Animal Class: Mammal
Diet: Carnivorous
Wampus Cats have a unique trait that is unseen in every other species of Feline: They all have 6 legs instead of 4. While having that many legs looks like a huge disadvantage, it actually makes them faster runners, better climbers, and better swimmers.
As adults, their primary prey is large ungulates like Deer, Elk, Moose, and Bighorn Sheep and they like to ambush them by jumping down on them from a high place like a tree or a boulder. They use their middle and back claws to hold on to the prey while slashing at its back with their front claws and biting into its neck with its teeth.
When they are younger, they hunt smaller prey like Rabbits, Squirrels, and Fish and usually finish it off with a quick, but powerful bite to the back of the head.
DNA tests have shown that they evolved from a still undiscovered species of medium sized Wild Cat that lived during the Ice Age and had to feed on the scraps of larger predators such as Dire Wolves and their Saber Toothed Cat cousins.
Since they occupy many of the same areas, Wampus Cats end up coming into conflict with Cougars, but since Wampus Cats have the size advantage, the conflict usually favors them.
While they have no problem with Cougars, they tend to avoid fights with Grizzly and Black Bears, American Alligators and Crocodiles, packs of Wolves, packs of Coyotes, packs of Chupacabras, Werewolves, Rougarou, and other large American predators. They also avoid Humans and refuse to even try to prey on American Bison.
Wampus Cats were greatly feared by early Cherokee Indians to the point that they started calling them "The Death Cat." Despite this name, there are currently no existing historical reports of any Cherokee being killed by a Wampus Cat.
Unlike most Felines, Wampus Cats mate for life, but don't always stick around their partner. They can go years without seeing each other.
They have around 6 to 8 Kittens, but many don't make it to adulthood because it takes a lot more time to learn how to use 6 legs than it does 4 legs and many die in accidents or get eaten by predators.
Naturally live across the United States, most parts of Canada, and certain parts of Mexico. However, if rumors are to be believed, small populations have migrated all the way down to Northern Argentina.
Extra Fun Fact: Across their native range, small populations of Wampus Cats in different areas, that are sometimes thousands of miles apart, have developed a mutation that has caused them to be born with three tails. Three tailed Wampus Cats are becoming such a common sight that many experts believe that at some point in the future, all Wampus Cats will have three tails.
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