The sand cat is a feline that lives in desert areas even where many of its companions cannot resist. It has morphological characteristics that make it able to withstand the heat and hunts at night.
Also known as Felis margarita, the sand cat is small and is widespread in the arid African and Asian deserts even where the African cat is unable to survive, such as in the Sahara , in the Arabian Desert and in the deserts of Iran and Pakistan.
Sand Cat: Characteristics
Compared to many other felines, this cat is relatively small and has a stocky physique, a long tail and short legs, large and pointed ears. In length it can measure about half a meter, then there is the tail that measures about 30 cm, for a total weight of 2 Kg. Males can even weigh 3.5 Kg, however.
The head of the sand cat is broad and the ears are large but what is striking about this part of the body is how far apart they are.
The fur of this animal is desert-colored, light yellow-sand , but covered in a very artistic way by black or dark stripes, on the back but also on the legs and tail while white can appear on the belly and in intimate areas. In winter, the coat can become very thick, even with 5 cm hair, but the most particular thing is the length of the hair that covers the legs and that forms a sort of cushion on which the sand cat walks so as not to get burned.
The eyes of this beautiful cat are large and yellow-greenish , hypnotic, the nose is then black and the mucosa that covers the eyelids is black. The sand cat can count on an excellent sense of hearing, so efficient that it is able to perceive the vibrations on the sand just like the Fennec.
sand act: breeding
Sand cats are not animals bred for domestic use or for any other reason, they are wild and wild they will remain. The first European to describe the species in 1858 was Victor Loche, naming it Felis margarita in honor of Jean-Auguste Margueritte, a French soldier. Today there are six subspecies of sand cats : F. m. margarita Loche (North Africa, from Algeria to Arabia), F. m. airensis Pocock (Niger), F. m. harrisoni Hemmer, Grubb and Groves (Arabian Peninsula), F. m. meinertzhageni Pocock (Sahara), F. m. scheffeli Hemmer, (Pakistan) and F. m. thinobia Ognev (Caspian Sea region – Iran and Turkmenistan).
Sand Cat: Habits
The sand cat leads a solitary life except for the few moments when it has to mate. It lives in burrows abandoned by foxes or porcupines, it takes them over and furnishes them as it wants and then begins to live inside them. It stays there mostly during the day, also to stay in the shade, because it goes hunting at night . Its default prey are rodents, lizards, birds and insects . It has a particular technique for when it has to catch its prey: it flattens itself to the ground and uses any type of available cover to hide, then it goes out into the open and grabs the rodent, devouring it in a short time.
Apparently it is not a social animal, it joins in groups only during the short period in which it mates but then each one continues with its own life until the next mating season. When it wanders in the desert the sand cat is a nightmare for rodents but in turn it also has its enemies: men, wolves, snakes and birds of prey.
Sand Cat: Domestic
Although not afraid of humans, the sand cat is not an animal to keep indoors because it needs a lot of freedom to hunt and move around in general. We find it not in Europe but in Africa and Asia. In Africa it lives in Morocco and also in Mali as well as in Niger, in Asia the species has been sighted in Syria and in the desert areas east of the Caspian. In general it loves arid and sandy desert regions with flat terrain and sparse vegetation. It is able to survive at temperatures between -5 and 52 °C, it takes refuge in its den and waits for the night.