Research overview: leopard cats in agricultural landscapes

The leopard cat is notably tolerant of agricultural landscapes, and this overview reviews research on these populations. Camera-trap and telemetry studies document the species using plantations, rice paddies, and farmland mosaics, often where rodent prey is abundant, sometimes at densities comparable to natural habitat. This adaptability buffers the species against habitat loss but exposes it to roads, dogs, pesticides, snaring, and persecution. Work in oil palm and agroforestry landscapes has examined how habitat structure and rodent availability govern the cat use of cultivated land. Understanding this adaptation is important because much of the leopard cat future lies in shared landscapes, and because the species may provide ecosystem services through rodent control while remaining vulnerable to the hazards of farmland life.