FELIS-UK

Tag: clouded leopard

  • Small Wild Cat Olympics (Round II)

    Small Wild Cat Olympics (Round II)

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    felisuk
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    Following on from last week’s Olympic Small Cats we feature some more record breaking cats. SMALLEST OF THE SMALL WILD CATS: RUSTY SPOTTED CAT The Smallest of the Small Wild Cats is the tiny Rusty Spotted Cat. At just roughly 45cm in length and weighing just 1kg a fully grown Rusty Spotted cat is about…

  • The Small Wild Cat Olympics.

    The Small Wild Cat Olympics.

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    felisuk
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    Something we get asked a lot at FELIS is; which is the fastest cat or which is the smallest cat of the wild cat species, so here we look at some of the Small Wild Cat Olympic Winners! WORLDS FASTEST SMALL CAT: SERVAL Everyone knows the Cheetah is the fastest land mammal, however the Serval…

  • Clouded Leopards

    Clouded Leopards

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    felisuk
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    The clouded Leopard is the smallest of the big cats and the biggest of the small cats, so what is it that makes them so unique? Split into two sub species as recently as 2006, the clouded and Sundra clouded leopard are very similar in appearance and size. Both have long bodies, short powerful legs…

  • Missing cats – Why there are no Wild cats in Australia.

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    felisuk
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    A question we are often asked at FELIS is, “Why are there no wild cats in Australia?”.  It’s an interesting question and we will attempt to explain the reasons for this and try to demonstrate how we know. Oi! Stop yawning – this is interesting… That’s better… To begin to explain the lack of  wild…

  • A Paws for thought

    A Paws for thought

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    felisuk
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    Taking a break from our Small wild cat lineages we look at paws. Along with tails and ears (see previous posts), it is another physical trait whereby we can see some morphological differences in small wild cats. In this post, we will look at a handful of cats and show how the differences in their…

  • FELIS – Small cat lineages

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    felisuk
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    All cats, large & small are thought to have evolved from Proailurus (meaning “before the cat”), a prehistoric cat that lived in Eurasia in the Late Oligocene and Miocene periods, approximately 25 million years ago. It is thought these cats were a little larger than  today’s domestic cats, weighed roughly 20 lbs and were largely…

  • FELIS – Ears!

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    felisuk
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    Last week we looked at tails and how a cats habitat can affect their morphology. In the same way, a cats hunting habits can have a strong impact on the physiology of a cats ears. As you can see from the images below, cats have evolved to have very different looking ears, from the short…

  • FELIS – Tails

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    felisuk
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    TAILS: The shape of a cats tail varies greatly between species and the tails we see today are the product of a long and complex evolutionary history. As with many species in the animal kingdom a small wild cats morphology, or physical traits, have been affected by millions of years of natural selection and the…