Small Wild Cats and the Habitats They Depend On

Desert plains and low dunes from North Africa through parts of Arabia and Central Asia are home to this small cat. Dense fur under its feet helps insulate them from hot and cold ground, while burrows provide daytime shelter. Its global range looks large on a map, with substantial gaps between the recorded populations.

Dry grassland and scrub in southern Africa give the black-footed cat cover to hunt at night. It can spend the day in an old burrow or termite mound. The species is Vulnerable, and deteriorating grassland can reduce the supply of shelter and small animal prey at the same time.

A close relative of the caracal, the African golden cat lives in the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The coat can be reddish or gray, plain or heavily spotted. Camera traps have helped confirm how widely it uses these forests, where clearing can leave populations in disconnected patches.

The manul’s low ears barely break the outline of its round head. In the rocky steppes and shrublands of Central Asia it shelters in rock crevices and abandoned burrows, including marmot burrows. Habitat fragmentation can leave fewer places with both enough prey and shelter.

Rows of rust-colored spots mark this tiny cat of India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. It turns up in forests and scrub, and even in some cultivated landscapes. Forest clearance is a concern because a few records near farms tell us little about whether those areas can support it long term.

Fishing cats work along marshes, mangroves, and river edges across parts of South and Southeast Asia. They can crouch at the water’s edge or wade after prey. The IUCN lists them as Vulnerable, and draining wetlands and converting them to aquaculture can break up the habitat they use.

Its low forehead and small ears give this Southeast Asian cat an unusual profile. It is closely tied to rivers, marshes, and lowland swamp forests. Camera traps confirmed it was still present in southern Thailand after nearly three decades without a confirmed sighting there. Wetland loss remains a threat to this Endangered species.

The dark-edged patches and long tail make the marbled cat easy to pick out in a clear photograph. It lives in forests from the eastern Himalayan region into Southeast Asia. It is a capable climber and difficult to study, so much about how it uses the forest canopy is still being worked out. Clearing those forests is a major threat.

This chestnut or gray cat lives only on Borneo. Confirmed records span several kinds of forest, from lowland and hill forests to some recovering areas. The species is Endangered, with too few observations for a reliable population estimate and loss of forest among its most urgent concerns.

This spotted island cat occurs across parts of maritime Southeast Asia, including Borneo, Sumatra, and some islands of the Philippines. Records from both forest and plantations show some flexibility. Its spread across islands hides a more uneven picture, especially in the Philippines, where some local populations have lost much of their habitat.

This thick-coated wildcat is native to the eastern Tibetan Plateau in China. It rests in burrows dug by other animals and hunts small mammals such as pikas. Losing prey to large-scale control programs is one concern for a species whose range is already restricted.

The kodkod, also called the guiña, lives in Chile and adjacent Argentina. Dense undergrowth in temperate forest gives this tiny spotted cat cover, and it also uses some landscapes with forest patches and farmland. The 2025 IUCN assessment listed it as Least Concern globally, even as forest loss and road deaths remain local problems.

The spotted Geoffroy’s cat uses grasslands, scrub, and open woodland across much of southern South America. Its flexible diet lets it persist in some altered landscapes. The global assessment places it at Least Concern, with sharp local declines documented in at least one part of the Brazilian grasslands.

The margay can turn its hind feet far enough to climb headfirst down a trunk. That ability is useful in the forests it inhabits from Mexico into South America, even though it often travels on the ground. The global assessment is Near Threatened, with forest clearing and fragmentation among the main pressures.

The Andean mountain cat’s thick, ringed tail is a good way to recognize it. Across the high Andes and into parts of Patagonia it uses rocky slopes, where mountain vizcachas are important prey. It is Endangered, and expanding roads and mining can further divide a naturally patchy habitat.

The southern tiger cat is a small, rosetted cat found chiefly in forested parts of Brazil and neighboring Paraguay and Argentina. It occurs in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, where wooded habitat is already broken into many pieces. Connections between those patches matter for a Vulnerable species with scattered populations.

The jaguarundi has an unusually long body, short legs, and a coat that can be gray or reddish brown. It is often active by day, moving through brush and other low cover from Mexico into South America. That ability to use mixed habitat can help locally, while broad conversion still removes the vegetation it uses for shelter.