Description
The Pampas cat is a small, but heavy-set cat. There are significant geographical variations in its size, but the body length is 46 to 75 centimetres (18 to 30 in) and the relatively short tail is 23 to 29 centimetres (9.1 to 11 in). There are three main variants of its pelage, but all have two dark lines on each cheeks:
- 1) The flanks have large, reddish-brown rosette-shaped spots with darker borders, there are numerous rings on the tail (of the same colour as the flank spots), and the stripes on the legs and spots/stripes on the underparts are very dark brown (almost black). In colour and patter this group closely resembles Colocolos of the subspecies wolffsohni.
- 2) Resembles the previous, but the background colour is paler, and the body markings, stripes on the hindlegs, and rings on the tail are paler and less distinct.
- 3) Overall greyish with distinct dark brown stripes on the legs and spots on the underparts, a plain tail (no clear rings), and at most indistinct dark lines on the flanks.
Only the first type occurs in the north (around 20th parallel south and northwards), and only the third type occurs in the far south (around 40th parallel south and southwards). In between the majority are of second type, but the first type has been recorded as far south as 29th parallel south, and the third type as far north as 36th parallel south. At latitudes where both the first and second type are found, the former tends to occur in highlands and the latter in lowlands.
There have also been reports of melanistic Pampas cats.
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