Editing Leopard cat (section)

==Leopard cats and hybrids as pets==
[[Fossil]] remains of leopard cats were [[Excavation (archaeology)|excavated]] at [[Neolithic]] villages in Central China in 2001. [[Radiometric dating]] of these bones showed that they are at least 5,000 years old. These findings indicate that the leopard cat was a human [[commensal]] or [[domesticate]]d in [[Neolithic China]]. They were later replaced with domestic [[cat]]s that originated in the Middle East, some time before the [[Tang dynasty]].<ref name="Vigne2016">{{cite journal |last1=Vigne |first1=J.-D. |last2=Evin |first2=A. |last3=Cucchi |first3=T. |last4=Dai |first4=L. |last5=Yu |first5=C. |last6=Hu |first6=S. |last7=Soulages |first7=N. |last8=Wang |first8=W. |last9=Sun |first9=Z. |last10=Gao |first10=J. |last11=Dobney |first11=K. |last12=Yuan |first12=J. |title=Earliest "Domestic" Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=11 |issue=1 |date=2016 |page=e0147295 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0147295 |pmid=26799955 |pmc=4723238 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1147295V|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The [[Bengal cat]] is a [[Cross breed#Interspecific hybrids|cross breed]] between the leopard cat and the domestic cat. It was introduced to cat shows in the 1970s. The fifth generation is marked like a leopard cat.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robbins |first1=N. |title=Domestic Cats: Their History, Breeds and Other Facts |date=2013 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |location=Scotts Valley, CA |isbn=9781300695424 |chapter=Breeds of Domestic Cats: Bengal |pages=115−119 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQ63-D3C9wcC&pg=PA115 |access-date=2020-11-14 |archive-date=2022-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417145609/https://books.google.com/books?id=RQ63-D3C9wcC&pg=PA115 |url-status=live }}</ref> This hybrid is usually permitted to be kept as a pet without a licence. The founding parents from the [[F1 generation|F1]]–F3 generations of breeding are usually reserved for [[breeding stock]] purposes or the specialty-pet home environment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bengalcat.co.uk/asian-leopard-cat.htm|title=The Asian Leopard Cat – the Bengals wild ancestor|website=bengalcat.co.uk|date=4 June 2018|access-date=2 November 2009|archive-date=2 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102075913/http://www.bengalcat.co.uk/asian-leopard-cat.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>