Jungle Cat

We just learned about the Flat-Headed Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Jungle Cat, also called the reed cat or swamp cat.

This cat lives in Asia, and has brown or grey fur.
It is a little over 2 feet long and can weigh up to 35 pounds.

The ears on these cats have a little tuft of black hair, and they have a white mouth.
They have a few dark lines on their front legs.

These cats mostly live in wetlands like swamps or grasslands, which is how it got it's nickname the reed cat or swamp cat.




(from: wikipedia - jungle cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Freshwater Jellyfish

Flat-Headed Cat

We just learned about the Fishing Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Flat-Headed Cat.

These cats live in Southeast Asia, and there are not many of them left with less than 2,500 in the whole world.

Just like you might think from the name, these cats have a flat head!
They are a small cat, usually less than 2 feet long and weighing about 5 pounds.

Their eyes are very close together, and their canine teeth are very long for their body.
These cats have red/brown fur and a white belly, and they have some white stripes on their face.
In between the toes on their paws they have webbed feet to help them in the water.

These cats love the water and hunting fish.
When they hunt they put their whole head under the water and bite onto the fish, then drag it away and eat it!



(from: wikipedia - flat-headed cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Creeping Comb Jelly

Fishing Cat

We just learned about the Leopard Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Fishing Cat.

This is another cat that lives in South Asia, and looks a lot like the Leopard Cat.
It is about 2 feet long and weighs about 15 pounds.

The Fishing Cats are brown with stripes and spots just like the leopard cat, but they have a white spot on the back of their ears.

These cats live mostly in swamps, marshes and wetlands so they spend a lot of time in the water hunting for food.
They are very good swimmers and can even swim underwater.

Because these cats spend so much time in the water, they have layered fur that helps keep them warm, and keeps some of their fur dry even if the outside layers get wet.



(from: wikipedia - fishing cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Blue Jellyfish

Leopard Cat

We just learned about the Rusy-Spotted Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Leopard Cat, also called prionailurus bengalensis.

This cat lives in the South and East parts of Asia.
They can grow to be about 2 feet long and weigh 8 pounds.
On their head they have two dark stripes on their head and they have a white mouth.
Just like a leopard they have black spots all over their body, and yellow brown fur.

Scientists have discovered that this type of cat was kept as a pet in China 5,000 years ago.
One type of house cat called the Bengal Cat is related to the Leopard Cat, and has a lot of the same marks but is more friendly and makes a better pet.




(from: wikipedia - leopard cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Velella

Rusty-Spotted Cat

We just learned about the Pallas's Cat.

Another Rusty-Spotted Cat, also called prionailurus rubiginosus.

This is one of the smallest cats around, only 19 inches long and weighing only 3.5 pounds.

They mostly live in the forests of India and Sri Lanka.

Their fur is short and a red grey color, with spots on its back.
It has black lines going up on its head and down its neck.




(from: wikipedia - rusty-spotted cat)


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Pallas's Cat

We just learned about the Caracal.

Another type of wild cat is the Pallas's Cat, also called the manul, or otocolubs manul.

This is a cat about the size of a house cat, 2 feet long and weighing about 10 pounds.
It has thick grey fur that makes it look short and fat, with a flat face.

It lives in the grasslands of Asia, mostly living in caves and hunting small animals.




(from: wikipedia - pallas's cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Blue Button

Caracal

We just learned about the Serval.

Another type of wild cat is the Caracal, also called the Persian Lynx.
The name caracal comes from the Turkish words for "Cat with black ears".

This type of cat lives in Africa and Asia.
It has long legs, and long ears with black tufts on the end of them.

Caracals can be almost 2 feet tall, almost 3 feet long, and weigh about 40 pounds.
Their fur can be either light brown or red brown.

These cats are great jumpers, and can jump over 12 feet high!
Sometimes when they are hunting, they can jump into the air and catch a bird as it is flying by.

Long ago in ancient Egypt people used to keep caracals for pets to help with hunting.




(from: wikipedia - caracal)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bathrocyroe Fosteri

Serval

We just learned about the Bay Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Serval.

