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Friday, April 9, 2010

Asian Leopard Cat Information

The Asian Leopard Cat has the deep set very dark brown eyes.  They are more round than almond shaped.  They have a whited underside and white ocelli (spots on the back of their ears).  They share some traits with the remainder of the Asian Wild Cat populations.  Some have a rosette to the coat, although many are covered with small to medium spots.  Their pattern is very much a horizontal or angular pattern of spots or rosettes as opposed to a vertical pattern in the typical domestic cat.  Their coat is very tight to the body and Extremely soft as opposed to the Amur Leopard Cat which has a longer soft coat.  A VERY short THICK tail as exhibited by the cat in the middle pictures.

They have the small ears set as much on the side as the top of the head and very rounded at the tips and characterized as bell shaped..   They also are strongly identified by the specific profile demonstrated by most of the pictures above.  From the side you notice a very slight curve from up over the back of the neck over the back skull, flowing gently into the forehead with no break between forehead and nose bridge.  This nose bridge extends well above the eye from the side and continues to the nose leather.  There should be a deep side profile from the nose level down to the point of the chin denoting a strong  mouth and jaw and the ability to catch and kill prey effectively.

It can be found across India, China, Korea, and on islands such as Sumatra, Philippines, Taiwan, Borneo, Bali and Java.  The fur trade caused this cat to be placed on the Endangered Species list.    It is primarily nocturnal in behavior and prefer brush and forested habitats.  They are excellent swimmers and tree climbers.  They are solitary and reclusive.  They weight between 7 to 15 pounds with males being substantially larger than females.  With around 10 subspecies, there is great variety in subspecies coloration and pattern depending on habitat, climate and elevation.  The Asian Leopard Cats continue to be introduced into the Bengal Breed.  The most famous Asian Leopard Cats to be part of the Bengal Breed genetic pool are: Taro, Phantom, Centerwall, Rajah Singh and a number of others.  All Bengals can trace their origins back to one of these Asian Leopard Cats.  With the introduction of other Asian Leopard Cats into the gene pool, we will continue to see some diversity in type in the early generation cats.  Due to this, there is not a worry at this time of a small gene pool for our Bengals.