And yet another Asian Cat

The Flat-headed Cat is not able to retract its claws. The other three cats with this characteristic are the Cheetah, Fishing Cat, and Iriomote Cat.

Flat-headed Cats prefer to live in rainforests close to bodies of water. It eats fish, aquatic animals, birds, and small rodents.

Big cat in miniature

The Marbled Cat is closely related to the Asian Golden Cat. They are similar in size to domestic cats, though they have a much longer, more thickly furred tail. Their markings are comparable to the much larger Clouded Leopard.

To see what one looks like, go to Big Cat Rescue, where they have 3 photos.

More Asian Cats

Yesterday’s cat was a small wild cat. Today’s is another medium size cat. The Asian Golden Cat is also called the Temminck's Golden Cat.

Asian Golden Cats prefer to live in forest habitats interspersed with rocky areas. Not a lot is known about these cats in the wild. In captivity they live up to 20 years.

Photo courtesy of OpenCage.

Felis margarita

The Sand Cat’s Latin name above basically means pearl cat. They are native to the arid areas of Northern Africa, Arabia, Central Asia, and Pakistan. Like the Black-footed Cat, the Sand Cat can live without drinking water! Instead it obtains the fluid it requires from its prey. Sand Cats live in the sandy desert. (No surprise there!)

Sand Cats have large ears and acute hearing.

African and Asian Cats

The Jungle Cat is also called the Swamp Cat or Swamp Lynx (though not related) and the Reed Cat. In Ancient Egypt the Jungle Cat was trained for hunting wildfowl. These cats are bigger than a domestic cat and are found in Egypt, West and Central Asia, India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

They are endangered partially due to the fur trade. Twelve adult jungle cats are killed to make one fur coat.

Jungle Jane

One of the smallest wild cats

Some people think the Black-footed Cat’s head looks broad in proportion to its body; I think it’s cute. And I just love this mixture of stripes and spots.

The Black-footed Cat is found in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Southern Angola. Not only are its feet black, but the pads are black and surrounded by long black hair which protects its paws from heat.

More African Cats

The African Golden Cat is related both to the Caracal and the Serval. It is a medium size cat about 19 inches high, and weighing 24-31 pounds. Golden cats are typically cinnamon or reddish brown in color, but sometimes they are black or gray. Wish I had a photo to share with you. But you can see one at Big Cat Rescue.

JJ

Greater and Lesser

The Greater African Flamingo (right) is the largest flamingo. Males are almost five feet tall.

There are more Lesser Flamingoes (below) than Greater Flamingos. They are the ones you usually see in pictures with massive numbers on the African lakes in the Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania.

Read more about flamingos here.

African Peafowl

Both male and female Congo Peafowl resemble immature Asian Peafowl. The picture left is a male. He can fan his tail feathers similar to other peacocks. His red neck has no feathers.

Below is a female Congo Peafowl.

Arabian camel

The Dromedary or one hump camel is also called the Arabian camel. They are domesticated. During mating season males inflate their soft palate which makes a deep pink sack that hangs out of the sides of their mouth to attract females. Umm, lovely . . . or something . . .

Originally native to western Asia and East Africa, none survive in the wild in their original range.

Jungle Jane