What kind of wild cat is this?

October 23, 2007 6:35 AM

I am really curious about this page [nsfw image] ... what kind of wild cat is this? Bonus questions include the gist of what the page says & what the cat is playing with in the last few pictures...

I saw one of the photos on the above page of what is clearly not a domestic cat on I Can Has Cheezburger and was curious enough to visit the source page. I can't read it, but it doesn't look like any of the smaller wild cats I am aware of ... and wtf is it playing with in the last few pictures? My first instinct is to think it's a grenade but I'm probably (I HOPE) totally misguided.

posted by catfood to pets & animals (12 comments total)

It's an Indonesian fishing cat.
posted by ReiToei at 6:42 AM on October 23, 2007

Previously.
posted by hjo3 at 6:44 AM on October 23, 2007

the black thing is probably the bulb from a blood pressure cuff orsphygmomanometer.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 6:45 AM on October 23, 2007

Translation from my lovely Latvian friend (altho I guess the previous linked thread pretty much explains the circumstances already:

well, it says: "Fishing cat, rare animal, included in some addendum called CITES II (??), weight 15 kg, more than a meter long, 40 cm high"
the title says ''wtf cat!'' or sth along those lines. slangy word intending to express great surprise lol

posted by ClarissaWAM at 8:43 AM on October 23, 2007

CITES stands for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. I used to work in a zoo and when referrring to wildlife species, the CITES categories were often used in reference to whether or not countries could legally export a certain animal.

Yeah, mark this as NSFW already. Sheesh.
posted by HeyAllie at 9:51 AM on October 23, 2007

The link in the previous article is defunct, unfortunately. There are loads more pictures from that series here, though, including its kittenhood, a pile of carcasses (which appear to be part of its diet), fishing trips, etc. The organization method is baffling me, but then, so does Russian. Here's another gallery. This may all be explained if a Russian-reading mefite can peruse and summarize the goings-on in the guy's livejournal blog.
posted by mumkin at 10:20 AM on October 23, 2007

Yeah, mark this as NSFW already. Sheesh.

They already did.

As soon as I noticed the requests to mark it NSFW, I e-mailed the admins. I'm sorry that I didn't do this initially, it didn't occur to me that it was NSFW.
posted by catfood at 10:42 AM on October 23, 2007

Thank you mumkin - the extra galleries are fascinating. Also a little disturbing.
posted by catfood at 10:52 AM on October 23, 2007

A Fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus),most likely:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishing_Cat
http://www.cathouse-fcc.org/fishingcat.html
posted by tallus at 11:16 AM on October 23, 2007

That squeeze bulb also looks like the ones inside some larger pet toys that squeak if you compress 'em.
posted by klangklangston at 12:29 PM on October 23, 2007

Oh. John Devis' website is back up. The Google translation is instructive.
posted by mumkin at 12:55 PM on October 23, 2007

I realize this is off the point but: Why is that woman's bath water BROWN?
posted by JakeLL at 11:02 AM on October 25, 2007