Like the
Asian golden cat, the African golden cat (
Felis aurata) isn't always golden -- its
fur can range from
gray to
orange to
black and be
spotted or plain. These cats live in the
tropical rain forests of West and Central
Africa and other dense vegetation. They are about twice the size of a large
house cat, but this varies according to location. They eat
rodents,
monkeys, and
birds, hunting most often at
twilight, mostly on the ground although they will climb trees.
They are hunted for their fur and for humans to eat, and are losing a lot of habitat; their numbers in the wild are thought to be less than 50,000.