Jungle cat
Felis chaus Schreber, 1777
The jungle cat (Felis chaus), also called the Reed cat, Swamp cat, Chaus or Chaus cat, is a mammal of the family Felidae in the order Carnivora. It is a medium-sized, terrestrial carnivore of forest habitat with a cathemeral activity pattern, and adults weigh 7.4 kg, with weights up to 10 kg reported.
Quick facts about the jungle cat
Gestation lasts 62 days (up to 67 days reported), litters hold 3 young, females have 2 litters per year, and sexual maturity comes at 1 year. The jungle cat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 7.39 kg – 10 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 20 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 62.4 days – 67 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12.6 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the jungle cat
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the jungle cat live?
Not recorded
What is the jungle cat?
The jungle cat (Felis chaus), also called reed cat and swamp cat, is a medium-sized cat native from the Eastern Mediterranean region and the Caucasus to parts of Central, South and Southeast Asia. It inhabits foremost wetlands like swamps, littoral and riparian areas with dense vegetation. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, and is mainly threatened by destruction of wetlands, trapping and poisoning.
The jungle cat has a uniformly sandy, reddish-brown or grey fur without spots; melanistic and albino individuals are also known. It is solitary in nature, except during the mating season and mother–kitten families.
Adults maintain territories by urine spraying and scent marking. Its preferred prey is small mammals and birds. It hunts by stalking its prey, followed by a sprint or a leap; the ears help in pinpointing the location of prey. Both sexes become sexually mature by the time they are one year old; females enter oestrus from January to March. Mating behaviour is similar to that in the domestic cat: the male pursues the female in oestrus, seizes her by the nape of her neck and mounts her. Gestation lasts nearly two months. Births take place between December and June, though this might vary geographically. Kittens begin to catch their own prey at around six months and leave the mother after eight or nine months.
The species was first described by Johann Anton Güldenstädt in 1776 based on a specimen caught in a Caucasian wetland. Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber gave the jungle cat its present binomial name and is therefore generally considered as binomial authority. Three subspecies are recognised at present.
From the Wikipedia article “Jungle cat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jungle_cat&oldid=1380845833), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the jungle cat endangered?
The jungle cat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the jungle cat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyFelidae
- genusFelis
- SpeciesFelis chaus Schreber, 1777
Synonyms Felis bieti vellerosa, Felis silvestris vellerosa
Other names and names in other languages (59)
- ChausEnglish
- Chaus catEnglish
- Reed catEnglish
- Reed catEnglish
- Swamp catEnglish
- Swamp catEnglish
- تفةArabic
- سنور الأدغالArabic
- قط الأدغالArabic
- وشق المُستنقعاتArabic
- হাপাAssamese
- Чаротавы котBelarusian
- Тръстикова коткаBulgarian
- বন বিড়ালBangla
- Kazh ar janglennBreton
- kočka bažinnáCzech
- JunglekatDanish
- SumpfkatzeGerman
- RohrkatzeGerman
- SumpfluchsGerman
- Αγριόγατα της ζούγκλαςGreek
- Kano-katoEsperanto
- Gato marismeñoSpanish
- gato de la junglaSpanish
- gato de los pantanosSpanish
- suokissaFinnish
- ViidakkokissaFinnish
- chat de jungleFrench
- chat de maraisFrench
- Chat des MaraisFrench
- જંગલી બિલાડીGujarati
- Tropska mačka / Тропска мачкаSerbian (Latin)
- חתול ביצותHebrew
- Tropska mačkaCroatian
- mocsári macska (csausz)Hungarian
- ԵղեգնակատուArmenian
- Gatto dei cannetiItalian
- Gatto della giunglaItalian
- Gatto delle paludiItalian
- ジャングルキャットJapanese
- Қамыс мысығыKazakh
- 정글고양이Korean
- रानमांजरMarathi
- SivkattNorwegian Bokmål
- JungelkattNorwegian Bokmål
- SumpkattNorwegian Bokmål
- MoeraskatDutch
- kot błotnyPolish
- Gato-da-selvaPortuguese
- Камышовый котRussian
- වල් බළලාSinhala
- Mačka močiarnaSlovak
- DjungelkattSwedish
- แมวป่าThai
- เสือกระต่ายThai
- Saz KedisiTurkish
- sazlık kedisiTurkish
- Кіт очеретянийUkrainian
- 叢林貓Chinese
Relatives of the jungle cat
Other species in the same genus Felis.
European wildcat
Felis silvestris
Sand cat
Felis margarita
Black-footed cat
Felis nigripes
Chinese mountain cat
Felis bieti
African wildcat
Felis lybica
Martelli's wild cat
Felis lunensis
CompareJungle cat vs European wildcatJungle cat vs Sand catJungle cat vs Black-footed catJungle cat vs Chinese mountain cat
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the jungle cat?
The jungle cat is a mammal of the family Felidae and the order Carnivora, in the genus Felis.
How heavy is a jungle cat?
An adult Jungle cat weighs 7.4 kg, with weights up to 10 kg reported, which places it in the medium size class.
What does the jungle cat eat?
The jungle cat is a carnivore.
What habitat does the jungle cat live in?
The jungle cat lives in forest habitat and is terrestrial, with a cathemeral activity pattern.
Is the jungle cat endangered?
No. The jungle cat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a jungle cat live?
The jungle cat has a lifespan of 20 years, with up to 20 years reported.
How many young does a jungle cat have?
A jungle cat has 3 young per litter and 2 litters per year, after a gestation of 62 days (up to 67 days reported).
Who named the jungle cat?
The jungle cat, Felis chaus, was named by Schreber in 1777.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Jungle cat (Felis chaus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/jungle-cat
“Jungle cat (Felis chaus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/jungle-cat.
@misc{jungle_cat_2026,
title = {Jungle cat (Felis chaus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/jungle-cat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}