Feline Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jaguarundi

The jaguarundi has a brownish-red or grey coat and lives in Central America, ranging as far as northern Mexico, and South America, from Argentina to Peru (where jaguarundi hunting is illegal) and Venezuela. Although it looks like a mustelid (the family that includes mongoose, otters and pine martens), it is actually a felid and gets its name from the bigger and more well-known jaguar.

It can be found in both forest and rainforest areas, and more open territory such as grassland. A shy little critter, it lives on smaller mammals such as rabbits and mice, frogs, and ground-dwelling birds.

Answer: Iberian lynx

As its name suggests, the Iberian lynx is found in the Iberian Peninsula, though its range was much wider thousands of years ago, with species being found in Italy and France. Like many other lynx breeds, it has the characteristic spotty coat and tufted ears, and its closest relative is the more widely-known Eurasian lynx.

Although a combination of poaching, habitat loss and its natural prey (rabbits) being affected by myxomatosis caused it to be on the verge of extinction by the end of the 20th century, efforts have been made to increase the numbers of Iberian lynx through breeding the animals in captivity and releasing them into the wild.

Answer: Margay

The margay has a similar coat pattern to the ocelot, but is smaller and has bigger eyes, longer legs and a longer tail, which it uses as a climbing aid. It lives mainly in forests (although some margays have been spotted, no pun intended, on coffee and cocoa plantations), and is nicknamed the 'tree ocelot' because of its climbing ability, and its habitat ranges from Mexico to Brazil and Paraguay.

It has been known to imitate the call of a baby pied tamarin (a Brazilian monkey species). Both hunting for the wildlife trade and habitat loss from deforestation have decreased species populations in the wild.

Answer: Black-footed cat

Of all the kitties in this quiz, the black-footed cat is one of the ones that most resembles a domestic cat, with a similar head shape. It is named for the soles of its feet, which are black or dark brown, and has a sandy coat with black spots and stripes, and a black tip on its tail.

Its range includes Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Despite its small size, it is a fierce little predator and consumes about a sixth of its body weight, due to its high energy requirements; it has also been known to kill up to 14 small animals in one night, including birds caught in flight, and has even gone after larger prey such as Cape hares or baby springboks.

Answer: Bobcat

The bobcat is a smaller lynx variant that lives in North America, from Canada to Mexico; it gets its name from its short 'bobbed' tail. It lives in a variety of environments, from grassland and swampland to woods (its preferred habitat) and even urban areas, where it may face competition from domestic animals and coyotes (who have an advantage over bobcats due to being more sociable and hunting in packs). Unlike the Canada lynx, it is not adapted for deep snow.

Its main prey is rodents and rabbits, but it also goes after birds, insects and even sheep and deer. If a bobcat manages to kill a deer, it may bury the carcass and then repeatedly feed off it.

Answer: Snow leopard

If you've seen the 'Kung Fu Panda' films, you might remember that the bad guy in the first film was Tai Lung, a snow leopard who was one of Master Shifu's former students. The snow leopard can be found in China, as well as Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan (where it is considered to be a sacred animal), Afghanistan, Siberia and Tibet.

While the conventional leopard has sandy fur, the snow leopard's coat is a greyish-white colour, and it has a shorter muzzle and a stockier body. It lives in mountainous habitats such as the Himalayas, and is poached for its fur, meat and bones, which are used in traditional Chinese and Tibetan medicine. ('Ounce' comes from 'once', an Old French word for lynx.)

Answer: Fishing cat

While cats have a reputation for hating water, the fishing cat is an exception; it lives in wetlands, in areas near rivers and lakes. It is a proficient swimmer and can swim for great lengths, even periods underwater; as its name suggests, it mainly lives on fish, though it eats other prey such as insects, snakes and carrion.

Its home countries include India, Thailand, Bangladesh (where several cases of humans killing fishing cats have been documented) and Nepal. As well as water pollution, it is also threatened by overfishing. Captive breeding programmes have been initiated to combat population decrease in the wild.

Answer: Serval

The serval is a distinctive-looking wild cat due to its long legs, spotted coat and elongated ears. A solitary hunter, it lives in wetlands, grasslands and savannah, and its home countries include Sudan, South Africa, Ethiopia and Zambia. It has also been reintroduced to Tunisia and can sometimes be found in the cork forests of Morocco. Like domestic cats, it can purr and meow. Servals were kept as pets in ancient times, a practice which continues today, although being wild animals makes their natures somewhat unpredictable.

The Savannah cat is a domestic cat breed that was created by crossbreeding a male serval with a female Siamese cat.

Answer: Sand cat

The sand cat is the opposite of the fishing cat, preferring deserts to wetlands and water sources. Its yellowish-grey coat helps camouflage it among the desert sands, and the long fur on its paws protects it from the temperature extremes. It lives underground by day and comes out at night to hunt, preying on snakes, rodents and lizards.

It was originally discovered in the Western Sahara in Africa and the Karakum Desert in Central Asia, and it has also been observed in the Middle East, in countries such as Iraq (where it has been captured and sold as a pet) and Jordan.

Answer: Manul

The manul is a very distinctive-looking cat with its stocky body, round head with flat ears, and long grey coat. First observed near Lake Baikal, it favours rocky mountain grasslands and its range includes the Hindu Kush, the Himalayas, the Caucasus and the Tibetan Plateau, from Iran and Armenia to the Altai region of Asian Russia.

It is not only threatened by habitat loss and poaching for its fur and body parts, but also by rodent poisoning programmes, as rodents form a substantial part of its diet.

The pika, a small mammal which resembles a short-eared rabbit, is one of its preferred prey animals, along with squirrels, gerbils, voles and hares.