countries. Probably, his ancestors incredibly got into the territory of the taiga or here it was much warmer, and after cooling they had to adapt to severe weather conditions.

Handsome leopard cat: specks and coloring

Not for nothing is a wild inhabitant called a leopard cat. It is distinguished by a beautiful leopard coloring, without words, speaking of his predatory disposition. The researchers were able to classify the animal, it was attributed to the species of the Bengal tropical cat from the genus of Asian cats. Although it exceeds the size of the southern relatives, you can often see an outstanding specimen with a length of the trunk up to a meter.

Far Eastern Cat: description, external data

The leopard cat in the general characteristic reaches a length of the trunk 75-90 centimeters, and a fluffy tail - about 37 centimeters. Head small, legs long enough. On the head are small ears, devoid of brushes, which makes it possible not to confuse the cat with its other, more dangerous kindred. The eyes are closely planted and close to each other. The forest predator has sharp and long fangs, and the claws are short, but extremely strong.

Has a soft, lush hairline. Network hairs in the back area reach 49 millimeters, so the cat adapted well to life in the frosty conditions of the taiga. The main color of six is grayish-yellow or grayish-brown with specks of auburn color. All spots are blurred and uneven in color. The color of the sides gradually becomes lighter towards the abdomen. On the back, the color is much darker than on the sides. It clearly shows three brown strips, which formed from elongated stretched spots. In some cases, the spots begin to merge into the longitudinal belt.

In the area of the animal's throat there are several smoky-rusty bands, on the front legs there are transverse lines of rusty color. The cat has a whitish belly with a yellow tinge. Spots are similar to Chinese coins, so the Chinese call the presented species a "cash cat." From the inner corners of the eyes, along the forehead and crown, two whitish strips stretch, another line is noticed between them, which extends from the nose to the forehead and further to the neck. The tail can be not only monochrome, but also have a dark gray color, where noticeably up to seven greyish rings. At the tip, the tail is painted in a more saturated gray or black color.

Lifestyle

For the Far Eastern cat there is a night and twilight lifestyle. It is distinguished by fearfulness and caution, it is rather difficult to see. He prefers to ambush, where he expects prey. Hiding in the trees or on the ground, the victim overtakes in one jump. In times of winter cold it moves from snow-capped mountains down to lake and river valleys. Also attracted are the peaks of wooded hills, where the snow is denser and blown away by gusts of wind.

Accommodation during frosty frosts

At the onset of severe frosts, it begins to descend to human habitats to hunt rodents in dilapidated buildings. When you feel danger, you hide in the trees. He finds refuge in large hollows of trees and among the clefts of rocks covered with shrubs. Do not disdain old badger and fox holes. For convenience, in the hollow it applies foliage and dry grass. Excellent climbing trees and rocks, can swim. The Amur forest cat arranges some secluded places on its territory, where it regularly enters. In winter, hiding in one of the most convenient den.

Habitat

Where does the Far Eastern cat live? It is endemic, that is, it can not be found anywhere else, except the Far East. He loves to settle and hunt all along the Amur River, near the Khasan and Khanka Lakes, along the shores of the Sea of Japan. Most of all, he likes the habitat conditions in nature reserves: Ussuriysky, Khankaisky, Lazovsky and Kedrovoy Padi. The cat attracts enough remoteness from human settlements, and not the danger of falling prey to hunters. After all, he was never hunted for industrial purposes.

On Japanese islands, the animal also trades. Therefore, it received another name - "leopard cat Tsushima."

The most suitable for the settlement of a wild cat grassy floodplains of rivers, mixed and deciduous forests. A little less often it can be found among the taiga, although there many times have noticed its furry skin. In Primorye, he hides among thick bushes and reed low lying on the shores of lakes and old people. Local people often confuse an animal with a cane cat, but this is an incorrect mix. This is called a completely different representative of the feline genus, although their habitat and living conditions are very similar.

Far Eastern leopard cat excellently rocks, but does not climb higher mountains. The reason is a thick cover of snow, which accumulates between the stones. The predator can successfully hunt if the thickness of the snow is not more than 40 centimeters.

When winter begins and all snow sweeps, an Amur cat is forced to hide in its nest. The Far Eastern cat sits there until the snow turns into a dense frozen crust that can withstand its weight. Hunting in the snow comes only to nursing cats and those animals that failed to get food before the blizzard.

Preference in nutrition

The Amur cat eats small rodents: voles and mice. Sometimes he can catch a waterfowl. Among the mountains, it hunts for squirrels, for birds, for partridges, pheasants and falcons. In the marshes, he produces ducks and cowherd birds, muskrats and water rats. Leopard cats during the breeding season begin to destroy their nests, eat eggs and fledglings. Predator successfully catches rabbits. In the low water period in the floodplains, small fish and crayfish are caught for subsistence.

Feeding in captivity

In captivity, predators are fed nonfat varieties of meat. But without live food (mice and rats) it is difficult to keep the animal in shape and maintain the ability to reproduce. When depriving a live food, the Amur leopard cat begins to get bored, while the behavioral features become dulled. For the predator is characteristic to use not only meat, but also the insides, the contents of the intestine and part of the skin with feathers and wool. To ensure a full exchange, offer once a week to eat fish. With an excess of fish food, calcium begins to wash out from the body, which subsequently leads to the development of rickets.

Hunting features

For a forest cat, the desire to hunt, which is in his blood, is characteristic. He without fear can attack the cubs of large ungulates - chamois, roe deer, domestic and wild goats. In the areas of congestion of hamsters and rats, the cat is also quite well fed. Although even dogs are afraid to approach close to such aggressive rodents. If there are farming farms for breeding nutria, the cautious hunter also eagerly pulls out young animals.

Wild leopard cat starts to hunt for a couple of hours before sunset. In the middle of the night a little sleeps to catch a hapless victim at dawn. Pursues rodents in a couple of jumps up to 3 meters long. If the first roll fails, there will be no further pursuit.

When catching small rodents arranges an ambush near the hole or in the stone gorge. In the marshes sits on the branches of a tree, inclined by long branches to the water. He paws the duck floating beneath him, or rushes on her back. When pursuing a squirrel, he climbs up to the highest trees, where he starts jumping from branch to branch, like a marten.

When there is a lot of food, the cat is too greedy. A baby in 2 months can eat 10 mice per day. In conditions of captivity, an adult animal consumes up to 900 grams of meat. At the process of eating food, he sits down on his hind legs and slightly hunches, although he does not put his front paws on the ground. When biting off meat, he uses lateral teeth.

Marriage season

The Far Eastern cat belongs to the individualists. He prefers to live and go hunting alone. Only in the spring he begins to look after the pair. From the beginning of the March days, forest thickets are announced with long cries, thanks to which males try to summon females. Pregnancy in the animal lasts 65-70 days. In the last days of May, one or two kittens are born. The largest number of newborns is four kids. They are all blind, their eyes open after ten days, and their weight does not exceed 80 grams.

A couple of months will pass, and the little hunters will show up from the lair to begin examining the nearby thickets. Mom sensitively monitors the kiddies, at the slightest danger begins to carry them by the scruff to a safer place.