Sand Cat
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| Felis margarita Loche, 1858 |
The Sand Cat (Felis margarita) is a small wild cat (length 50 cm, plus 30 cm tail) distributed over African and Asian deserts. The name "Desert Cat" is reserved for a subspecies of the true Wildcat, but it would go better with this species. It lives in those arid areas, that are even too hot and dry for the Desert Cat: the Sahara, the Arabian Desert, and the deserts of Iran and Pakistan. It usually lives up to 13 years.
The head is conspicuously broad, the ears are large and pointed. The colour of the fur is a sandy yellow, with pallid bars, which are sometimes hardly visible. Generally the bars are more visible in the African subspecies. The tip of the tail is black. The paws are covered with long hairs in order to protect the skin against the hot sand.
In the daytime the Sand Cat hides under rocks. At night it hunts for rodents, lizards and insects. The Sand Cat obtains all the water it needs from eating its prey.
There are six subspecies:
- Felis margarita margarita, Sahara
- Felis margarita airensis
- Felis margarita harrisoni, Arabia
- Felis margarita meinertzhageni
- Felis margarita thinobia, Iran
- Felis margarita scheffeli, (Pakistan Sand Cat) Pakistan
F. m. thinobia is sometimes regarded as a separate species; F. m. scheffeli is listed by CITES as endangered, although IUCN only lists it as 'near threatened' as of 2001.
[edit] References
- ^ Wozencraft, W. C. (16 November 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 536. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
- ^ Cat Specialist Group (2002). Felis margarita. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 09 May 2006.
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