Cats

* Pallas' Cats
* Leopard Cats
* Fishing Cats
* Black-Footed Cats
* Rusty-Spotted cats
* African Wildcats
* African Golden Cats
* Sand Cats

**Cats** are animals that appear in Legends of the Lion Guard. They live in Leopon Plains and at the Tree of Life.

## Information

Pallas' cats have thick, long fur, stocky builds, and flat faces, with low-set ears. Their coats are gray, but can also be tan and orange-red, sometimes changing with the seasons to camouflage themselves into landscapes. Dark stripes are present on their pelts, mostly on their tail, and their coats are tipped with white, giving them frosted-like appearance. Like house cats, Pallas' cats are small, ranging from twenty to twenty-four inches in length with a long tail; they typically weigh from four to eleven pounds.

Pallas' cats primarily live in Asia and in parts of the Middle East, ranging from Iran to as far as China, Mongolia, and Russia. They contain the typical voice box of a domesticated cat and mark an unusually-sized amount of territory. Having a carnivorous diet, they consume small rodents, lizards, and birds, hunting them through ambushes. Typically, Pallas' cat is solitary, and mothers will only stay with young until they are old enough to hunt. They are nocturnal, preferring to sleep during the day and hunt during the night. The lifespan of a Pallas' cat is eight to nine years old.

Leopard cats are approximately forty-one centimeters in height and weigh from four to fifteen pounds. Small in size, they have tawny, yellow, gray, or red fur with spotted white underparts and black rosettes covering most of the body, and their legs and tail are spotted. Four black stripes run down the forehead to the neck, breaking up into bands near the shoulder; one stripe runs the length of the body. The length of fur depends on habitat climate.

The leopard cat covers a vast range in Asia, occuring mostly in India, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines, though it can also be found as far back as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan. It inhabits forests and jungles, as well as more arid semi-desert and secondary vegetation/agricultural areas. Leopard cats can also be found in mountainous areas and steppes, but prefer to stay away from areas that have humans. Although they are mostly solitary, they have been noticed in pairs and with young, and are nocturnal/crepuscular animals. Hunting is done at night, but can also be done in the daylight. Leopard cats can swim and can survive remarkably well in human areas, known to steal prey.

Fishing cats are stocky and have short limbs and a long head. The dense coat of a fishing cat is gray-brown, covered with unique black spots and stripes; six to eight stripes run from the forehead to the neck and breaking into smaller lines and spots near the shoulders. Its cheeks have both white highlighting and black marks, and its eyes are rimmed with white. Fishing cats have short, rounded ears, which are black on the backside, and when viewed from the front, a distinctive white spot is present in the center. Its nose is either pink or brick in color, and its lips, chin, belly, and throat are white and gray-spotted. It has a low, short tail with several incomplete dark bands. The fishing cat is one of the largest species of small cat, being as long as thirty-three to forty-five inches and standing up to sixteen inches tall. Males weigh up to thirty-one pounds while females weigh around twenty pounds.

The fishing cat is found throughout South and Southeast Asia, being spotted from Pakistan to Cambodia and even spotted in Thailand, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. They inhabit wetland areas like swamps, marshes, and mangrove forests, where some of their prey is located. As they are generalists, fishing cats will eat whatever's available, and will consume fish, small rodents, lizards, and amphibians. Not much of their social structure is known, but it is assumed that they are mostly solitary and will only come together to mate and raise young. One to four kittens are born in every litter.

The black-footed cat is the smallest cat species in Africa, characterized by tawny fur covered entirely in black spots. Its head is darker than the rest of the body, but is paler around the eyes. Some parts of the body bear black stripes, and its tail is spotted. Despite their name, the feet of black-footed cats are not fully black, with the color only being present on the underpart; the color can also be dark brown. It can have a white, tawny-tinted belly that blends in with the fur, and throat rings forming rufous-colored semi-circles. Individuals vary in color depending on region. It has short legs and a long tail.

Endemic to Southern Africa, the black-footed cat ranges from South Africa to Botswana, though sightings have been recorded in Namibia, Angola, and Zimbabwe. It is not expected to be found in Lesotho and Eswatini. The species inhabits savanna and shrubland areas and lives a nocturnal life, spending most of its day in hiding. When the sun sets, the black-footed cat hunts and is widely regarded as one of the most successful predators in Africa, using ambushes and quick hunts to successfully kill prey, such as mice, birds, and hares. It is not, however, a good climber. Many black-footed cats wander and mark their territory by spraying, using a variety of calls in order to communicate with one another. Mothers give birth to one or two kittens, sometimes even four.

