Chinese Mountain Cat

The Chinese mountain cat (Felis bieti), also known as the Chinese desert cat and the Chinese steppe cat, is a wild cat of western China that has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2002, as the effective population size may be fewer than 10,000 mature breeding individuals.

It was classified as a wildcat subspecies in 2007, F. silvestris bieti, based on genetic analysis.

Characteristics
The Chinese mountain cat has sand-coloured fur with dark guard hairs. Faint dark horizontal stripes on the face and legs are hardly visible. Its ears have black tips. It has a relatively broad skull, and long hair growing between the pads of their feet. It is whitish on the belly, and its legs and tail bear black rings. The tip of the tail is black. It is 69 – long in head and body with a 29 – long tail. Adults weigh from 6.5 to 9 kg.

Distribution and habitat
The Chinese mountain cat is endemic to China and lives on the north-eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. It was recorded only in eastern Qinghai and north-western Sichuan. It inhabits high-elevation steppe grassland, alpine meadow, alpine shrubland and coniferous forest edges between 2500 and 5000 m elevation. It has not been confirmed in true desert or heavily forested mountains.

The first photographs of a wild Chinese mountain cat were taken by camera traps during light snow in May 2007 at 3570 m altitude in Sichuan. These photographs were taken in rolling grasslands and brush-covered mountains. One individual was observed and photographed in May 2015 in the Ruoergai grasslands.

Ecology and behaviour
The Chinese mountain cat is active at night and preys on pikas, rodents and birds. It breeds between January and March. Females give birth to two to four kittens in a secluded burrow.

Until 2007, the Chinese mountain cat was known only from six individuals, all living in Chinese zoos, and a few skins in museums.

Threats
The Chinese mountain cat is threatened due to the organised poisoning of pikas. The poison used diminishes prey species, and also kills cats unintentionally.

Conservation
Felis bieti is listed on CITES Appendix II. It is protected in China.

Taxonomic history
Alphonse Milne-Edwards first described the Chinese mountain cat in 1892 based on a skin collected in Tibet. He named it Felis Bieti after the French missionary Félix Biet.

Some authorities consider the chutuchta and vellerosa subspecies of the wildcat as Chinese mountain cat subspecies.