African Golden Cat Female Skull

Description

African Golden Cat Female Skull Replica measures 5.2 inches. African Golden Cat Female Skull is museum quality polyurethane cast made in USA. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw). Our precise skull can be used for museum skull exhibits, skull home décor or skull office décor.

The African Golden Cat or Caracal aurata is a wild cat endemic to the rainforests of West and Central Africa. It is threatened due to deforestation and bushmeat hunting and listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

It is a close relative of both the caracal and the serval. Previously, it was placed in the genus Profelis. Its body size ranges from 24 to 40 in. with a 6.3 to 18.1 in long tail.

Felis aurata was the scientific name used by Coenraad Jacob Temminck who described a reddish-brown colored cat skin in 1827 that he had bought from a merchant in London. Temminck also described a grey colored skin of a cat with chocolate brown spots that had lived in the menagerie in London. He named it Felis celidogaster.

Felis neglecta proposed by John Edward Gray in 1838 was a brownish grey cat skin from Sierra Leone. Felis rutilus proposed by George Robert Waterhouse in 1842 was a reddish cat skin from Sierra Leone. Felis chrysothrix cottoni proposed by Richard Lydekker in 1906 was a dark grey cat skin from the Ituri Rainforest. A black cat skin from eastern Congo was proposed as Felis maka in 1942.

In 1858, Nikolai Severtzov proposed the generic names Profelis with F. celidogaster as type species, and Chrysailurus with F. neglecta as type species. In 1917, Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated both the African golden cat and the Asian golden cat to Profelis. This classification was followed by several subsequent authors.

Phylogenetic analysis of cat samples showed that the African Golden Cat or Caracal aurata is closely related with the caracal (Caracal caracal). These two species, together with the serval (Leptailurus serval), form the Caracal lineage, one of the eight lineages of Felidae. This lineage evolved nearly 8.5 million years ago. Because of this close relationship, the African Golden Cat has been placed into the genus Caracal.

Two African golden cat subspecies are recognized as valid since 2017.

African Golden Cat Facts:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Felinae
Genus: Caracal
Species: C. aurata
Binomial name: Caracal aurata

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