sand cat
Sign in to savespecies of the only cat living foremost in true deserts
AI overview
The sand cat is a wild cat species that lives primarily in true desert environments, making it one of the few cats specially adapted to thrive in some of the harshest desert conditions on Earth. Because it has evolved unique features to survive in extreme heat and sandy terrain, studying the sand cat helps us understand how animals adapt to some of the world's most inhospitable places.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Felis
- Named after
- Jean Auguste Margueritte
- Image
- SandCat12.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- P105
- species
- P141
- Least Concern
- P2348
- Holocene
via Wikidata · CC0
Article
The sand cat (Felis margarita) is a small wild cat that inhabits sandy and stony deserts far from water sources. With its sandy to light grey fur, it is well camouflaged in a desert environment. Its head-and-body length ranges from 39–52 cm (15–20 in) with a 23–31 cm (9.1–12.2 in) long tail. Its 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) short ears are set low on the sides of the head, aiding detection of prey moving underground. The long hair covering the soles of its paws insulates its pads against the extreme temperatures found in deserts.
The first sand cat known to scientists was discovered in the Algerian Sahara and described in 1858. To date, it has been recorded in several disjunct locations in Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Niger, Chad, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East. In Central Asia, it was first recorded in the Karakum Desert in 1925. The large gap between these two regions of its global range was partially closed in 1948, when a sand cat skin was found in an oasis of the Rub' al Khali in Oman. It is discontinuously distributed in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East. In the early 1970s, sand cats were caught in southwestern Pakistan and exported to zoos worldwide. Due to its wide distribution and large population, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.