Catopuma temminckii

The cat gilded of Asia , Catopuma temminckii or cat of Temminck bears the name of the Dutch naturalist Coenraad Jacob Temminck which discovered it. One owes with this man the discovery of others Félidés in particular the African Chat gilded.

Description

It is a cat of intermediate size (approximately 55 cm with the garrot). Its body measures 73 to 105 cm and its tail approximately 50 cm. It weighs 12 to 15 kg. Its uniform peeling varies gilded with brown. However, one often meets individuals black and even mottled or striped at certain places. The head of the cat of Temminck is striped of white and of black and the lower part of its body is marked of a broad white spot. Its eyes are often amber or pale green.

Geographical distribution

This cat saw in all the Southeast Asia : in India, in Nepal, in Tibet, in Bangladesh, in China, in Thailand, in Laos, in Kampuchea, in Vietnam, in Malaysia and in Sumatra. One can find it in several kinds of different habitats, since the tropical forest to the plains, even if he prefers especially the rocky places, up to 3000 m of altitude.

Food

Carnivore, like the other cats, it drives out on the ground, often to two, even if it is able to climb with the trees when it needs some. Its preys are the small ones ongulés, the goats, the sheep, the hares, the lizards and the birds. In captivity, one saw them plucking the birds that they had killed before eating them.

Reproduction

The gilded cat is sexually mature between 18 and 24 months. After approximately 80 days of gestation, the female gives birth to one or two small in a hollow shaft, a hole between rocks or any other sheltered place. The male takes share with the education of small. However, it is the behavior of the species in captivity because one knows almost nothing about their practices in a wild state.

Behavior

One currently knows few things of the social life of the cats gilded in a wild state. One said that they were night animals but new observations, in particular in the reserve of Kerenci, show that they move and drive out also the day. The few captured specimens were shown surprisingly affectionate.

An animal in danger

Victim of the deforestation which destroys its natural habitat, the gilded cat of Asia is reproduced on vulnerable species of IUCN. It moreover is driven out for its fur and its bones. Indeed, according to the Asian beliefs, to have on oneself one or more hairs of gilded cat or to eat its meat protects from the tigers. It happens that one burns one of these cat-like entirety with his fur to protect all the village. The bones will be recovered in order to be used with the composition as magic remedies.

Sources

the cat gilded of Asia on the English site of IUCN with www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/4038/all * An English site on cat-like www.thebigcats.com/smallcat/asgoldcat.htm * Idem with www.tigerhomes.org/wild-cats/wc-asian-golden-cat.cfm
the site (in English) of the reserve of Kerinci with Sumatra where gilded cats of Asia www.kerinci.org/ff10.html live * A French site on all the small cat-like ones on http://fauvesdumonde.free.fr/feline.php

External bonds

Random links: