The Sand Cat - A Small and Beautiful Wild Animal of the Desert

The sand cat is a small and beautiful wild cat that is well adapted to life in the hot deserts of Africa, Arabia and Asia. It's about the size of a house cat and has a light, sand-colored coat with a few darker bands. It also has a wide head with large triangular ears that are positioned far apart. Sand cats are sometimes called sand dune cats and have the scientific name Felis margarita. When some people see a captive sand cat they think that it's a house cat, but the house cat or domestic cat has the scientific name Felis catus and belongs to a different species.

Sand cats are nocturnal and secretive. They spend their days in burrows or occasionally under scrub vegetation, emerging at dusk to hunt for prey. At the moment their global population is classified as "Near Threatened" by the IUCN (International Union For Conservation of Nature) on its Red List, but this status is uncertain due to the difficulty in assessing the number of sand cats in an area. The population may actually be "Vulnerable", a more serious category, or alternatively may be of "Least Concern".

A sand cat has soft, thick fur which is pale yellow-brown or grey in color. The arrangement of the darker stripes depends on the subspecies. There is a red-brown stripe extending from the outer corner of each eye down the cheek, and the tail is tipped with black. The tail also has a few black rings near its tip. Sand cats weigh up to around seven and a half pounds.

The cats live in sandy or rocky deserts which are very hot. The temperature may reach as high as a hundred and twenty six degrees Fahrenheit during the day and as low as twenty three degrees Fahrenheit at night.

The bodies of sand cats have a number of adaptations to help them stay cool during the scorching day and to warm up when they are cold. They are most active at night when the temperature is lower, but they do sometimes appear in the daylight and can be seen sunbathing around their burrow. Their light fur color enables them to blend in with their environment and helps prevent their bodies from absorbing too much heat during the day. The thick coat also keeps them warm during the cold desert nights. In addition, sand cats have hair over the pads of their feet, which insulates their paws from the hot ground.

The large ears of sand cats give them sensitive hearing and are believed to help them detect the sounds of prey moving in the sand. The ears are very mobile and can be moved into a horizontal position or pointed downwards. Despite the lack of water in the desert sand cats are able to survive. They don't drink very often, and get the water that they need from their food.

Sand cats are solitary hunters. When they are moving over open ground sand cats often slink close to the ground with bent legs. They listen carefully for underground movements and sounds, then dig rapidly through the sand to catch an animal. Sand cats are excellent diggers, but are not so good at climbing or jumping. They eat surface animals as well as underground prey and feed mainly on small rodents like gerbils and jerboas. They also eat reptiles, birds and insects.

An Israeli researcher using radio telemetry found that the cats in one area traveled an average of 5.4 kilometers a night as they searched for food, and that a burrow wasn't occupied by the same cat each night.

A sand cat sprays urine over vegetation and the ground to indicate its presence to other cats, and releases secretions from scent glands, but it doesn't seem to defend its territory and appears to be a peaceful animal. The cats bury their feces in the sand.

Unlike domestic cats, sand cats produce a barking sound as a long distance contact call, especially during the mating season. They also meow, hiss, growl and scream, and they can purr.

Sand cats give birth to two to four kittens, with three being the typical number, after a gestation period of fifty nine to sixty six days. There may be one or two litters a year. The kittens are helpless at first, but develop quickly and leave their mother at between six and eight months of age. In captivity sand cats have lived for up to thirteen years.

Although the sand cat population has a wide range, its distribution within this range is patchy. There are six subspecies (or four, in the opinion of some researchers), and although the population as a whole is thought to be only "near threatened", in some areas a subspecies is endangered. For example, the cats are almost extinct in Israel, and the subspecies in Pakistan is also endangered.

Various organizations are trying to breed sand cats. Techniques such as in vitro fertilization and the transfer of frozen reproductive cells and embryos between facilities are being used to try to keep the population genetically healthy.

Predators of sand cats include birds of prey, snakes and domestic or feral dogs. In some areas dogs and domestic cats compete with sand cats for food, and the invaders may also transmit disease or attack the cats.

If sand cats are aware of approaching danger during the day they may crouch down and close their eyes so that light can’t be reflected from the eyes. Coupled with their protective coloration, this makes them hard to see.

It’s now illegal to hunt sand cats or to trap them for the exotic pet trade in many countries, and many of their habitats are protected. Unfortunately, they are not protected everywhere, and they are still sometimes shot or captured while sunning themselves. In addition, wars are taking place in some of the areas where they live. Since sand cats are mainly nocturnal they do have some protection from attackers, and the fact that more desert areas are forming is actually an advantage for them. Some organizations are breeding sand cats with the goal of releasing them into areas where their population is in trouble.