In a wild Far Eastern cat, feline relatives live in warm countries. Probably, his ancestors improbably got into the territory of the taiga or it was much warmer here before, and after a cold snap they had to adapt to severe weather conditions.
Beautiful leopard cat: spots and coloring
No wonder the wild inhabitant is called a leopard cat. He is distinguished by a beautiful leopard coloring, which speaks without words of his predatory disposition. Researchers were able to classify the animal, it was attributed to a subspecies of a Bengal tropical cat from the genus of Asian cats. Although it exceeds the size of southern relatives, you can often see an outstanding specimen with a body length of up to a meter.
Far Eastern cat: description, external data
The leopard cat in the general characteristic reaches a trunk length of 75-90 centimeters, and a fluffy tail - about 37 centimeters. The head is small, and the legs are quite long. On the head are small ears, devoid of tassels, which allows not to confuse the cat with its other, more dangerous relatives. The eyes are set close together and are not far from each other. The forest predator has sharp and long fangs, and the claws are short but extremely strong.
It has a soft, lush hair. Network hairs in the back area reach 49 millimeters, so the cat is well adapted to life in the frosty conditions of the taiga. The main color of six is grayish-yellow or grayish-brown with spots of dark red color. All spots are blurry and uneven in color. The color of the sides gradually brightens towards the stomach. The color on the back is much darker than on the sides. Three brown stripes, which were formed from elongated stretched spots, are clearly visible on it. 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 stripes, on the front legs there are transverse lines of a rusty color. The cat has a whitish belly with a yellow tinge. The spots are similar to Chinese coins, so the Chinese call the presented species “money cat”. Two whitish strips stretch from the inner corners of the eyes along the forehead and crown, between them they notice another red line that runs 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 up to seven grayish rings are noticeable. At the tip, the tail is painted in a more saturated gray or black color.
Lifestyle
The Far Eastern cat has a nocturnal and twilight lifestyle. It is distinguished by timidity and caution, it is quite difficult to see it. Prefers to ambush, where he expects prey. Hiding in trees or on the ground, the victim catches up with one jump. During the winter cold, it moves from the snow-capped mountains down to the lake and river valleys. Peaks of wooded hills are also attracted, where the snow is denser and blown away by gusts of wind.
Accommodation during the freezing cold
With the onset of severe frosts, it begins to descend to the places of human habitation in order to hunt rodents in dilapidated buildings. When danger is felt, it hides in the crowns of trees. He finds refuge in large hollows of trees and among crevices of rocks covered with bushes. It does not disdain old badger and fox holes. For convenience, in the hollow causes foliage and dry grass. It perfectly climbs trees and rocks, knows how to swim. The Amur Forest Cat arranges several secluded places on its territory, where it systematically enters. In winter, hiding in one of the most convenient lair.
Habitat
Where does the Far Eastern cat live? It is endemic, that is, it can not be found anywhere else, except for the Far East. He loves to settle and hunt throughout the Amur River, near the lakes Hassan and Hanka, along the shores of the Sea of Japan. Most of all, he likes the living conditions in nature reserves: Ussuri, Khanka, Lazovsky and Kedrova Padi. The cat is attracted by sufficient remoteness from human settlements, and not by the danger of falling prey of hunters. After all, they never hunted him for industrial purposes.
In the Japanese islands, the animal also trades. Therefore, it received another name - "Tsushima leopard cat".
Grassy floodplains of rivers, mixed and deciduous forests are most suitable for the settlement of a wild cat. A little less often you can meet him in the middle of the taiga, although his furry skin was noticed more than once there. In Primorye, he hides among the dense shrubs and reed lowlands, which are located on the shores of lakes and elders. Locals often confuse an animal with a reed cat, but this is incorrect information. So they call a completely different representative of the feline, although their habitat and living conditions are very similar.
The Far Eastern leopard cat perfectly develops rocks, but does not climb higher mountains. The reason is the thick cover of snow that accumulates between the stones. A predator can successfully hunt if the thickness of the snow is no more than 40 centimeters.
When winter begins and everything is covered with snow, the 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 support its weight. Only nursing cats and those animals that did not manage to get food before the start of a blizzard go hunting in the snow.
Food preference
The Amur cat eats small rodents: voles and mice. Sometimes he can catch a waterfowl. Among the mountains it preys on squirrels, from birds - on partridges, pheasants and cupcakes. In the meadows, ducks and cowgirls, muskrats and water rats are caught. Leopard cats during the breeding season of birds begin to ruin their nests, eat eggs and fledglings. The predator successfully catches hares. In a period of low water in the floodplains catches small fish and crayfish for food.
Captive feeding
In captivity, predators are fed lean meats. But without live food (mice and rats) it is difficult to keep the animal in shape and maintain the ability to reproduce. When livestock is deprived of live food, the Amur leopard cat begins to get bored, while behavioral features are dulled. It is typical for a predator to consume not only meat, but also entrails, intestinal contents and part of the skin with feathers and wool. To ensure a full exchange, they offer once a week to feast on fish. With an excess of fish food, calcium begins to be washed out of the body, which subsequently leads to the development of rickets.
Hunting Features
A forest cat is characterized by a desire for hunting, which is in his blood. Without fear, he can attack cubs of large ungulates - chamois, roe deer, domestic and wild goats. In areas of accumulation of hamsters and rats, the cat also feeds them well. Although even dogs are afraid to come close to such aggressive rodents. If farms for breeding nutria are located nearby, the cautious hunter also willingly pulls out young animals.
A wild leopard cat begins to hunt a couple of hours before sunset. In the middle of the night a little sleep, in order to catch the unlucky victim at dawn. Chases rodents in a couple of jumps up to 3 meters in length. If the first throw ends in failure, it will not pursue further.
When catching small rodents, it ambushes near a hole or in a stone gorge. In the meadows it sits on the branches of a tree, tilted by long branches to the water. He paw clings to a duck swimming under him or rushes to her back. When chasing squirrels, he climbs the highest trees, where he starts to jump from branch to branch, like a marten.
When there is a lot of food, the cat is too gluttonous. A baby at 2 months can eat 10 mice per day. In captivity, an adult animal eats up to 900 grams of meat. During the process of eating feed, he sits on his hind legs and is slightly hunched, although he does not put his front legs on the ground. When biting meat, it uses lateral teeth.
