Post #14783

Amur forest cat: Became strong in the taiga. Ready to hunt even ungulates Amur forest cats are not a species, but a northern subspecies of the Bengal cat. But what a one! The fur is thick, the eyes are clear, and the wide pink nose just begs to go “boop!” How would you like to bring such a pet home! There is only one problem: where to get 20 mice a day to feed him? And the Amur forest cat is the northernmost subspecies of the Bengal cat. We can find it in our Primorsky Territory. Amur cats are very voracious, which is not surprising given their size. Weighing 6 kilos for an adult cat is rather the norm, and in winter 3-4 kilograms of high-quality fat are added to this weight, evenly distributed under the cat’s skin. And this is already close to the weight of a lynx! Fat is very useful for a cat: it not only acts as a heat insulator, but also allows the fluffy to be a little lazy. For example, do not go hunting for several days if it is too cold outside or there is a snowstorm. After all, hunting in fresh snow is a bit difficult—no traces are visible, and your short legs get bogged down. But when the cat finally comes out to look for food, all animals smaller than a roe deer are horrified! Like other cats, our hero is a predator, relying on stealth and dashing from a minimum distance, rather than endurance and pack hunting. Even though the basis of its diet consists of rodents, it easily catches birds in flight, climbs into the hollow of squirrels, and also tracks partridges and pheasants. Sometimes particularly large and hungry cats can attack a baby roe deer or a young musk deer. This is a serious prey, of course, but the Murchan-Amur residents are not simple predators! Such good ambush predators do not need company to hunt. They are convinced loners who do not even form married couples. But loners with principles and innate respect for personal boundaries. The Amur forest cat has a territory of up to 10 square kilometers, and marks its boundaries with scent marks. And other cats voluntarily and without problems avoid occupied territories, invading other people's property only under pain of starvation. Everything changes in the second half of March, when the breeding season begins for forest cats. Nowadays, females leave special marks that damn well attract males from all over the area. And although the lady is not particularly picky in choosing a partner for the evening, it is not easy to earn her paw, because there is only one beauty, and there are many males. Therefore, any cat wedding ends with one thing: a fight with shreds of torn fluff and yelling at the whole forest. And after a night of love, the male will leave the female and will most likely never return. 2 months after the excessively exuberant festivities, the female will give birth to 2 to 4 kittens. The baby is developing quickly. Their eyes open on the 10th day, by the end of the first month they already refuse milk and switch to meat, and six months after b