Sand cat facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sand cat
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
CITES Appendix II (CITES)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	Felinae
Genus:	Felis
Species:	F. margarita
Binomial name
Felis margarita Loche, 1858
Subspecies
F. m. margarita Loche, 1858 F. m. thinobia (Ognev, 1927)
Distribution of the sand cat in 2016
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Synonyms
synonyms of F. margarita Felis marginata Gray, 1867 F. margaritae Trouessart, 1897 F. marguerittei Trouessart, 1905 Otocolobus margarita Heptner and Dementiev, 1937 synonyms of F. m. margarita F. m. meinertzhageni Pocock, 1938 F. m. aïrensis Pocock, 1938 synonyms of F. m. thinobius Eremaelurus thinobius Ognev, 1926 Felis thinobius Pocock, 1938 F. m. scheffeli Hemmer, 1974 F. m. harrisoni Hemmer, Grubb, and Groves, 1976

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The sand cat (Felis margarita) is a small, wild cat that lives in sandy and rocky deserts. It stays far away from water sources. Its fur is sandy to light grey, which helps it blend in perfectly with its desert home. This camouflage keeps it safe and helps it hunt.

Sand cats are about 39 to 52 centimeters long from head to body. Their tail adds another 23 to 31 centimeters. Their short ears, about 5 to 7 centimeters long, are set low on their head. This special ear placement helps them hear prey moving underground. The long hair on the bottom of their paws protects them from the desert's extreme hot and cold temperatures.

Scientists first learned about the sand cat in 1858 in the Algerian Sahara desert. Since then, they have been found in many different desert areas. These include parts of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Middle East. They were also found in Central Asia in 1925. Because they live in many places and have a good population, they are listed as a species of "Least Concern." This means they are not currently in danger of disappearing.

Sand cats usually rest in underground dens during the day. They come out to hunt at night. They travel about 5.4 kilometers each night looking for small rodents and birds. They are even known to hunt and eat venomous snakes! In the spring, a female sand cat gives birth to two or three kittens. These kittens are ready to have their own young when they are about one year old. We are still learning a lot about how sand cats live in the wild.

How Scientists Classify the Sand Cat

A sand cat at Ree Park zoo in Denmark.

The sand cat's scientific name is Felis margarita. A scientist named Victor Loche gave it this name in 1858. He found the first sand cat specimen in the Algerian Sahara desert. The species was named after a French General, Jean Auguste Margueritte.

Scientists group animals into different types. For sand cats, they recognize two main types, called subspecies. These subspecies look a little different from each other.

• Saharan Sand Cat (Felis margarita margarita): This type lives in North Africa. It is smaller and has brighter, more yellow fur. It also has clearer markings and 2 to 6 rings on its tail.
• Turkestan Sand Cat (Felis margarita thinobia): This type lives in West and Central Asia. It is larger and has less clear markings. Its fur is darker and more greyish, with only 2 or 3 rings on its tail.

Scientists study the DNA of sand cats to understand their family tree. They found that sand cats are related to other small wild cats. These include the jungle cat and the black-footed cat. Sand cats likely moved into Africa a long time ago, possibly when sea levels were lower. Scientists have also found very old sand cat bones in a cave in Morocco. These bones show that sand cats have lived in these areas for a very long time.

Amazing Features of the Sand Cat

A sand cat at Cincinnati Zoo

An illustration of a sand cat skull

The sand cat's fur is a pale, sandy color. It is much lighter on its face, throat, and belly. A faint reddish line runs from each eye across its cheeks. Its limbs often have dark brown or blackish stripes. The tail has a black tip with two or three dark rings.

Each sand cat has unique markings. Some have no spots or stripes, while others have faint spots or both. Its head is sandy brown, and its large, greenish-yellow eyes have white rings. The nose is blackish, and its white whiskers can be up to 8 centimeters long.

The sand cat's ears are special. They are tawny (light brown) at the base and black at the tips. The ear canal is about twice the size of a domestic cat's. This gives the sand cat amazing hearing, much better than a house cat. This helps them find prey moving underground.

