Iriomote mountain cat

A photo of an Iriomote mountain cat, on display at the Amami Museum.

• Japanese: 西表山猫 (Iriomote yamaneko)

The Iriomote mountain cat is an endangered species of wild cat native to Iriomote-jima, in Okinawa prefecture.

The Iriomote mountain cat bears some relation to the Tsushima mountain cat, and to species across the region, from Russia and Northeast China down to Taiwan.

Like its relatives elsewhere in the region, the Iriomote mountain cat eats small mammals, including rats and mice. However, rats and mice are not originally native to the island (they were introduced by humans), and prior to their introduction, wild boar and bats were the only other major mammal species on the island. Thus, the Iriomote mountain cat evolved to eat frogs, insects, snakes, and birds.

References

• Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum.