(Felis chaus), a predatory mammal of the family Felidae. The body is up to 80 cm long; the tail, up to 30 cm. Jungle cats live in dense thickets along the river valleys of northeastern Africa and southwestern and southeastern Asia. In the USSR they are found in the Volga delta, on the western coast of the Caspian Sea, and in the river valleys of Middle Asia. They live in dense thickets of rushes, sedges, and cattails. Because it kills game animals and game birds, the jungle cat does damage in some places to hunting.