The leopard cat, Felis bengalensis, is found throughout much of southern Asia. It looks like a domestic cat with long legs, and, though often spotted like a leopard, can have quite a variety of fur patterns.

They eat all sorts of animals: rodents, lizards, amphibians, bats and birds when they can catch them, even small deer sometimes. They can swim (one was caught swimming in the Bay of Bengal, and they populate the offshore islands of Thailand). They are not scared of people as many wild cats are, and can be helpful to humans by controlling rodents, but they are still hunted for food, fur, and because they sometimes raid poultry houses, so some conservation programs are in place.

The leopard cat can be cross-bred with the domestic cat to produce a breed called the "Bengal cat" which is somewhat easier to keep as a pet than a pure leopard cat (though more wild-acting than most house cats); this is frowned upon by environmentalists because it dilutes the gene pool of the leopard cat.

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