Post by Ceratodromeus on Feb 14, 2017 8:43:00 GMT 5
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Catopuma
Species: C.temenckii
Geographic distribution & Habitat use
The Asian golden cat lives throughout Southeast Asia, ranging from Nepal, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, southern China, Malaysia and Sumatra. It prefers forest habitats interspersed with rocky areas and inhabits dry deciduous, subtropical evergreen and tropical rainforests.
It also lives in more open terrain such as the grasslands of Assam's Manas National Park.[6] In the eastern Himalayas, Asian golden cats were recorded in temperate and subalpine forest. It has also been recorded in the Khasi hills of Meghalaya and in Dampa Tiger Reserve.
In Laos, it also inhabits bamboo regrowth, scrub and degraded forest from the Mekong plains to at least 1,100 m (3,600 ft). Surveys in Sumatra and in the Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area in northern Laos indicated that it is more common than sympatric small cats, suggesting that it is more numerous than previously believed. Surveys in Thailand, northern Myanmar and India's western Arunachal Pradesh revealed fewer individuals.
In Bhutan's Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, it was recorded by camera traps at an altitude of 3,738 m (12,264 ft). In Sikkim's Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, it was photographed at elevations up to 3,960 m (12,990 ft).
Since Hodgson's description in 1831 of a male individual in Nepal under the binomial Felis moormensis, the country is believed to be the westernmost part of the cat's range. However, no specimen has been recorded in the country, until in May 2009 a camera trap survey yielded the first photographic record of a melanistic Asian golden cat in Makalu Barun National Park at an altitude of 2,517 m (8,258 ft).
Biology
The Asian golden cat is heavily built, with a typical cat-like appearance. It has a head-body length of 66 to 105 cm (26 to 41 in), with a tail 40 to 57 cm (16 to 22 in) long, and is 56 cm (22 in) tall at the shoulder. The weight ranges from 9 to 16 kg (20 to 35 lb), which is about two or three times that of a domestic cat.
The pelage is uniform in color, but highly variable, ranging from red to golden-brown, dark brown to pale cinnamon, and gray to black. Transitional forms among the different colorations also exist. It may be marked with spots and stripes. White and black lines run across the cheeks and up to the top of the head, while the ears are black with a central gray area. Golden cats with leopard-like spots have been found in China, resembling large leopard cats. This spotted fur is a recessive characteristic.
Asian golden cats are territorial and solitary. Previous observations suggested that they are primarily nocturnal, but a field study on two radio-collared specimens revealed arrhythmic activity patterns dominated by crepuscular and diurnal activity peaks, with much less activity late at night. In the study, the male's territory was 47.7 km2 (18.4 sq mi) in size and increased by more than 15% during the rainy season. The female's territory was 32.6 km2 (12.6 sq mi) in size. Both cats traveled between only 55 m (180 ft) to more than 9 km (5.6 mi) in a day, and were more active in July than in March.
Asian golden cats can climb trees when necessary. They hunt birds, hares, rodents, reptiles, and small ungulates such as muntjacs and young sambar deer. They are capable of bringing down prey much larger than themselves, such as domestic water buffalo calves. In the mountains of Sikkim Asian golden cats reportedly prey on ghoral.
Captive Asian golden cats kill small prey with the nape bite typical of cats. They also pluck birds larger than pigeons before beginning to feed. Their vocalizations include hissing, spitting, meowing, purring, growling, and gurgling. Other methods of communication observed in captive Asian golden cats include scent marking, urine spraying, raking trees and logs with claws, and rubbing of the head against various objects – much like a domestic cat.
Not much is known about the reproductive behavior of this rather elusive cat in the wild. Most of what is known has been learned from cats in captivity. Female Asian golden cats are sexually mature between 18 and 24 months, while males mature at 24 months. Females come into estrus every 39 days, at which time they leave markings and seek contact with the male by adopting receptive postures. During intercourse, the male will seize the skin of the neck of the female with his teeth. After a gestation period of 78 to 80 days, the female gives birth in a sheltered plac to a litter of one to three kittens. The kittens weigh 220 to 250 g (7.8 to 8.8 oz) at birth, but triple in size over the first eight weeks of life. They are born already possessing the adult coat pattern and open their eyes after six to twelve days. In captivity, they live for up to twenty years.
A female Asian golden cat at the Washington Park Zoo (now the Oregon Zoo) showed a dramatic increase in the frequency of scent marking during estrus. At the same time, she often rubbed her neck and head on inanimate objects. She also repeatedly approached the male in the cage, rubbed on him, and adopted a receptive posture (lordosis) in front of him. The male's rate of scent marking increased during this time, as did his frequency of approaching and following the female. The male's mounting behavior included a nape bite, but in contrast to other small felids, the bite was not sustained.
A pair in the Washington Park Zoo produced 10 litters, each consisting of one kitten; two litters of a single kitten each were born at the Wassenaar Zoo in the Netherlands; and a single kitten was reported for another litter. Two litters of two kittens each were born at a private cat breeding facility in California, but neither litter survived.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_golden_cat
