Rusty-Spotted Cats

The cute and tiny jungle predators of India, Sri Lanka and Nepal

Dec 27, 2023

A rusty-spotted cat explores his jungle, from BBC footage

Today’s hed gif has some remarkable footage of a rusty-spotted cat taken by the BBC. Not much is known about these diminutive residents of India, Sri Lanka and marginally of Nepal, as they are secretive and largely nocturnal, but they have been observed primarily in moist and dry deciduous forests as well as scrub and grassland areas.

Rusty-spotted cats are the smallest cats in Asia and overall one of the smallest members of the cat family, weighing in at about three pounds, about half the size of a standard house cat. It is listed as Near Threatened because, as with most wild cats, its breeding population is fragmented and affected by loss and destruction of its prime habitat, deciduous forests. Much of what is known about the species has been learned from populations kept at zoos; their reproductive cycle, for instance, largely mirrors that of domestic cats. Females give birth to litters of one to three kittens after a gestation of approximately 67 days and newborns weigh less than a chicken egg. Babies lack the rusty spotting of the adults and their irises are light blue. A rusty-spotted cat lives about 12 years in captivity.

Rusty-spotted cats, similar to domestic cats, are predators of convenience, eating frogs, birds, small mammals, reptiles, insects and whatever comes their way. But they have been observed going after prey very much larger than themselves, even immature gazelles. I’m not sure what a three-pound kitty would do if they ever managed to fell a 20 pound meal, but honestly, I can relate to those eyes being bigger than their stomach. I‘m forced to reflect on my own holiday eating habits 😬