The Arabian Desert. One of the harshest ecosystems on the planet.
Summer days see scorching temperatures of forty degrees Celsius, and during winter nights,
the temperature plunges well past negative twenty five.
The animals that call these dunes, rocks and canyons home specialize in the extreme.
One of these desert residents is a small one that you may have never heard of.
The Sand Cat.
They may look like house cats, but these beige beauties are the only cat to live predominantly
in the desert - and they’re built to handle its extremes.
On especially hot days, the sand can reach temperatures of eighty degrees Celsius - hot
enough to burn a cat’s feet.
Sand Cats however, have long fur that covers their pads - protecting them from the hot
arabian sand.
This comes with a secondary benefit - it allows them to leave almost no footprints - making
it near impossible for predators to track them.
But in the desert, heat is only one half of the equation.
With little water vapor in the air to trap warmth, at night temperatures plunge into
the freezing.
Fortunately, Sand Cats have a thick coat that insulates their body from the cold - keeping
them warm at night, and cool during the day.
Spotting a Sand Cat is difficult. They live in low densities, they’re extremely well
camouflaged, and when they move, they stay low to the ground.
Even when they run, they’ll keep their bellies as close to the ground as possible.
While they may look silly, they can still top forty kilometers an hour.
These elusive cats are found in the western saharan desert, the arabian peninsula and
central asia.
During the day, they will try to avoid the intense sun by napping in the shade, or in
their burrows. At night is when they’re most active.
Their habit is almost barren. Vegetation, water and prey are sparse.
To find a meal, Sand Cats travel vast distances, covering up to eight kilometers a night.
Their massive habitat is sparsely populated by creatures doing their best to stay undercover.
To find something to eat in this trying terrain, Sand Cats have two big advantages; their ears.
Their ears are giant and contain an ear canal that’s roughly twice as wide as a domestic
cat’s. These cats can pick up very low-frequencies,
a helpful skill in the open desert where low sounds travel the furthest.
These adorably over-sized ears allow them to hear prey scuttling in the sand up to half
a kilometer away.
With meals few and far between, these cats aren’t picky eaters. They’ll eat whatever
they can get their paws on. In this case? A cricket.
The desert is a dry and unforgiving place to live. This Sand Cat will have to take what
she can get.
Water is scarce - but Sand Cats don’t need it. They have adapted to survive without having
to drink water. Instead they get all the moisture they need from their prey.
Though this sand cat has her ears on something a bit more substantial than a cricket. A mouse.
She picks up the sound of it scurrying over the ridge.
She has to move quickly and quietly or she’ll lose it in the rocks.
She lowers her body to the ground, ready to pounce.
Lucky for her the mouse didn’t hear her coming.
She swallows it whole and runs off into the night.
While their big ears help make them deadly predators, they have another use; listening
for other sand cats.
These felines live at very low densities, and between two potential mates may be dozens
of kilometers of harsh terrain.
They’ll call out, making a sound resembling a bark.
If they’re lucky enough to find a partner and succeed in mating, mothers will usually
have litters of 3 kittens.
The kittens grow fast, reaching three quarters of their adult size in just six months.
In a year, they’ll be independent.
But for now, these kittens will hang out in the burrow with mom, learning from everything
she does.
Like all Small Cats, Sand Cats are incredibly elusive, and we know very little about them.
Their populations are spread out, in remote areas with harsh environments, and so studying
them is almost impossible. Fortunately, for the same reasons that they are hard to study,
they are also protected from poaching and human encroachment.
In fact until 2015, we knew almost nothing about these desert dwelling felines, and we
still have so much more to learn.
But thanks to a handful of dedicated researchers working with limited resources, and new technologies
like GPS trackers and trap cams, we’re starting to shed light on one of the world’s most
unknown species; the elusive Sand Cat.
But thanks to a handful of dedicated researchers working with limited resources, and new technologies
like VHF Collars and trap cams, we’re starting to shed light on one of the world’s most
unknown species; the elusive Sand Cat.