Marbled cat
Fast facts
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Genus
- Pardofelis
- Species
- P. marmorata
Scientific name
- Scientific name
- Pardofelis marmorata
How to say it in other languages
- Dutch
- Marmerkat
- French
- Chat marbré
- German
- Marmorkatze
- Italian
- Gatto marmorizzato
- Japanese
- マーブルキャット
- Portuguese
- Gato-marmorizado
- Russian
- Мраморная кошка
- Spanish
- Gato jaspeado
Facts from Wikipedia’s “Marbled cat” page and Wikispecies (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) is a small wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. Its head and body length is 45 – 62 cm (18 - 24") and it weighs 2 – 5 kg (4 - 11 lb).
Genetic analysis has shown that it is closely related with the Asian golden cat and the bay cat, which diverged from the other felids about 9.4 million years ago. Therefore, it may probably be transferred to the genus Catopuma.
Description
Its tail is extremely long and bushy. The background color of its fur varies from dark gray-brown through yellowish gray to red-brown. The flanks and back are strikingly marked with large, irregular, dark-edged blotches. The legs and underparts are marked with black dots, and the tail is marked with black spots and rings. There are spots on the forehead and crown, which merge into narrow longitudinal stripes on the neck and irregular stripes on the back.
Habitat
The marbled cat is found in northern India, Nepal, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces in China, and south through Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra (Indonesia), and Borneo. Throughout its range it is thought to be rare, although it has also been suggested that the perception of the marbled cat’s rarity may be caused by its secretive nature and its preference for remote forest areas.
Written for younger readers
Marbled cat, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: Big Cats
NOTOC
The marbled cat is the big cat that isn’t big at all, only slightly larger than a domestic cat. Scientists place it in the same closely related group as the lion, tiger and leopard, the Subfamily Pantherinae, and even though it’s much smaller than the clouded leopard it has the same long fangs and a very similar fur pattern. Scientific examination of their blood (blood serum analysis) suggests that they are similar in form to the forest ancestors of the big cats some ten million years ago. However, they may have also decreased in size more recently due to competition with other big cats.
The marbled cat may be found in the forests of the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and some neighboring small islands.
Marbled cats look similar to clouded leopards but they are smaller, have shorter faces more like a domestic cat, and have a fuzzier tail. Its beautiful, striking coat is pale brown, with irregular slightly darker brown blotches sharply outlined in dark brown or black. Its long cylindrical tail is full from rump to tip and carries its body pattern.
Marbled cats spend a great deal of time in the trees and it is likely that they catch much of their prey there, hunting birds, squirrels, rodents, frogs and reptiles. They have been seen hunting on the ground on the island of Borneo, and this may be a local habit. Not much is known about their habits because they are rare in the wild and there are no specimens currently kept in zoos.
Marbled cats make sounds similar to a domestic cat, but they purr rarely and their meow is somewhat like a twittering bird call.
The longest a marbled cat lived in captivity was 12 years.
Wikipedia: Marbled cat Next Topic: Cheetahs
de:Wikijunior Großkatzen/ Marmorkatze
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Marbled cat” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.
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