Sand cats were introduced into the periphery of the common people when a photo of these small wild felines went viral in 2017. These photographers were taken from a study by Grégory Breton, managing director of Panthera France. You know what, we’re not even surprised. Look at them – aren’t they so cute?
The interesting aspect about them is while they share the same small stature and adorable features as house cats, these sand cats are uniquely adapted to incredibly harsh conditions– such as Africa's Sahara Desert and the Arabian Peninsula. They are the only felines to live exclusively in these areas.
New information has come to light about these cute little things. The same Panthera team returns to report new aspects of these animals. They tracked 22 of them with VHF radio collars and intermittently followed and observed them in southern Morocco between December 2015 and December 2019. These cats travel far and wide!
“We even managed to track one cat for over a year: a male that ventured far and wide. It is this behavior which we found so eye-opening; we discovered that sand cat home ranges are likely considerably larger than previously estimated,” Breton shared.
The researchers hope with the dataset and new observations they bring, they can promote and request more conservation efforts for these species.
Image credit: Gregory Breton