Research overview: behavioural tolerance of leopard cats at the urban edge

Leopard cats occur not only in deep farmland but at the fringes of towns and suburbs across parts of Asia, suggesting considerable tolerance of human activity. This overview synthesises camera-trap and telemetry evidence on nocturnal activity, use of drainage channels, plantations and peri-urban brush, and fine-scale avoidance of people and roads. It examines individual variation in boldness, the role of anthropogenic prey such as commensal rodents, and the limits of urban tolerance imposed by traffic and domestic-cat contact. The synthesis frames the leopard cat as an adaptable small felid testing how far a forest-derived cat can penetrate human-built environments.