In colder areas, the sand cat grows a very long, thick winter coat. Its front claws are short and very sharp. The claws on its back feet are smaller and not as sharp. The bottoms of its paws are covered with thick fur. This fur protects them from the desert's extreme heat and cold. The long hairs between its toes also make its tracks hard to see and follow.

Sand cats have a flat, wide head and short legs. Their tail is quite long, measuring 23 to 31 centimeters. They stand about 24 to 36 centimeters tall at the shoulder. They weigh between 1.5 and 3.4 kilograms. Their ears are 5 to 7 centimeters long and set low, making their head look broad and flat.

Their skull is arched, and the ear bones are very large. This helps them hear tiny sounds. Long, white hairs inside their ears protect them from sand and dirt. Sand cats also have a strong bite, which is useful for catching their prey.

Where Sand Cats Live and Their Homes

A sand cat in captivity.

Sand cats live in both sandy and rocky deserts. They are found in many places across North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia. However, their populations are not continuous everywhere.

They prefer flat or slightly hilly areas with some grass or small bushes. They avoid bare, shifting sand dunes because there is not much food there. In the Western Sahara, sand cats have been seen and photographed many times since 2005. In April 2017, kittens were found hiding under grass. In Algeria, one sand cat was seen near a salt cedar tree in the Ahaggar Mountains in 2008. They have also been observed in the Ténéré Desert in Niger. In Egypt, they were seen in the rocky Western and Eastern Deserts in the 1980s.

On the Arabian Peninsula, a sand cat skin was found in 1948 in an oasis in the Rub' al Khali desert. Sand cats have been seen in Saudi Arabia and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In Oman, they were recorded in several places between 2021 and 2022. In southern Israel, sand cats were tracked in the 1980s. However, they have not been seen there since 2002 and are now considered to be gone from that area. Sand cats have also been sighted in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. In Iran, they live in flat plains and sandy deserts. In Pakistan, the first sand cat was found in 1966. They were also seen in the Chagai Hills, a very dry area with sand dunes. In Central Asia, sand cats were known to live in the Karakum Desert and Kyzylkum Desert. Adult sand cats with kittens were photographed there in 2013 and 2014.

Sand Cat Behavior and Daily Life

Sand cats are usually solitary animals. This means they live alone, except when they are looking for a mate or when a mother has kittens. They make loud, high-pitched sounds, especially when they are trying to find another sand cat. Their calls sound similar to those of a domestic cat.

They communicate by spraying urine and leaving scent and scratch marks. They also bury their waste in the sand. Sand cats move in a special way. They keep their belly close to the ground and run very fast, sometimes leaping. They can sprint at speeds of 30 to 40 kilometers per hour. Studies in Israel showed that sand cats travel long distances, about 5 to 10 kilometers, in one night. They are active all night, hunting and moving. They go into their burrows at dawn and stay there during the day. They often use several different burrows in their home area.

Their burrows are about 1.5 meters deep. They are usually dug in slightly slanting ground and have one entrance. Some burrows have two or three entrances. Sand cats often use burrows that were abandoned by foxes or porcupines, or dug by gerbils or other rodents. In winter, sand cats enjoy the sun during the day. But in the hot season, they are active at dawn, dusk, and night.

A male sand cat in Israel had a home range of 16 square kilometers. In Morocco, a male sand cat traveled 14.1 kilometers in 30 hours. Female sand cats moved in an area of 13.4 square kilometers over six days. Two other males had home ranges of 21.8 and 35.3 square kilometers. In 2018, sand cats were seen resting in brown-necked raven nests built in acacia trees in the Moroccan Sahara.

Hunting and Diet

In the Ténéré Desert, sand cats mostly hunt small rodents. They also prey on young cape hares. They have been seen hunting birds like the greater hoopoe lark, desert monitor lizards, sandfish, and even venomous Cerastes vipers. If they catch more food than they can eat, they bury it to save for later. They get most of the water they need from their prey. However, they will drink water if they find it. Local people have reported sand cats coming to their camps at night to drink fresh camel milk.

