Asian leopard cats (prionailurus bengalensis) are small wild felines living throughout asia from russia and japan to indonesia. Their coat, always spotted or rosetted vary from grey to yellowish.
They have a wide range of habitat from mountains (up to 3000m elevation) to forest or grasslands, the only mandatory requirement being the presence of water.
Their taxonomy is still discussed; for some biologists there is a single specie with pronounced geographic variations, for others there are many subspecies, isolation having been long enough to warrant distinct subspecies.
They prey on rodents, birds reptiles, insects, fish and those living close to human populations often raid on poultry.
They are not considered endangered except on some Asian small islands ( CITES annex II) although like every wild felines their main threats are habitat destruction and hunting in continental China.
They also have been hybridized with domestic cats to create the bengal breed, the leopard cat himself having the reputation to be extremely difficult to socialize because of its extreme shyness.
The habitat of this feline is forests and rainforests both in low and mountainous areas, but usually not arid areas. It lives close to watercourses and may be found in heights up to 3000 m. The Leopard Cat can climb trees skillfully. It is also able to swim, but will seldom do so. This cat is nocturnal, and during the day it spends its time in dens that may be hollow trees, cavities under roots, or caves. It spends time out during the day in areas where there are no humans. The Leopard Cat is solitary, except during breeding season. There is no fixed breeding period in the southern part of its range; in the colder northern parts it tends to breed around March or April, when the weather is nice enough to support newborn kittens. The estrus period lasts for 5-9 days. After a gestation period of 9-10 weeks, two to three kittens are born in a den, and there they will remain until they are a month old. They open their eyes at ten days old, and start to eat solid food at 23 days. If the kittens are killed the mother can come into heat again and have another litter that year.
Breeding
The Leopard Cat has been interbred with the domestic cat to create the Bengal cat.
