Tailless in Tsushima

Tuesday 15th September 2026

Depending who you believe, the Tsushima leopard cat, like the better known Iriomote cat, is either a distinct species or a sub species of the Asian leopard cat. Either way both of these creatures are critically endangered, and this latest piece of news from Tsushima could be interpreted to suggest that inbreeding on the island is taking its toll. The creatures have been isolated for at least 100,000 years since the island separated from the Korean Peninsula. I don’t know about you, but I find this stuff completely fascinating. JD

Rare leopard cat photographed on remote Japanese island. Its “unusual” tail sparked a …

About the same size as a domestic moggy, this critically endangered wild cat sports bold facial stripes, fuzzy brown spots and, crucially, a long

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Jonathan Downes
Cryptozoologist, naturalist, musician, singer, composer, poet, novelist and Director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology since 1992. Jon was born in Portsmouth in 1959 and spent his infancy in Nigeria and his childhood in Hong Kong. His wife Corinna died of cancer in 2020, leaving him with two stepdaughters and an eleven year old granddaughter called Evelyn.