The smallest type of any wild cat species, the rusty-spotted cat has short, reddish-gray fur with rusted spots on its flanks and back. Four black lines run from the eyes and two extend from the neck. Six dark streaks are present on the head. Its chin and underparts are white with brown spots, and it also has a rust-colored band on the chest. Its paws and tail are reddish-gray. Usually, a rusty-spotted cat is thirty-five to forty-eight centimeters in length and weighs only 0.9 to 1.6 kilograms.

Rusty-spotted cats are mainly recorded to live in deciduous forest in India and Sri Lanka, though they have also been recorded in Nepal. Aside from deciduous forests, they also live in scrubland and grassland, preferring areas with dense vegatation and rocks. While not much information is known about the rusty-spotted cat, it is nocturnal and hunts on the ground. Females will give birth to one or two kittens. The lifespan of the species in the wild is unknown, though captive specimens will live for up to twelve years.

The fur of a wildcat is sandy-gray in color, sometimes pale red or yellow, broken up by white on the belly and throat. Its ears are tufted and range from red to gray with yellow hairs surrounding the pinna. The stripes on a wildcat's face can be dark ochre or black; two horizontal stripes are present on the cheek and run to the outer eye and jaw; a smaller one runs from the inner eye to the rhinarium, and four to six break up the fur on the throat. Its legs, as well as its back, contain striping, and vertical striping dissolves into spots on the sides. The tail has two to three rings, ending in a black tip, and its feet are dark brown to black.

Wildcats live in savannah and desert. They are active at night and early in the morning in cool weather. They eat small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, hares, springhares, guineafowls, and jackalberries. They give birth to a litter of kittens, usually around 2-5. They are born in dense vegetation cover, rocks or burrow dug up by other species. The mothers may carry them to a new refuge every few days. The African wildcat is present throughout many places in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and as far out as the Middle East and Caspian Sea. It inhabits many types of habitat, including in hilly, mountainous regions, deserts, savannas, and shrublands. Wildcats are nocturnal and have advanced hearing to pinpoint the exact source of prey. They drink very little water and primarily hunt small rodents, reptiles, and insects. They will also hunt certain species of birds. In the wet season, a wildcat mother will give birth to a litter of one to three kittens, though litters can have up to five kittens. The kittens become independent and leave the family after six months.

The African golden cat has a fur color ranging from chestnut or reddish-brown, grayish-brown to dark slaty. Some are spotted, with the spots ranging from faded tan to black in color. In others, the spotting pattern is limited to the belly and inner legs. Its undersides and areas around the eyes, cheeks, chin, and throat are lighter in color to almost white. Its tail is darker on the top and either heavily banded, lightly banded, or plain, ending in a black tip. Cats in the western parts of its range tend to have heavier spotting than those in the eastern region. Two color morphs, a red and a gray phase, were once thought to indicate separate species rather than color variations of the same species. Gray skins have hairs that are not pigmented in their middle zones, whereas hair of red skins is pigmented intensively red. Hair of melanistic skins is entirely black. The African golden cat is a heavily built cat with stocky, long legs, a relatively short tail, and large paws. Body length usually varies within the range of of twenty-four to forty inches. Tail length ranges from sixteen to forty-six centimeters, and shoulder height is about fifteen to twenty-two. The cat weighs around twelve to thirty-five pounds, with males being larger than females.

The African golden cat is found in dense, moist forests, cloud forests, high moorlands, and bamboo forests, ranging from Senegal to the Central African Republic. It can also be found in Angola and Kenya. Little is known about their behavior other than the fact that they are crepuscular and nocturnal animals, but they have been observed hunting in daylight. They feed on monkeys, duikers, forest hogs, antelope, hyraxes, and other rodents, and are also known to take poultry and livestock. Females give birth to one or two kittens. The lifespan of an African golden cat is unknown.

The fur of the six species of sand cats are yellowish-brown to dull gray, with vague lines on their limbs and several black rings near the black tip of their tails. A dark, reddish streak runs from the corner of the eye down the cheek. The patterns on the sand cat's fur vary between the six subspecies.

Sand cats live in North African deserts. They hunt mice, gerbils, jerboas, young hares, lizards, sand vipers, and insects. They live in burrows abandoned by foxes and porcupines.

## Known Cats

### Pallas' Cats

* Saumu
* Auri
* Addae
* Jurni
* Thambo

### Leopard Cats

* Jamila
* Haiba
* Shamir

### Fishing Cats

* Keesha
* Folami
* Imarisha and Mahiri
* Zera
* Kea
* Kolobe
* Tshweni

### Black-Footed Cats

* Ojore
* Sabiha

### Rusty-Spotted Cats

* Ameena
* Zibara
* Mrija

### African Wildcats

* Dani
* Farzeen
* Tafiti

### African Golden Cats

* Mbamba
* Obayana