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Ancestor: Felis catus (Domestic Cat)

Descendants: Slinks
Stilt Cat

Size: 53 cm long, 46 cm tall
Weight: 5.5 kg

Dietary Needs: Obligate carnivore that usually eats a wide range of small animals, from mammals, birds and lizards, to crustaceans, fish and molluscs.

Life Cycle: The local climate has dry summers with summer monsoons being unusual, and winter being the most habitable season. Winter brings cooler moister air from the South, which makes it a more productive season for the local plants and animals. There's more stable temperatures and plenty of prey. An increase in caloric intake due to this increased productivity triggers the female estrus, which cycles many times over the winter season or until she is pregnant. Estrus is also triggered by changes in the daylight cycle. Cats congregate into colonies to find mates before the season advances too late, and females with kittens form protective groups, as rival toms are violent to kittens not his. The females forming groups mitigates this. Fathers are mildly curious but otherwise indifferent to kittens that are his, if the females even let him near. Litter sizes are slightly larger than the ancestral domestic cat, with 8 kittens being common and 8 - 10 nipples being the range. By time the coldest part of the season rolls in kittens have grown and have thicker fur. The extra month a year compared to Earth gives the kittens more development time than if they were in a similar climate on Earth. The summer tests the survival of the winter kittens, there is a high rate of mortality due to heat and less prey. Cats can reproduce the year after they are born.

Other: Although mostly terrestrial, they are very comfortable in the water. During summemr they spend more time in water trying to catch aquatic prey or trying to pry bivalves with their fangs.

Subspecies:

• Yellow Sun Cat x Spotted Sun Cat - A hybrid that occurs at the choke-point in the land between the two species populations.

• Spotted Sun Cat - Lives on the middle section of the species range. Easily distinguised from the other two subspecies by the presence of faint spots, usually present only on the legs and sides. There is a small area of dense shrubland at the South of the range where spots remain strongly prevalent but moving North up the continent the spots on individuals looks more faint. 

• Spotted Sun Cat x Coastal Sun Cat - The hybrid zone is much more extensive for the hybrid of these two subspecies, compared to the  Yellow Sun Cat x Spotted Sun Cat hybrid. The choke point between the populations is wider.

• Coastal Sun Cat - Lives at the farthest East of the species range. This subspecies has a closer affinity with the coast and the sea than the other subspecies. They rely on it more in the harsher months. They are also more solitary and less inclined to share space. Unlike their cousins on the other side of the supercontinent, they never evolved an instinct to look out for each other for squid. They will however sometimes fight or compete over caught prey, resulting in some cats doing more of the catching and less of the eating. Both hardworking and bullyish individuals exist in the same population and some survive some years better than the other. Bullyish cats tend to be more dependant and suffer when there are fewer cats overall to encounter, but when cat populations are high they thrive. Appearance-wise they look similar to Yellow Sun Cats, but with more robust fangs for prying bivalves.