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Schule > Englisch > Ausarbeitungen, Interpretationen und Zusammenfassungen > Iriomote Cat

The Iriomote Cat

The Iriomote Cat may be found only on the 292 square kilometres Island of Iriomote. This island is located 160 kilometres in the east of Taiwan and belongs to Japan. The circulation of area is the smallest of all breeds of cats. The Iriomote Cat was discovered in the year 1967 of the Japanese Yukio Togawa. These cats are on the “red lists”. On red lists are animals registered which are endangered. They think there are less then 100 cats alive. The habitat of the cats is taken away because of building new roads, sugar cane fields and airports. Tourism is another coming problem. The cats are also eaten by the inhabitants of the island. Now a part of the island is a wildlife sanctuary, where the cats can live. But traffic accidents still a problem. Some cats are killed in this way every year.

Ancestry
It is a subspecies of the Leopard Cat. The cat can be found in Pakistan, in South East Asia, in Java and in Borneo. Because of their wide circulation of area, they have different colours. In warm areas the cats are smaller and darker then in cool areas. Its coat is usually brown coloured, but can also be red or grey. The cat has dark brown or black spots on her body. The Leopard Cat has a large white spot on the back of their black, rounded ears, like the Iriomote Cat. The cat’s head is small and has large eyes. The Leopard Cat is about the size of a house cat, with longer legs. Its weight is 3 up to 7 kilograms and its length is 45 to 95 centimetres. It lives 10 to 15 years.

Description
The Iriomote Cat is a middle-sized animal. The cats weight is 3 up to 4,5 kilograms and the length is 70 to 90 centimetres. The body is long with short legs. It’s coat is green-grey coloured. It has dark stripes on the head. On its side and back are spots. The ears are rounded with a white spot on the back. The tail is long and bushy. For most of the year the cats lead a solitary life. But from December to March and in September and October they search another.
After 60 to 70 days, females produce one, two, three or four kittens two times in the year. The kittens need 10 month to be adult.
A cat which was kept in captivity lived 10 years.

Habitat
The Iriomote Cat lives in the sub-tropical evergreen rain forest and in the mountains of their habitat. During the winter months they come down from the more mountainous regions. Sometimes you can see it at the beach and in the near of villages.

Food
Iriomote Cats usually hunt by night on the ground, but they even can swim to catch fishes and climb on trees to look for birds. They eat reptiles (snakes and lizards), insects, rodents and crabs.

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