The serval lives in Africa, mostly in the southern part of the continent.
It is about 2 feet tall, and can weigh up to 40 pounds.
This cat has a head that is smaller than some of its other cat cousins.

Serval's have big ears, and yellow fur with black spots and stripes, and a black tipped tail.
The ears of a serval are probably the thing that makes them stand out the most.
They have black ears, with a white stripe right across the middle.
When they move their ears they can spin them all the way around from front to back.
Some people think that the colored ears that can move so well are one of the ways that servals can talk to each other, like giving signals about whether they are happy, sad or mad.

These cats have very long legs compared to their bodies, and they use them for jumping when they hunt.
They can jump over 6 feet in the air, and then pounce onto their pray like a mouse.




(from: wikipedia - serval)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Warty Comb Jelly

Bay Cat

We just learned about the Asian Golden Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Bay Cat, also called the Borneo bay cat, or catopuma badia.

Bay cats are like the Asian golden cat, but a lot smaller.
Their fur is a light red-brown color, and their tail is long with a white tip.
They have rounded small ears that have black and brown fur on them.

These cats are a little over 2 feet long, with a 1 foot long tail, and they weigh about 8 pounds.
On their heads they have an "M" mark, and they have white cheeks and a white chin.

This cat lives mostly on the island of Borneo, and there are only about 2,500 of them left in the world.
At one time these cats were almost extinct and people could not even find 100 of them.
People worked to find them and take care of them, and help keep them safe so they would not go extinct.


(from: wikipedia - bay cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Venus Girdle Jellyfish

Asian Golden Cat

We just learned about the Marbled Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Asian Golden Cat, or the Catopuma temminckii.

This type of cat lives mostly in south India and China.
They are about 4 feet long, and weigh about 35 pounds.

Asian golden cats are golden, brown, or red-brown.
Some even have dark black fur like a panther.

These cats live alone and mostly stay up at night to hunt.
They hunt a lot of different animals, and can even climb trees to hunt birds.

When they want to talk, these cats can hiss, meow, purr or growl just like other cats.



(from: wikipedia - asian golden cat)


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Marbled Cat

We just learned about the Oncilla.

Another type of wild cat is the Marbled Cat.

This cat lives in Asia, in the forest mountains near places like the Himalayas.
They are about the same size as a normal house cat, but they have more rounded ears and a really long tail.
Their fur is brown or grey, and they have stripes on their head neck and back.

Marbled cats weigh about 11 pounds, and are around 2 feet long with a 2 foot furry tail.
That means their tail is about as long as their whole body!
The extra long tail works kind of like a squirrel's tail and helps them balance when they are running around in the trees.


(from: wikipedia - marbled cat)


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Oncilla

We just learned about the Geoffroy's Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Oncilla, also called the northern tiger cat, little spotted cat, and tigrillo.

These are small spotted cats who live in South America.
They are like the margay and ocelot, but smaller.
Oncillas grow to be about 2 feet long with a 16 inch tail, and they weigh about 6 pounds.

Their fur is brown with rosette spots on their body.
One of the only differences between the oncilla and the ocelot is that the Oncilla has a smaller mouth and fewer teeth.

Just like some of the other South American small cats, the Oncilla is a great climber and mostly stays awake at night to hunt.


(from: wikipedia - oncilla)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: White Spotted Jellyfish

Geoffroy's Cat

We just learned about the Kodkod.

Another kind of wild cat is Geoffroy's Cat.

This cat lives in South and Central America, and is about the size of a house cat.
They are brownish yellow with black spots all over their bodies.
Some cats are all black like a panther.

They are about 2 feet long, and weigh from 4 to 11 pounds.
Most of these cats live in the woods and like to hide.
When they are hungry they hunt for food at night.
Sometimes they like to stand up on their hind legs and look around, using their tail to help thems tand up.
They can climb trees but they usually don't.





(from: wikipedia - geoffroy's cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lobed Comb Jellyfish

Kodkod

We just learned about the Margay.

Another small wild cat is the Kodkod, also called the güiña or leopardus guigna.

This is the smallest cat in the Americas, and lives mostly in Chile or Argentina.
It is less than 2 feet long, and weighs about 5 pounds.

