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| RUSTY-SPOTTED
CAT - KEY FACTS |
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| Scientific Name: Prionailurus rubiginosus |
Size: Head and body 14-19 inches (35-48cm);
tail 6-10 inches (15-25cm) |
| Weight: 2-4.5 pounds (1-2kg) |
| Distribution: Mainly southern India
and southern Sri Lanka but also recorded in northern India |
| Habitat: Humid forest, scrubland,
grassland |
| Diet: Mainly birds and small mammals,
along with insects, reptiles and frogs. |
| Reproduction: After a gestation period
of 67 days, female gives birth to 1-2 kittens |
| Status: Vulnerable |
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| Looking like a smaller edition of
the Leopard Cat, this tiny species, with
its rusty-colored spots, is found in forest and scrubland, hunting for small birds
and mammals at night and retreating during the day into dens in hollow logs or
bushy thickets. It is not quite as big as a domestic cat, but is more agile when
climbing. Its resemblance to the Leopard
Cat is more than superficial and these two cats are clearly very closely related.
The |
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| bigger
Leopard Cat, which has a wide range throughout
southern Asia, is replaced by the Rusty-spotted Cat as one travels south through
India. Until recently it was probably no more than a local race, but it now appears
to have become a separate, distinct species. It seems to have adapted to more
arid conditions, in dry grassslands and open dry forests. Strangely, however,
in Sri Lanka, where the Leopard Cat is
absent, the Rusty-spotted species prefers the more humid regions of the south
and ignores the drier north. This contradiction is hard to explain. It is said
that this species will hybridize with local domestic cats. |
| RUSTY-SPOTTED
CAT PHOTOS |
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