The African golden cat has afur colour ranging from chestnut or reddish-brown, greyish brown todark slaty. Some are spotted, with the spots ranging from faded tan to black in colour. In others the spotting pattern is limited to the belly and inner legs. Its undersides and areas around the eyes, cheeks, chin, and throat are lighter in colour to almost white. Its tail is darker on the top and either heavily banded, lightly banded or plain, ending in a black tip. Cats in the western parts of its range tend to have heavier spotting than those in the eastern region. Two color morphs, a red and a grey phase, were once thought to indicate separate species, rather than colour variations of the same species.[5] Grey skins have hairs that are not pigmented in their middle zones, whereas hair of red skins is pigmented intensively red. Hair ofmelanistic skins is entirely black.[6]
Skins of African golden cats can be identified by the presence of a distinctive whorled ridge of fur in front of the shoulders, where the hairs change direction. It is about twice the size of a domestic cat. Its rounded head is very small in relation to its body size. It is a heavily built cat, with stocky, long legs, a relatively short tail, and large paws. Body length usually varies within the range of 61 to 101 cm (24 to 40 in). Tail length ranges from 16 to 46 cm (6.3 to 18.1 in), and shoulder height is about 38 to 55 cm (15 to 22 in). The cat weighs around 5.5 to 16 kg (12 to 35 lb), with males being larger than females.[4]
Overall, the African golden cat resembles the caracal, but has shorter untufted ears, a longer tail, and a shorter, more rounded face. It has small, rounded ears. Its eye colour ranges from pale blue to brown.[7]
Caracal aurata celidogaster (Temminck, 1827), a subspecies. 1834, Iconographia Zoologica
Felis aurata was thescientific name used byCoenraad Jacob Temminck whodescribed a reddish-brown coloured cat skin in 1827 that he had bought from a merchant in London.[8] Temminck also described a grey coloured skin of a cat with chocolate brown spots that had lived in themenagerie in London. He named itFelis celidogaster.[9]Felis neglecta proposed byJohn Edward Gray in 1838 was a brownish grey cat skin fromSierra Leone.[10]Felis rutilus proposed byGeorge Robert Waterhouse in 1842 was a reddish cat skin from Sierra Leone.[11]Felis chrysothrix cottoni proposed byRichard Lydekker in 1906 was a dark grey cat skin from theIturi Rainforest.[12] A black cat skin from eastern Congo was proposed asFelis maka in 1942.[6]
Phylogenetic analysis of cat samples showed that the African golden cat is closely related with thecaracal (Caracal caracal). These two species, together with theserval (Leptailurus serval), form the Caracal lineage, one of the eightgenetic lineages of the Felidae that evolved nearly8.5 million years ago.[18][3] Because of this close relationship, the African golden cat has been placed into the genusCaracal.[19]
The African golden cat is distributed fromSenegal to theCentral African Republic,Kenya and as far south as northernAngola. It inhabitstropical forests from sea level to an elevation of 3,000 m (9,800 ft). It prefers dense, moist forest with heavy undergrowth close to rivers but lives also incloud forest,bamboo forests, and highmoorland habitats.[4]
Due to its extremely reclusive habits, little is known about the behaviour of African golden cats. They are solitary animals, and are normallycrepuscular ornocturnal, although they have also been observed hunting during the day, depending on the availability of local prey.[4]
African golden cats are able to climb, but hunt primarily on the ground. They mainly feed ontree hyrax,rodents, but also huntbirds, smallmonkeys,duikers, young ofgiant forest hog, and smallantelope. They have also been known to take domestic poultry and livestock.[4][5]
Knowledge of the African golden cat's reproductive habits is based on captive individuals. The female gives birth to one or two kittens after agestation period of around 75 days. The kittens weigh 180 to 235 g (6.3 to 8.3 oz). Their eyes open within a week of birth, and they are weaned at 6–8 weeks. They grow and develop rapidly in comparison with other small cat species. One individual was reported to be scaling a 40-cm wall within 16 days of birth, reflecting a high degree of physical agility from an early age. Females reach sexual maturity at 11 months of age, and males at around 18 months. In captivity, they live up to 12 years. Their lifespan in the wild is unknown.[4]
The African golden cat is threatened by extensivedeforestation of tropical rainforests, their conversion tooil palm plantations coupled withmining activities and road building, thusdestroying its essential habitat. It is also threatened bybushmeat hunting, particularly in theCongo Basin.[1] A dead African golden cat was offered as bushmeat in Angola'sUíge Province in May 2018.[25]
The African golden cat is listed inCITES Appendix II.[1] Hunting African golden cats is prohibited in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. In Gabon, Liberia and Togo, hunting regulations are in place.[26]
^abcVan Mensch, P. J. A.; Van Bree, P. J. H. (1969). "On the African golden cat,Profelis aurata (Temminck, 1827)".Biologica Gabonica.V (4):235–269.
^Macdonald, D. W. (2009). D. W. Macdonald (ed.).The Princeton encyclopedia of mammals. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 655.ISBN978-0-691-14069-8.
^Temminck, C. J. (1827)."Félis doréFelis aurata".Monographies de Mammalogie. Paris: G. Dufour et E. d'Ocagne. pp. 120−121.
^abWerdelin, L.; Yamaguchi, N.; Johnson, W. E.; O'Brien, S. J. (2010)."Phylogeny and evolution of cats (Felidae)". In Macdonald, D. W.; Loveridge, A. J. (eds.).Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 59–82.ISBN978-0-19-923444-8.
^Kitchener, A. C.; Breitenmoser-Würsten, C.; Eizirik, E.; Gentry, A.; Werdelin, L.; Wilting A.; Yamaguchi, N.; Abramov, A. V.; Christiansen, P.; Driscoll, C.; Duckworth, J. W.; Johnson, W.; Luo, S.-J.; Meijaard, E.; O'Donoghue, P.; Sanderson, J.; Seymour, K.; Bruford, M.; Groves, C.; Hoffmann, M.; Nowell, K.; Timmons, Z.; Tobe, S. (2017)."A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group"(PDF).Cat News (Special Issue 11): 60−61.
^Aronsen, G.P. (2010). "New photographic evidence of the African golden cat (Profelis aurata Temminck) at Mainaro, Kibale National Park, Uganda".African Journal of Ecology.48 (2): 541−545.Bibcode:2010AfJEc..48..541A.doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.2009.01117.x.
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