Leopard cat
Prionailurus bengalensis (Kerr, 1792)
The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), also called the common leopard cat or mainland leopard cat, is a mammal in the family Felidae, order Carnivora. It is a medium-sized carnivore with an adult body mass of 3.3 kg, and our sources report adults of up to 4.15 kg.
Quick facts about the leopard cat
The leopard cat has a cathemeral activity pattern and a scansorial lifestyle. Gestation lasts 66 days, litters hold 2.5 young, sexual maturity comes at 1.5 years, and the species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.
- Weight
- 3.3 kg – 4.15 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 15 years – 17.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 65 days – 69 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 18.5 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.64src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Scansorialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the leopard cat
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the leopard cat live?
Not recorded
What is the leopard cat?
The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) is a small wild cat with dark spots on the tawny-coloured body and limbs. It has two dark stripes running from the eyes to the ears and smaller white streaks running from the eyes to the nose, and two to four rows of elongated spots along its back. Its tail is about half the size of its head-to-body length.
The leopard cat is native to continental South, Southeast and East Asia. It inhabits tropical evergreen rainforests, subtropical deciduous and coniferous forests up to an elevation of 4,474 m (14,678 ft) in the Himalayas. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range.
From the Wikipedia article “Leopard cat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leopard_cat&oldid=1380846041), 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 leopard cat endangered?
The leopard 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 leopard cat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyFelidae
- genusPrionailurus
- SpeciesPrionailurus bengalensis (Kerr, 1792)
Synonyms Felis anastasiae, Felis bengalensis, Felis bengalensis euptilura, Felis bengalensis hainana, Felis bengalensis manchurica, Felis decolorata, Felis euptilura microtis, Felis ingrami, Felis manchurica, Felis microtis, Felis ricketti, Felis sinensis, Mustela manchurica
Other names and names in other languages (52)
- Common leopard catEnglish
- Mainland leopard catEnglish
- قط نمريArabic
- قط البر الرئيسي النمريArabic
- লতাফুটুকীAssamese
- Леопардова коткаBulgarian
- চিতা বিড়ালBangla
- Chita BiralBangla
- marálCebuano
- kočka bengálskáCzech
- Asiatisk leopardkatDanish
- BengalkatzeGerman
- LeopardkatzeGerman
- Bja-zigDzongkha
- ΛεοπαρδογαλήGreek
- Αγριόγατα της ΒεγγάληςGreek
- gato bengaliSpanish
- Gato BengalíSpanish
- gato de BengalaSpanish
- aasianmetsäkissaFinnish
- Chat de ChineFrench
- Chat léopard du BengaleFrench
- Chat-léopard du BengaleFrench
- Cheetah BilliHindi
- Leopard mačkaCroatian
- leopárdmacskaHungarian
- Kucing kuwukIndonesian
- Gatto leopardoItalian
- ベンガルヤマネコJapanese
- ឆ្មាដាវKhmer
- 삵Korean
- 살쾡이Korean
- WaghatiMarathi
- Kucing batuMalay
- Thit-KyaungBurmese
- BengalkattNorwegian Bokmål
- LeopardkattNorwegian Bokmål
- Chari baghNepali
- Bengaalse TijgerkatDutch
- Kot bengalskiPolish
- kotek bengalskiPolish
- Gato-LeopardoPortuguese
- Pisică leopardRomanian
- Бенгальская кошкаRussian
- Méong CongkokSundanese
- சிறுத்தைப் பூனைTamil
- แมวดาวThai
- MaewdaaoThai
- Pars kedisiTurkish
- Кіт бенгальськийUkrainian
- 石虎Chinese
- 豹貓Chinese
Relatives of the leopard cat
Other species in the same genus Prionailurus.
Fishing cat
Prionailurus viverrinus
Rusty-spotted cat
Prionailurus rubiginosus
Flat-headed cat
Prionailurus planiceps
Sunda leopard cat
Prionailurus javanensis
CompareLeopard cat vs Fishing catLeopard cat vs Rusty-spotted catLeopard cat vs Flat-headed catLeopard cat vs Sunda leopard 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 leopard cat?
The leopard cat is a mammal in the family Felidae, part of the order Carnivora.
How heavy is a leopard cat?
An adult leopard cat weighs 3.3 kg, and our sources report adults of up to 4.15 kg.
What does the leopard cat eat?
The leopard cat is a carnivore.
Is the leopard cat endangered?
No. The leopard cat is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a leopard cat live?
The leopard cat has a lifespan of 15 years, and our sources report up to 17.3 years.
How many young does a leopard cat have?
A leopard cat has 2.5 young per litter and 1.64 litters per year, after a gestation of 66 days.
When is the leopard cat active?
The leopard cat is cathemeral, and its lifestyle is scansorial.
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). Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/leopard-cat
“Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/leopard-cat.
@misc{leopard_cat_2026,
title = {Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/leopard-cat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}