Unlike their much larger namesakes leopards, Asia's leopard cats grow to the size of a house cat—though they're still just as wild as can be.

As kittens, leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis) are tiny balls of fur that resemble a domestic kitten. The similarity recently fooled a man in southwest China's Yunnan province. While working in hillside farmland, he spied a black-spotted kitten wandering alone.

After spending three days trying to care for the kitten, he realized the species was no ordinary domestic cat. He has since turned it over to local police. (Learn more about the world's small cats.)

Police and wildlife officials could not be reached for this story. But speaking with Chinese state-run media outlet CCTV, police officers said