Tumblr Thread: Wild Cats That Look Like Harmless Little House Cats

Author image for Mariel Ruvinsky
Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor
Sep 5, 2021 3:00 PM EDT

Did you know that the smallest wild cat in Africa is also the deadliest cat? Yeah, it is so tiny it could fit in the palm of your hand, and yet, it has the highest kill rate. Now, that's what we call murdermittens. This kitten looks like a completely regular run-of-the-mill house kitten, harmless and awwdorable. Really, if we saw it in the wild, we would probably wonder if we should rescue it. 

But, no, small wild cats are not ones that you want to take home. It is not easy to take care of a wild cat, and their place is not in our homes anyway. Apparently though, you are more likely to get confused than you may think. Let tumblr help and show you which small wild cats are actually not up for adoption. Be amazed and 'aww' all at the same time. 

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  • 01
    Font - blackswallowtailbutterfly Follow Wild Cats That Look Like Domestic Cats! European wild cat (Felis silvestris), sometimes erroneously listed as the ancestor of the domestic cat:
    via blackswallowtailbutterfly

    Oh, we are so ready for this. We have been fawning over cats - regular cats, kittens, big cats, small cats, big wild cats - for so long, but we know that we have not given enough love to small wild cats. That is our sin to amend for, and we are so ready. Deep breath, learn and 'aww'.

  • 02
    Cat
    via blackswallowtailbutterfly

    That is it. We are doomed. We want to adopt this guy. We know he is dangerous, we know we should not pet him, we know he is supposed to be in the wild. But wow, look at that fluff, look at how majestic he is, look at those perfect airplane ears. We do not know how we will get through the rest of this thread. 

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    Cat
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    Cat
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    Cat - African wild cat (Felis lybica), the actual ancestor of the domestic cat:
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    Cat
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    Eye
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    Cat - Black-footed cat (Felis nigripes), it may be cute and very small but it has a 60% success rate when it comes to hunting, which is more than any other cat:
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    Cat
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    Cat
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    Cat - Sand cat (Felis margarita), this is kind of loose, as they're basically the Felid version of the fennec fox:
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    Cat
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    Cat
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    Cat - Chinese mountain cat (Felis bieti):
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    Cat
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    Cat - OTherorldernessalternative
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    Cat - Geoffrey's cat (Leopardus geoffroyi):
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    Eye
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    Cat
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    Carnivore - Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis): T)
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    Carnivore - OMilan Kořínek
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    Plant
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    Cat - And rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus): OA. Sliwa
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    Head - naturebrary picture 01590169 © Rod Williams / naturepl.com
    via blackswallowtailbutterfly, Rod Williams / nature picture library
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    Cat - SCIENCESOURCE ENCESOUROCE GFEN
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    Felidae - EDIT: Adding a couple more here. Southern tigrina/tiger cat/southern oncilla (Leopardus guttula), once thought to be the same species as the oncilla pictured further down, but nope! Different species entirely, and it turns out we know more about this one than the og:
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    Plant - ARKIVE www.arkive.org © Luiz Claudio Marigo / naturepl.com
    via blackswallowtailbutterfly, Luiz Claudio Marigo / ARKIVE
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    Cat - © Projeto Gatoe Mato Brasil
    via blackswallowtailbutterfly, Projeto Gatoe Mato Brasil
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    Nature - Manul/Pallas cat (Otocolobus manul), I didn't initially include these guys because they're so distinctive, but it's come to my attention that someone has indeed mistaken one for a housecat and raised it as one:
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    Head
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    Head
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    Cat - Jungle cat (Felis chaus), the largest member of the genus Felis, and a fair size larger than a housecat, which is why I hadn't included it. But if someone didn't know what it was they'd probably think it was just a large breed of housecat:
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    Cat
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    Carnivore - © Vivek R Sharma
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    Felidae - Oncilla/northern tiger cat/tigrina/little spotted cat (Leopardus tigrinus):
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    Cat - MilanKorinek
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    Felidae - iheait america Don't try to pet them! l'm sured they'd love a box to sit in, though. 7,996 notes
    via blackswallowtailbutterfly, fineart america

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aww wholesome Single Topic Tumblr cat informative adorable tumblr cute educational small wild cats information wildlife education tumblr thread Cats
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