CATS - Felidae
Golden Cat
Felis temmincki

• Distribution
CATS - Felidae
Golden Cat
Felis temmincki

• Distribution

The Golden Cat is widely distributed from Tibet, Nepal and India to Southern China, and through Southeast-Asia to Sumatra and in the mountainous provinces of Vietnam like Lai Chau, Son La, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Wuang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue.

• Habitat

It mainly inhabits tropical rainforest and light forest.

• Behaviour

They spend most of their time on the ground, but they can climb very well. They are nocturnal animals, what means they become active at night to hunt. The Golden Cat is living solitary but it pairs up in the breeding season.
In the wild the Golden Cat preys on hares, small deer, birds, lizards and other small mammals. The Golden Cats in Hanoi Zoo are fed the same food as all the big cats.
The gestation period is around 95 days and two or three cubs are born in each litter.
In Hanoi Zoo there are two Golden Cats, a couple. The male came to Hanoi Zoo from Quang Ninh province on May 2000. The female came to the zoo from Binh Tri Thien province in 1999.
The number of species is declining in India and Indonesia due to habitat destruction and intolerance of human disturbance. The Golden Cat is also being hunted for its fur all over Asia. So nowadays, the Golden Cat is listed on Appendix I of CITES, which prohibits the hunting, sales and purchase of Golden Cat goods at all levels. This animal is also listed in the “Red Data Book for Vietnam”.

Hanoi Zoo