Small Cats:
ASIAN GOLDEN CAT: These pretty-looking 20-35 lb. cats live in Southeast Asia. They can and will kill prey much larger than themselves, such as Water Buffalo calves.
AFRICAN GOLDEN CAT: These cats are often spotted, and are closely related to the Serval & Caracal. They eat small birds and mammals, including Tree Hyrax. They're about 12-35 lbs.
BAY CAT: These are slender, short-eared, endangered cats from Borneo. Very little is known about them, but they're suspected to be about 6-9 lbs. They are forest-dependent in one of the most rapidly-deforested places on Earth, which is why they're so endangered.
BLACK-FOOTED CAT: The smallest cat in Africa, these are only 3-5 lbs. on average! They live in arid steppes & savannahs in the southern part of Africa, and probably split off from the Felidae line second, after the Jungle Cat. Named for its black foot-pads.
JUNGLE CAT: Pan-Asian cat that also lives in bits of Africa- the breed that split off from the lineage first. They are very sandy/reddish-brown, and weigh about 4-35 lbs.
CHINESE MOUNTAIN CAT: A very fuzzy, bushy-tailed Chinese cat, very rare and known only from six zoo specimens and a few skins until about 2007. They weigh about 14-20 lbs.
SAND CAT: These tiny 3-7 lb. cats live across arid and desert regions across Africa and the Middle East. They are very susceptible to respiratory infections in more temperate, damp regions, and so have to be kept carefully in zoos.
LEOPARD CAT: These spotted cats have been bred with domestic breeds to create the Bengal Cat. They are more slender, longer-legged, and a bit wilder than domestics, and live throughout Southeast Asia. They vary a lot in size, weighing from 1-20 lbs.
SUNDA LEOPARD CAT: A Javan cat a bit distinct from the standard Leopard Cat.
FLAT-HEADED CAT: An adorbz, tiny wildcat native to the Malaysian Peninsula, these are highly Endangered (only 2,500 mature adults remain). They're named for the "extreme depression" of their skull- they have strong jaws and long, sharp teeth, ideally used for capturing fish. They're about 3-6 lbs.
RUSTY-SPOTTED CAT: These brownish, tabby-colored cats hail from India & Sri Lanka- at only 2-3.5 lbs., they are Asia's smallest wild cat, and rival the Black-Footed Cat for the title of world's smallest.
MARBLED CAT: These cats have really beautiful rosettes, resembling the Clouded Leopard's. They hail from the Himalayas, living at high altitudes, and are about 4-11 lbs.
Called "The original Grumpy Cat" for a reason.
PALLAS'S CAT: These hilariously grumpy-looking cats hail from western Asia, and have low, flat heads and wild, grizzled fur- it's a comedic look, overall. 5-9 lbs., they hunt mostly small mammals.
FISHING CAT: These grey-ish cats are from South Asia, and are medium-sized- 11-35 lbs. They have webbed feet and very little exposed claw, making them ideal for aquatic hunting.
ONCILLA: Resembling the Margay & Ocelot, the Oncilla is a small (3-7 lb.) cat with numerous rosettes that lives in South America. It's also called the Tiger Cat & Tigrillo.
SOUTHERN TIGER CAT (Tigrina): Looking like the Oncilla, but slightly darker, this lives on the eastern part of South America. Often interbreeds with the Geoffroy's Cat.
ANDEAN MOUNTAIN CAT: Very floofy (to use the scientific term) gray cat from the Andean mountains in South America. They max out at around 12 lbs.
KODKOD: The fuzzy, spotted, distinctively-named Kodkod hails from Chile, and is the smallest cat of the Americas, weighing about 4-5 lbs.
GEOFFROY'S CAT: About as big as a domestic cat (4-11 lbs.), they have dark spots. Unlike most of these, it is very common and thriving. They were named for a French zoologist.
PAMPAS CAT: Looking like a very grizzled housecat, the Pampas Cat lives throughout South America.
-Among the more odd and unusual-looking cats, the obscure Jaguarundi is a small South American wildcat, looking slender and elongated like a member of the Weasel family. Also unusually, they are more active by day, hunting small animals on the ground in a variety of habitats, including scrub, rainforest, desert and savanna. Twice as large as a housecat, they max out around 15 lbs., and are most closely related to Cougars & Cheetahs.
-Margays greatly resemble the larger Ocelots, and are 4-8 lb. micro-predators from South America. Unusually, they are capable of turning their paws around, making them one of the few cat species skilled at climbing upside-down (curved claws are generally bad at this). A Margay has been observed mimicking the calls of Tamarins to enable better hunting- highly rare behavior in cats.
OH MY GOD A BABY OCELOT I WANT ONE I WANT ONE I WANT ONNNNNNNNNNNE!!!
-The Ocelot is a small wildcat from South America & Mexico- their amazing coat makes them among the coolest-looking of all animals. The largest thing they can kill is small deer and Anteaters, though. They are easily mistaken for Margays & Oncillas, but are much larger. They are solitary and crepuscular creatures, and may fight to the death to defend their territories. They are often stereotyped as pets for peculiar rich folks, as Salvador Dali had a pet ocelot named Babou (for which the ocelot in
Archer is named)- they are extremely active and demanding of their owners' attention by comparison to other cats, and can be quite destructive. Despite that, they're among the most adorbz things ever, especially as babies:
https://www.youtube....?v=EEorZqv7eZw. When my sister and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, she freaked out over the face of the one ocelot on exhibit.
-Ocelots are the mid-pointed between the other Wildcats and larger animals like Lynxes and Cheetahs. As such, they're PL 4.
Edited by Jabroniville, 30 September 2020 - 09:14 PM.