In Israel, scientists found remains of Egyptian spiny-tailed lizards near sand cat burrows. They also saw sand cats hunting jirds, Cairo spiny mice, desert larks, and small reptiles. In central Iran, the most common prey found near sand cat dens were Blanford's jerboa and Balochistan gerbil. In the Karakum Desert, sand cat droppings and stomach contents showed they ate tolai hares, small rodents, birds, small reptiles, and invertebrates. In March 2018, a sand cat was seen eating a MacQueen's bustard in the Kyzylkum Desert.

Reproduction and Life Cycle

A captive sand cat kitten.

Female sand cats are ready to have kittens for about five to six days. During this time, they often call out and leave scent marks. After being pregnant for 59 to 66 days, they give birth to two or three kittens. The kittens weigh 39 to 80 grams at birth. They have spotted pale yellow or reddish fur.

Sand cat kittens grow quite quickly. They reach three-quarters of their adult size within five months. They become fully independent by the end of their first year. They are ready to have their own kittens soon after their first birthday. In some areas, female sand cats can have two litters of kittens each year.

In zoos, about 61% of sand cat kittens born by 2007 lived past 30 days. Some kittens did not survive because their mothers were new to caring for young. In captivity, sand cats can live up to 13 years. We do not know how long wild sand cats usually live. The time it takes for a sand cat generation to grow up and have its own young is about 4 years and 9 months.

Challenges and Threats to Sand Cats

Changes to their habitat and the loss of sand dunes are big problems for sand cat populations. This is especially true in Western Asia. Here, hunting and poisoning of predators are common. The small animals that sand cats eat depend on having enough plants. These plants can decrease due to dry weather or the spread of deserts.

Fences around protected areas can also be a threat. In Saudi Arabia, several sand cats were found stuck in fences. In Iran, human activities and livestock grazing are quickly damaging dry desert areas. In Uzbekistan, people are removing shrubs for firewood, which causes more sand to drift.

In the Sahara, sand cats have been killed in traps meant for foxes and golden jackals. They are also sometimes killed if they hunt poultry near human homes. Domestic dogs have also killed sand cats in Israel and Iran. In Israel, scientists thought that caracals and wolves might also be a threat to sand cats.

Some sand cats have been caught and sold as pets. In the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, sand cats were sold as pets. Sadly, some of these cats died shortly after being sold. Sand cats can also get sick from diseases spread by domestic and feral cats. These other cats sometimes move into desert areas. In Saudi Arabia, one wild sand cat tested positive for a cat virus.

Protecting Sand Cats

The sand cat is listed on CITES Appendix II. This means that trade in sand cats is controlled to protect them. Hunting sand cats is against the law in Algeria, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Niger, Pakistan, and Tunisia. However, there is no legal protection in Egypt, Mali, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The sand cat was once considered "near threatened." But in 2016, its status was changed to "least concern." This is because the total number of sand cats in the world is large enough that they are not currently in danger. We do not know how much their global population has changed.

The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo tried to reintroduce sand cats into Israel's Arabah Desert. They kept some zoo-born sand cats in a special area to help them get used to the wild. However, these cats did not survive after being released.

Sand Cats in Zoos

A sand cat in Bristol Zoo, England.

From the mid-1960s, sand cats were caught in Pakistan and sent to Europe for zoos. This continued until the Pakistani government stopped giving permits in 1974. Sand cats in zoos are very sensitive to breathing problems and infections. These are the main causes of death for adult sand cats in captivity. They are very likely to get respiratory infections. Because of this, they need to live in very dry enclosures where the humidity and temperature do not change much.

The sand cat population in the European Endangered Species Programme comes from 18 original cats. Most of these cats came from the Arabian Peninsula. By December 2009, there were 200 sand cats in zoos worldwide. These cats lived in 45 different institutions, including 23 European zoos. In 2010, two sand cat kittens were born at the Al Ain Zoo. This happened using special breeding methods. In July 2012, four sand cat kittens were born at the Ramat Gan Zoo as part of the European program.

See also

In Spanish: Gato de las arenas para niños