Distribution and habitat
Leopard cats are indigenous to a large part of southern Asia. They can be found in agriculturally used areas, deep jungles and forested habitats from southern India eastward through Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Korea and into Russia’s Far East. Recently, Leopard cats from the Sunda Islands, such as Sumatra, Borneo, Bali, Java, and the Philippines have been recognized as a separate species, the Sunda leopard cat (Prionailurus javanensis). Based on genetic studies two subspecies of the Mainland leopard cat are tentatively recognised:
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Hunting and diet
They are known to eat mostly small birds, rodents, amphibians, reptiles, fish and insects in the wild. Some of them occasionally venture into farmyards to prey on domestic chickens. It’s been said that when ALCs attack and kill their victims, they go straight in for the kill rather than playing with their prey as if they were toys. But there is little data to support or disprove this. |