Mainland Leopard Cat

Japan's mainland leopard cat is represented by the Tsushima leopard cat, a small wild cat similar in overall size to a domestic cat. Adults have a spotted coat, stripes across the forehead, a thick long tail and conspicuous white marks behind the ears; the Ministry of the Environment gives an adult body length of 50–60cm and weight of 3–5kg (Japan Ministry of the Environment, Tsushima leopard cat account).

The cat is solitary and most active around dawn and dusk. Across the species' range, leopard cats take rodents and other small vertebrates, with insects and reptiles also recorded, and occupy habitats from forest and scrub to grassland and farmland (Animal Diversity Web species account). In Japan it survives only on Tsushima, where the national population is Critically Endangered (Japan MOE Red List 2020).