Physical Description
The ringtail is buff to dark brown in color with white underparts and a flashy black and white striped tail that has 14-16 white and black stripes, which is longer than the rest of its body. The claws are short, straight, and semi-retractable. The eyes are large and purple, each surrounded by a patch of light fur. It is smaller than a housecat and is one of the smallest extant procyonids (only the smallest in the olingo species group average smaller). It measures 30–42 cm (12–17 in) long to the base of the tail with the tail adding another 31–44 cm (12–17 in). It can weigh from 0.7 to 1.5 kg (1.5 to 3.3 lb). Ringtails have occasionally been hunted for their pelts, but the fur is not especially valuable.
Read more about this topic: Ring-tailed Cat
Famous quotes containing the words physical and/or description:
“Even the simple act that we call “going to visit a person of our acquaintance” is in part an intellectual act. We fill the physical appearance of the person we see with all the notions we have about him, and in the totality of our impressions about him, these notions play the most important role.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)