While never truly domesticated due to the difficulty in breeding them in captivity, Cheetahs have been raised from the time they were cubs by nobility and used as hunting companions since the year 1700 BCE, starting in Ancient Egypt.
The world’s smallest feline species is the Rusty-Spotted Cat from India and Sri Lanka, weighing in at a mere 3 pounds adult size! For scope, the average house cat weighs around 10 lbs.
The Borneo Bay Cat is likely the least understood wildcat in the world, with under 25 confirmed specimens ever recorded since it was discovered in 1874, with the first live one only being caught in 1992. These few encounters are spread between pelts, veritable sightings and photographs. Even after extensive efforts to document them in the wild relatively little is known about their behavior and ecology. It is estimated that there are likely fewer than 2,500 left in the wild, with their biggest threat being the deforestation of Borneo by Palm Oil Plantations to gain farmland.