Pardofelis temminckii

The Asiatic Golden Cat is a medium-sized cat with three subspecies.

Except for the breeding season, golden cats generally live alone and are nocturnal. They are more active at dawn and dusk. They live in tree caves during the day and move on the ground at night. They are agile and good at climbing, but they mostly move on the ground. Their activity area is relatively fixed and they migrate vertically with the change of seasons. Golden cats have good hearing and are the most flexible in the activity of the outer ear among cats. They can hear tiny sounds from all directions, like a "living radar". They are ferocious and brave, so they are called "yellow tigers".

The main food of golden cats is rodents, but also birds, young rabbits and chickens, as well as small deer such as muntjacs and musk deer. They can also attack young buffaloes, because their sharp canine teeth are not strong enough to penetrate the skin and flesh of old cows' necks.

Golden cats can breed all year round. Female golden cats are in estrus for 6 days, which repeats every 39 days. Gestation lasts 81 days. Females give birth to 1-3 pups per litter, with an average birth weight of 250 grams. In the wild, some females have been observed giving birth under hollow trees. The young are weaned at 6 months and live independently for an average of 12 months, although they can become independent in as little as 9 months. Females reach sexual maturity in 19-174 months and males in 24-156 months.

The golden cat is assessed as Near Threatened. However, data on this species are generally lacking, with no density estimates or abundance data, making it difficult to assess the species' true status. Based on the available data, the species has experienced a population decline of more than 20% and close to 30% since 2000 due to widespread habitat loss and poaching throughout its range. This pattern of decline will continue and indicates that the number and population of golden cats are very close to meeting the criteria for vulnerable status.

Data from the Red Data Book of Endangered Animals in China show that the population of golden cats distributed in China is approximately 3,000-5,000 (Wang Song, 1998). China has no actual research projects on golden cats, but the species was photographed in infrared automatic trigger camera monitoring in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces in 2008 and 2009. In September 2016, the Environmental and Forestry Bureau of Xinlong County, Sichuan Province, China, and the Cat Alliance CFCA jointly launched a new phase of wild cat surveys. By November 2017, the investigation and confirmation of the distribution of golden cats in Xinlong County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan. On August 15, 2018, an infrared trigger camera in Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve captured images of wild golden cats. The shooting point was 4,280 meters above sea level. In June 2021, when staff of Mengla County Nature Reserve collected infrared camera image data in the wild, they discovered the activity traces of the golden cat, a national first-class protected animal, for the first time. This was also the first time that golden cat images were captured in Xishuangbanna. In March 2022, the Laohegou Nature Reserve in Pingwu County, Giant Panda National Park, was surprised to find that the infrared camera placed on the roadside captured precious pictures of Asian golden cats eating among the recovered infrared cameras. This is also the first high-definition image of golden cats eating in China. In May 2022, the activity images of golden cats, a national first-class protected animal, were recorded in Niwu Township, Jiali County, Nagqu City. In May 2022, the activity images of Asian golden cats and leopards were found at different points in the Qinling Niubeiliang Nature Reserve.

The golden cat population is not scattered, and the population of this species is on a downward trend. The main threats facing the golden cat are deforestation and illegal hunting, both of which are very common throughout its distribution range, but people know little about the scale and extent of the threats. Golden cat skins are commodities in China and Myanmar, and there is high hunting pressure in these two countries.

Listed in Appendix I, Appendix II and Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2019 at Level I.

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2014 ver3.1 - Near Threatened (NT).

Listed in the February 25, 2021 edition of China's National List of Key Protected Wildlife at Level I.

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Distributed in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam.
In China, it is distributed in Tibet, Anhui, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces.
It inhabits tropical and subtropical moist evergreen broad-leaved forests, mixed evergreen mountain forests and dry deciduous forests. They also live in shrubs, grasslands and open rocky areas. According to existing records, golden cats have appeared in a high-altitude area in Bhutan full of dwarf rhododendrons and meadows.

The skull is large and the bones are light and thin. The top is flat and wide, and the ventricles are large and round. The distance from the anterior rim of the orbit to the front of the premaxilla exceeds the diameter of the orbit. The nasal bones are wider and the front and middle parts of the frontal bones are slightly sunken. The postorbital process and the frontal process of the zygomatic bone are both thin and pointed. The temporal crest is shallow and low, divided into left and right curves, and only the posterior part heals into a short sagittal crest, with a well-developed lambdoid crest. Listen to the bubbles being round and protruding. The leading edge of the interpterygoid foramen is transverse and not pointed. There is sometimes a small indentation in the center, and the wing-like processes are slender and extremely pointed. No differences were found in the skulls of the three color types. Among cats, they are the ones with obvious movable external ears and good hearing. I