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There are 37 species of wild cat in the world today.
Most people are aware of the big five - tiger, lion,
leopard, jaguar and cheetah. Many are familiar with the
medium felines - snow leopard and cougar, or mountain
lion.
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The Wildcat
(Felis silvestris), is a small predator native to
Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa. It is a
hunter of small mammals, birds, and other creatures of a
similar size. There are several subspecies which occur
in different world regions.
Sometimes included is the ubiquitous domestic cat (Felis
silvestris catus), which has been introduced to every
habitable continent and most of the world's larger
islands, and has become feral in many of those
environments; more recently the house cat is considered
as a full species on its own, Felis catus.
In its native environment, the Wildcat is adaptable to a
variety of habitat types: savanna, open forest, and
steppe. Although domesticated breeds show a great
variety of shapes and colours, wild individuals are
medium-brown with black stripes, between 50 and 80 cm
(20–32 inches) in length, and weigh between 3 and 6
kilograms (6–13 pounds). The African subspecies tends to
be a little smaller and a lighter brown in colour.
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