Felis chaus
Silhouette: L. Shyamal (photograph) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The jungle cat (Felis chaus), also called reed cat and swamp cat, is a medium-sized cat native from the Eastern Mediterranean region and the Caucasus to parts of Central, South and Southeast Asia. It inhabits foremost wetlands like swamps, littoral and riparian areas with dense vegetation. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, and is mainly threatened by destruction of wetlands, trapping and poisoning.
The jungle cat has a uniformly sandy, reddish-brown or grey fur without spots; melanistic and albino individuals are also known. It is solitary in nature, except during the mating season and mother–kitten families. Adults maintain territories by urine spraying and scent marking. Its preferred prey is small mammals and birds. It hunts by stalking its prey, followed by a sprint or a leap; the ears help in pinpointing the location of prey. Both sexes become sexually mature by the time they are one year old; females enter oestrus from January to March. Mating behaviour is similar to that in the domestic cat: the male pursues the female in oestrus, seizes her by the nape of her neck and mounts her. Gestation lasts nearly two months. Births take place between December and June, though this might vary geographically. Kittens begin to catch their own prey at around six months and leave the mother after eight or nine months.
The species was first described by Johann Anton Güldenstädt in 1776 based on a specimen caught in a Caucasian wetland. Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber gave the jungle cat its present binomial name and is therefore generally considered as binomial authority. Three subspecies are recognised at present. Wikipedia →
Recording0:10
Türkiye · 2026
© Yekta Bilgili · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bondla Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Nehru Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Tallinn Zoo | 🇪🇪 Estonia | |
| 4 | Novosibirsk Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 5 | Yerevan Zoo | 🇦🇲 Armenia | |
| 6 | Sajjangarh Biological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Warangal Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Alipore Zoological Gardens | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Nahargarh Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Lithuanian Zoo | 🇱🇹 Lithuania | |
| 11 | Tbilisi Zoo | 🇬🇪 Georgia | |
| 12 | Kathmandu Zoo | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 13 | Eram Zoo | 🇮🇷 Iran | |
| 14 | Zoo Koki (Parque zoológico y botánico) | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 15 | Bangkok Aquarium | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 16 | Ogród zoologiczny w Spiskiej Nowej Wsi | 🇸🇰 Slovakia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Jungle Cat sighting in Minneriya National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 15th most-seen of the 18 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Jungle Cat in Minneriya National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March, May–October and December, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Jungle Cat sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Jungle Cat sightings, Minneriya National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Sundarbans National Park (India, about 40%) and Wilpattu National Park (Sri Lanka, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Jungle Cat is recorded against all the mammals logged in Minneriya National Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
