Editing Leopard cat (section)

== Characteristics ==
[[File:Leopard cat vertical pupils nocturnal ambush predator.jpg|thumb|An adult leopard cat]]

A leopard cat is about the size of a [[domestic cat]], but more slender, with longer legs and well-defined webs between its toes. Its small head is marked with two prominent dark stripes and a short and narrow white muzzle. There are two dark stripes running from the eyes to the ears and smaller white streaks running from the eyes to the nose. The backs of its moderately long and rounded ears are black with central white spots. Body and limbs are marked with black spots of varying size and colour, and along its back are two to four rows of elongated spots. The tail is about half the size of its head-body length and is spotted with a few indistinct rings near the black tip. The background colour of the spotted fur is tawny, with a white chest and belly. However, in their huge range, they vary so much in colouration and size of spots as well as in body size and weight that initially they were thought to be several different [[species]]. The fur colour is yellowish brown in the southern populations, but pale silver-grey in the northern ones. The black markings may be spotted, [[Rosette (zoology)|rosette]]d, or may even form dotted streaks, depending on subspecies. In the [[tropics]], leopard cats weigh {{convert|0.55|-|3.8|kg|lb|abbr=on}}, have head-body lengths of {{convert|38.8|-|66|cm|in|abbr=on}}, with long {{convert|17.2|-|31|cm|in|abbr=on}} tails. In northern China and [[Siberia]], they weigh up to {{convert|7.1|kg|lb|abbr=on}}, and have head-body lengths of up to {{convert|75|cm|in|abbr=on}}; generally, they put on weight before winter and become thinner until spring.<ref name=WCoW>{{cite book |author=Sunquist, M. |author2=Sunquist, F. |name-list-style=amp |year=2002 |title=Wild Cats of the World |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |pages=225–232 |isbn=978-0-226-77999-7 |chapter=Leopard cat ''Prionailurus bengalensis'' (Kerr, 1792) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFbJWMh9-OAC&pg=PA226 |access-date=2020-11-14 |archive-date=2022-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417145609/https://books.google.com/books?id=hFbJWMh9-OAC&pg=PA226 |url-status=live }}</ref> Shoulder height is about {{convert|41|cm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=International Society for Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada |date=2018 |title=Leopard Cat |url=https://wildcatconservation.org/wild-cats/asia/leopard-cat/ |website=International Society for Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada}}</ref>