Leopard cat, alias "Copper Cat" and "Shi Hu", is an Asian feline. Adult leopard cats are smaller than clouded leopards. They are carnivores, belonging to the national second-class protected animals and the national "three-owned" wild protected animals.
Listed in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species) 20 12, VER 3. 1- No Danger (LC); Included in China's Red Book of Endangered Animals: Vulnerable; Included in the Washington Convention CITESⅱII II protected animals.
Overview of leopard cat
Cats belong to the carnivorous order of mammals, and are divided into two subfamilies: Cat subfamily and Leopard subfamily. Cat subfamily is dominated by small cats (weighing less than 5 kg), with 7 genera 18 species. Cats are diverse, widely distributed and have diverse habitat types, which are distributed except Antarctic and Arctic continents, and most of them live in forests.
Cats are located at the top of the food chain, foraging widely and having strong adaptability to the ecological environment. They play an important regulatory role in the ecosystem, such as controlling the number of prey by predation, and then have a cascade effect in the ecosystem. Large cats have strong diffusion ability and can spread plant seeds attached to them to far places.