Their fur can be brownish yellow or grey-brown.
They have spots on their body, and a ringed tail.
Some kodkods have almost totally black fur like a panther.

These cats live in the rainforests, climb trees and hunt birds, lizards and mice.
There are less than 10,000 of these cats left because the forests they live in are being cut down.


(from: wikipedia - kodkod)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Barrel Jellyfish

Margay

We just learned about the Andean Mountain Cat.

Another type of small wild cat is the Margay.

The Margay lives in Central and South America, mostly in the forests.
They like to be alone, and they stay awake at night to hunt.

These cats look a lot like an ocelot, except they have bigger eyes and longer tails and legs.
They weigh about 9 pounds and are about 3 feet long.
Their fur is brown with spots and stripes on it, and a banded tail with a black tip.

The Margay is one of the best climbers out there, and some people even call them the tree ocelot since they can climb so well.
They can jump up to 12 feet from tree to tree, and are so good in trees that they can spend their whole life in the trees chasing monkeys and birds.
Most cats can't climb down a tree with their head facing down, but the margay has special ankles that let it grab the tree and climb up or down.





(from: wikipedia - margay)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Darth Vader Jellyfish

Andean Mountain Cat

We just learned about the Pampas Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Andean Mountain Cat.

This is a small cat that lives in the Andes mountains, and is endangered with less than 2,500 left in the world.

It lives up in the mountains, up above 5,900 feet!
They are about 3 feet long, one foot tall and weigh about 12 pounds.
Their fur is grey with some spots, and they have dark rings on their tails.

These cats look a lot like the Pampas Cat, and a lot of people mistake them.
There are a lot of very small differences that people can use to tell them apart, but they really have to know the differences!



(from: wikipedia - andean mountain cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Atolla Jellyfish

Pampas Cat

We just learned about the Ocelot.

Another type of wild cat is the Pampas Cat also called the pantanal cat, colocolo, and Leopardus Colocolo.

This cat is only a little bigger than a house cat, and has a big bushy tail.

It is only a little over 2 feet long.
The Pampas Cats has a lot of different looks, and can be red, grey or brown, with stripes or spots on it.
They only live in parts of South America,

(from: wikipedia - pampas cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Irukandji Jellyfish

Ocelot

We just learned about the Lynx.

Another type of wild cat is the Ocelot.

This is a smaller type of cat, only about 30 pounds and 2 feet tall.
It has spots and stripes on it's body, and rounded ears.

These cats are usually awake at night, and stay by themselves.
They are very good at climbing, jumping and swimming.

Ocelots live mostly in South America and Mexico, in forests and near lots of water.
Because they are so small, these cats have sometimes been kept as pets.





(from: wikipedia - ocelot)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Immortal Jellyfish

Lynx

We just learned about the Bobcat.

Another Lynx.

A lynx is another type of cat that looks a lot like the Bobcat, and sometimes people will even call the Bobcat a lynx.
There are 3 types of lynxes, the Canada Lynx, Iberian Lynx, and Eurasian Lynx.

Lynxes have a short tail, tufts of black hair on the tips of their ears, big padded paws like snowshoes for walking on snow, and big long whiskeres on their faces.

The Canada Lynx lives in North America, mostly where it is cold.
Their fur is either grey-white or kind of yellowish.
They are about 3 feet long, 2 feet tall and weigh about 40 pounds.
Their fur gets longer in the winter when it gets cold out, sometimes long enough to drag in the snow as they walk.

The Iberian Lynx lives in the south part of Europe where it is warm.
There are only a few hundred of this type of Lynx left in the world.
They have short hair, that is brown and they have spots.
These cats are a little smaller than the Canada Lynx.

The Eurasian Lynx lives in Northern Europe, Russia and Asia.
These cats only live where it is very cold.
They have brown or red fur, and they are the biggest of the types of lynx.
They can be over 4 feet long, over 3 feet tall, and weigh over 45 pounds.

Canada Lynx:



Iberian Lynx:



Eurasian Lynx:




(from: wikipedia - lynx)


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