15 Species of Cat Family Found in The Indian Subcontinent

Indian Subcontinent is home to the world’s highest known cat diversity in the rain forests,desert land and dense jungle. Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary or Jeypore-Dehing lowland forests is the only place in the world where 7 cat species live in a single Indian rain forest.

Cat family found in India includes 5 big cats, 8 medium-sized wild cats, Caracal and Lynx,The most common small cats found in India are Golden Cat,Jungle Cat,Desert Cat, Pallas Cat and Fishing Cat.

Royal Bengal Tiger

Panthera tigris tigris is the largest species of cat family found in Indian Subcontinent and is the national animal of India. The Royal Bengal tiger is the most numerous tiger subspecies and classified as endangered in India and populations have been estimated as 2226 in 2014.

Indian Lion

Indian Lion is a lion subspecies live in prides in Gir Forest of Gujarat. Panthera leo persica or the Indian lion is one of five great cat species found in India,exists as a single population in Gujarat state.

Indian Leopard

Panthera pardus fusca or Indian Leopard is one of the most successful members of five big cats of India,known for its unique skills of climbing trees, jumping and adaption of city culture. The leopard is one of the five big cats found in India, Black Panther is also count as a leopard with color variant and known as Melanistic Leopard.

Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard is one of the large wild cat native to the mountain ranges of Indian Subcontinent. Distribution and habitat of snow leopard in India includes high altitudes of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh,Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

Clouded Leopard

Clouded leopard is one of the wild cat found in the Himalayan foothills of north east India. Clouded Leopard is considered between the big cats and the small cats and has been classified as Vulnerable.

Golden Cat

Asian golden cat live throughout the Indian Subcontinent and prefer forest habitats with rocky areas and also found in rain forest. The open terrain and grasslands of Manas National Park in Assam is the best place to spot Asian golden cat in India.

Marbled Cat

The Marbled Cat is one of the least known small wild cat found in India. Marbled Cat is similar in size to a domestic cat found along the Himalayan foothills and northern Sikkim.

Leopard Cat

Leopard cat is one of small wild cat live in tropical evergreen rain forests and plantations of Indian Subcontinent. There are eleven different species of leopard cat found in the jungles of Asia.

Jungle Cat

Jungle cat is also known as swamp cat native to India and other parts of Asia,widespread and common particularly in Indian states. These Jungle cats are one of the most common small cats found along rivers and lakes,Himalayas and swamp of Sundarbans.

Desert Cat

Indian desert cat found in the scrub habitat of western Rajasthan and hunt hares, rats, doves, gray partridges and other ground birds. Desert Cat also lives in tropical rain forests, scrub lands,dense forests, semi-desert and villages of western India.

Pallas’s Cat

Pallas’s Cat is known for its face, build, and long hair with black spots, lives in rocky terrain and grasslands of northern India. Ladakh area of India is one of the known place of Pallas cat and the cat prefers rocky terrain at high altitude.

Fishing Cat

Fishing cat is a medium-sized wild cat classified as endangered because of destruction of wetlands. The fishing cat is the state animal of West Bengal and are primarily found in the Terai region of the Himalayan foothills in India.

Rusty Spotted Cat

The rusty-spotted cat is smallest members of wild cat found only in India and known as hummingbird of the cat family. This smallest wild cat species is one of the 8 medium-sized wild cats found in India.

Caracal

The caracal cat is a mysterious animal found in parts of Central India, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. Caracal cat rarely observed in the wild forest and one of the wild animal who is fast approaching extinction in India.

Lynx

Lynx is one of the medium-sized wild cats inhabits in high altitude forests and dense cover of shrubs of Northern India. The Indian Lynx has distinguishing feature as long straight tufts,short tail and a distinct pale grey coat.