Jungle Cat

Jungle Cats range in weight from 10 pounds up to 20 plus pounds. Our silver Jungle cat is nearing the 20 pound range.

The Jungle Cat is not a frequenter of jungles, but prefers moist areas with reeds or high grass, woodlands and open scrub, grassland and agricultural croplands such as cornfields, sugar cane, cotton or maize. It is often found in the vicinity of water, from the Volga River delta and Egypt to Sinkiang and Indochina, as well as Thailand and Vietnam. It also occurs in Sri Lanka.

The coat color of the Jungle Cat varies from a sandy or yellowish-gray to a grayish-brown or tawny red above, with under parts of the slender body cream or white. There are some Jungles cats that are melanestic or rich silver. These are found in more dense brush and forest areas. The legs sometimes retain some faint horizontal striping, not completely faded from their younger days. Their head is rather narrow and has a high-domed forehead. Males have been seen with larger more rounded heads. Ears are tall and rounded, tipped with small tufts of black hair, and are set fairly close together. The eyes have bright yellow irises. Their legs are long and slender, and the tail is comparatively short, with several dark rings and a black tip. Melanistic individuals have been found in Pakistan and India.

The Jungle Cat feeds on a fairly wide variety of prey species, reflecting the variety of habitats it frequents. In the reed beds of the Nile delta it hunts water voles, frogs, fish and waterfowl, while in drier habitat it feeds on everything from hares, gerbils and house mice to birds, snakes and lizards, and domestic poultry.

These cats share the distinction with African wild cats and domestic cats of having been mummified and placed in tombs in ancient Egypt. They are also depicted hunting small birds and mammals in Egyptian wall paintings. There has been some speculation that jungle cats may have been involved in the ancestry of the domestic cat, but the bodies found in Egyptian tombs offer too little evidence to prove this one way or the other.

The Captive Owned Jungle Cat -

Jungle Cats are used to create the hybrid Chausies. When breeding hybrids, great care is needed so that no animal gets hurt when breeding. Not all exotics get along with domestics.