The ring tailed cat is part of the raccoon family, generally a greyish brown color, with between 14 and 16 alternating bands of black and fawn on their tail. It also has white markings above and below each eye and on its muzzle, with black markings coming from the inside corner of each eye leading down the side of the muzzle. Their ears are dark grey with a lighter tip. With five toes on each foot and semi-retractable claw, the ring tailed cat can descend a tree head-first.The ring tailed cat lives throughout the arid rocky and woodland regions of Mexico and the south-western United States, which include: California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
The ring tailed cat is omnivorous, and has a diet consisting of spiders, scorpions, centipedes, grasshoppers, crickets, squirrels, rats, mice, rabbits, small birds, snakes, lizards, frogs and toads, as well as fruits such as hackberries, persimmons mistletoe and juniper
Mating season begins in April and females have a gestation period of about 45 days, giving birth to 2 to 4 cubs in a den. The male does his job by providing food for the female while she is pregnant. The cubs' eyes open between 31-34 days and start to hunt on their own four months later.
