LESSER CATS: All cats great or small are members of one family; the Fieldale that is that is the foremost of all the beasts of prey.  Among the carnivores, cats stand supreme in equipment of tooth and claw, and in that combination of grace, strength and agility, which is the mark of the tribe.  Lesser cats, as the name suggest are smaller.  Otherwise, their habitat and behavior is almost similar to there larger cousins.

1. BEHAVIOR: Cats have highly developed senses of smell, sight and hearing.  Even the whiskers of a cat serve a special purpose of being sensory tactile organs.  Cats also have the larges eyes of all carnivores.  In the lesser cats, the pupils contract to a narrow perpendicular slit in bright light therefore protecting the eyes from glare.  Their body fur is either striped or spotted to give them the perfect camouflage when hunting.  Lesser cats in addition possess the distinct cheek stripe, which is absent in their larger counterparts.  Like all the members of their tribe, they walk on their toes, which help them in taking their prey by surprise.  The claws are essentially weapons of attack and their canine teeth help in bringing down and tearing up the flesh of the quarry.
2. FAMILY: Most of the lesser cats lead a solitary life and are territorial in nature.  They feed on small rodents, fish, amphibians, reptiles and insects.  Most of them are nocturnal in habit.  Breeding season varies from species to species and the average litter size is 2-6 kittens.  Great demand of cat fur in the fashion industry has led to severe depletion of their population in the wild.
3. FACTS: More than eight species of lesser cats occur within the Indian sub-continent.  This perhaps may be the highest congregation of feline species in the world.  Most of them are confined to the dense evergreen forests of northeast India, they are shy, elusive and wary of humans and hence not much is known about them.

TYPES OF LESSER CATS:

1. MARBLED CAT (Felis marnosata): The marbled cat has a marbled coat pattern made up of dark blotches more or less lined with black.  It is slightly larger than a domestic cat being about a meter in length, half of which is the tail.  It is found in the dense forests of northeast India.  Little is known about its habits.  It is said to be a purely forest cat of arboreal habits feeding on small mammals like rats and squirrels and birds.
2. JUNGLE CAT (Felis chaus): It differs from all its other cat cousins in being longer in the leg and with a short tail.  It has pale green eyes and the color of its fur varies from sandy gray to yellowish gray.  The tail is ringed with black towards the end and has a black tip.  It is one of the most common Indian wild cats and because of its high adaptability, it occurs in habitat ranging from the vicinity of human dwellings to the densest forest.  It hunts during the night and lives largely on small mammals and birds.  It breeds during the early months of the year.  3-4 kittens are born at a time.
3. CLOUDED LEOPARD (Neofelis nebulosa): This beautiful cat derives its popular name from its dark gray body that is marked with black to dark gray blotches patches in a cloud like pattern.  It is found in the dense evergreen forests of Sikkim and northeast Himalayas.  However, it is still a rare and little known wild cat.  A peculiar feature is its proportionately enormous upper canine teeth, which presents the nearest approach among the living cats to the massive tusks of the extinct Saber-toothed Tiger.  Young usually 2 in number are born at a time.  Young are said to be sheltered in the hollow of trees.
4. FISHING CAT (Felis viverrina): It is a stocky medium sized cat with a tail shorter than its head and body length.  It prefers marshes and swampy areas therefore its distribution in India is patchy.  It occurs in the Indus delta, Bharatpur in Rajasthan, coastal backwaters, estuaries and swamps of the southern states and of West Bengal.  It is very adept at fishing and is powerful enough to kill sheep, calves, dogs and large snakes.  The litter is usually of two kittens.  The cat apparently does not have a fixed breeding season.
5. LEOPARD CAT (Felis benghalensis): The leopard cat looks like a miniature replica of its namesake, although it has black spots instead of the rosettes on its beautiful coat.  It is distinguished from the fishing cat by being smaller but with a longer tail.  Not very uncommon, it is found in all the forested areas of the country.  Nocturnal, it preys upon small birds and animals.  Young usually 3-4 in a litter are born in March-May.