Big Cat Week: Day #3!!

Cats that are not always seen in the documentaries:

The Serval

I'm all ears! It is said that the most striking feature on a Serval are their incredibly large rounded ears, but don't underestimate those ears for a second. With those ears Serval's are able to pick up small vibrations from their preys movement both above and under ground. Servals lead a solitary orepuscular lifestyle, this means that they are at their most active in in the early hours of the morning and the evening. Now for a few facts on this awesome feline.

Habitat: Found in Sub-Saharan Africa, however it is found primarily in wetlands and grasslands that are close to water. 

Conservation status: Classified as Least Concern (LC), that being said it has been reprted that is some areas Servals are experiencing a population decline due to habitat loss. 

 

Due to the Servals spotted fur and their long limbs along with their overall appearance (apart from the ears) many people often mistake them for a cheetah. That being said they primarily eat small rodents, frogs and the occasional bird, this is made easy due to their excellent sight, smell and hearing abilities. 

Quick fact: it was found that Servals living in grassland habitats tend to have larger black spots than those in forested areas, it is thought this links to the cats ability to camoflage. 

On to the next one...

 

We don't know about you guys, but we think this is a serious contender with the Serval in terms of their very prominent ears, we found out that the Caracals ear alone has 20 different muscles!! (by the way we only have 3). Well anyways, this gorgeous and royal looking cat is a Caracal, also known as the Perisan or African lynx, don't let that name fool you though because they are NOT a lynx, in fact they are closely related to the African Golden Cat and surprisingly yep you guessed it the Serval. 

Habitat: These cats are found in Africa and South West Asia and you will most likely find them dry woodlands, savannahs, grasslands and deserts. 

Conservation Status: Least concern (main threat is loss of habitat) 

It is thought that the name 'Caracal' comes from the Turkish word  'Karakulak' meaning black ears. Though the Caracal is considered as a small big cat it has been seen that these feisty felines are able to take down an Ostrich!! they have been known to hunt rodents, rabbits, birds, antelope, gazelles and as seen in the above pictures hares.

When researching these awesome cats, we decided that they should get the gold medal for being an amazing acrobat and being an amazing bird catcher and heres why:

 

Next in the line up is...

This beautiful looking cat is none other than an Ocelot, also known as the painted leopard. Now as is the story with most of these amazing cats is that not much is known of them and their lifestyles don't help. They lead a solitary, nocturnal/crepuscular lifestyle. Interestingly, Ocelots have been kept as pets, in fact an artist called Salvador Pali was always seen traveling with his domesticated Ocelot, they were also worshiped in some Peruvian cultures.

Habitat: Found in South America and often seen in tropical jungles, grassland and often in marshes. 

Conservation Status: Least concern (they have an estimated population size of 800,000)

We believe that the reason behind the Ocelots success in population size is their wide ranging varied diet which consists of: rabbits, birds, fish, crabs, lizards, snakes (that being said one of the Ocelots enemies is the Anaconda), small deer, monkeys, turtles, armadillos, anteaters and the odd domesticated bird. 

Check out this video of an Ocelot kitten learning to Fish: Enjoy, we did!

The last Big Cat in our series today is the Clouded Leopard:

 

The clouded leopard is the smallest of the big cats, and despite its name it is not related to a leopard in fact the clouded leopard is thought to be the evolutionary link between the big cats and the small cats (domesticated cats.) Due to their solitary nocuturnal / crepuscular lifestyle not much is really known of these big cats other than, the population of these cats is declining because of over hunting and loss of habitat. 

Habitat: Found in South East Asia, and preferring to live in dense tropical forest and jungle. 

Conservation status: Vulnerable (they have an estimated population size of less than 10,000 most of this population reside on the island of Borneo.) 

For a small cat... those are very large canines. In fact those canines are up to 2 inches long, just for comparison sake that makes their teeth the same size as a tigers! They may have short limbs but they are very good climbers, in fact they almost put leopards to shame to be honest. They can speed up trunks and then run down head first with ease, they have also been spotted moving along horizontal branches by hanging underneath using their tails for balance.

Well that marks the end of day 3 of Big Cat Week here on Biobunch!! We hoped you guys enjoyed it. If you know any more facts about these cats please leave a comment down below, or maybe there was a big cat that you would like us to write an article on, either way guys leave a comment down below. 

Biobunch

over and out.