Leopard Cat

Felis bengalensis

For many people, "wildlife" brings to mind images of elephants, lions, and bears. Large mammals are in fact relatively rare, accounting for only a few percent of all mammal species world-wide. There are even fewer animals of large size on islands, and among them predators are rarest of all. Island predators are usually small cats and raccoons or their equivalents, rather than lions and bears. These smaller carnivores may lack bulk, but make up for it in grace and beauty.
      The Asian leopard cat (Felis bengalensis) is one such species, and is the only true cat in the Philippines (there are also two species of palm civets that are sometimes called civet-cats). They are small and delicate, and those found in the Philippines do not often exceed the size of a big house cat. Large eyes, which helpthem to see as they forage at night, are set in a face delicately marked with fur of rich cinnamon-brown, cream, and black. The leopard cat occurs widely in Asia and so is not unique to the Philippines, but the two local populations (on Palawan and on Greater Negros-Panay) have recently been named as distinct subspecies.
     These little cats once lived from sea level up to at least the lower levels of montane forest at 1,500 meters. Although they can climb a bit, they are not arboreal, so they naturally prefer places where fires, landslides, or floods create openings for brush in which their prey live at ground level. They feed on rodents, small birds, and large insects; the cats are far too small to kill even a baby pig or deer. 
     When humans began to cut down the forest, the cats probably prospered at first, since much of the land was left to regrow into just the kind ofhabitat the cats like. They are adaptable enough to survive even in forested gulleys adjacent to sugar-cane fields, where they once performed a great service by catching and killing rats that ate the crops. Unfortunately, the cats also occasionally killed and ate the chickens that plantation workers raise. Since the workers can sell leopard-cat kittens as pets and the skins of adults as curiosities, the cats have suffered badly. The overall result of hunting and habitat destruction is that the cats are now uncommon on Palawan, quite rare on Negros and Panay, probably extinct on Cebu.

Original URL: http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/vanishing_treasures/V_Leopard.htm