From the shores of the Nile to the jungles of Vietnam,
lives a species that has conquered the myriad of terrain in this 8,000 kilometer stretch.
This is one of the most widespread cats that you’ve probably never heard of.
The Swamp Cat.
The Swamp Cat, also known as the Jungle Cat, Reed Cat or incorrectly the Swamp Lynx,
is the feline equivalent of a Jackal - an animal that can survive in a variety of habitats,
and subsist on a variety of diets.
This all terrain feline has adapted to life in an incredible variety of habitats;
savannah, grassland, desert, wetlands, and forest. Found all the way from the Pyramids in Egypt,
past Angkor Wat, these cats have conquered more distance than Ghengis Khan.
The Swamp Cats are defined by their adaptability.
Despite their ability to thrive in a variety of environments,
they are best suited for life in the wetlands, like swamps and reeds.
Towards the mediterranean, they primarily are found in wetlands,
while in Central Asia, they are most often found in river valleys.
While their populations are relatively healthy in the foothills of the himalayas,
they don’t do terribly well in cold weather and have a warm-weather coat,
this limits their range to the north.
Despite one of their names being the Jungle Cat, one of the habitats that
they don’t do particularly well in is their name sake, the Jungle.
High canopy forests, like rainforests, don’t have as many small plants on
the ground for the cats to hide in, leaving them vulnerable to predators.
In the wetlands however, the abundance of low vegetation keeps them much safer. Even
though they thrive in multiple habitants, the wetlands are what they’re built for.
They have long, graceful legs, which allow them to walk through flooded terrain with ease.
Their coats are reddish beige,
with dark stripes along their tail to help them camouflage in dense foliage.
Swamp Cats also have long tufted ears,
which helps them camouflage by breaking up their outline while hiding in vegetation.
These tufts also make them resemble another felid, the lynx.
Yet despite their ears, they’re much more closely related to the black-footed cat and domestic cat.
And they share a diet with their cousins too, though theirs is much broader.
Their diet varies by region, but is generally made up of rodents and small animals,
weighing under a kilogram, like young hogs, baby gazelles, ducks and chitals.
One of the reasons that Swamp Cats are able to thrive in such differing territories,
is their ability to eat a wide variety of food, including veggies.
In some areas, including Uzbekistan, about 15% of their diet is made up of olives!
But this cat has her eyes on something tastier than an olive.
Like domestic cats, Swamp Cats are ambush hunters.
She slowly approaches her prey. She needs to get as close as possible before striking.
Stealth is her friend.
If her pounce fails, she’ll have to go on the pursuit. But being able to run up to 32km/h,
catching a rat snake shouldn’t prove too difficult.
The dense vegetation gives her an advantage, masking her body, as she approaches.
Now within range, she pounces.
She grabs the snake, mistaking it’s tail for it’s head.
The rat snake retaliates, biting her in the neck.
She recovers as the snake attempts to escape.
She follows, grabbing the snake by it’s neck this time, suffocating it.
Hunting primarily at dusk and dawn, she’ll spend the rest of the day basking in the sun,
until it’s cooled down, and she’s ready to go back out on the prowl.
Like most cats, the Swamp Cat is a solitary species,
and the only time they’ll be seen together is when it’s time to mate.
The males are larger than the females, weighing between 5 and 9 kilograms,
and it’s the females that do all the parenting.
While the Swamp Cat is considered a species of Least Concern,
their numbers are decreasing across their range.
Habitat destruction due to deforestation is their main concern, as are regulations.
In India for example, a large part of their territory is considered wasteland, and thus
subject to much less environmental regulation, leaving the Swamp Cat with few ambassadors.
Fortunately, occupying territory twice the width of the United States,
these all-terrain felines stand a good chance at weathering the storm.
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