IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Dragesco-Joffe, A. | |
| The sand cat - a formidable snake hunter | |
| 1993 Book Chapter | |
The sand cat (_Felis margarita_) is admirably suited to its name and only lives in truly sandy regions of the Sahara. It has so many things in common with the fennec that it is almost obligatory to draw a parallel between the two animals. The place occupied by the sand cat among the Felids is, in fact, exactly equivalent to that occupied by the fennec among the Canids. They represent, each for its group, the species which in the course of evolution has developed the best adaptations for a hyper-arid environment. The sand cat is undoubtedly the only cat capable of living in the depths of the desert and, like the fennec has, on this account, a real fascination for the Saharan naturalist such as mvself. The sand cat is very small, weighing no more than 2.4 kg on average (3 kg maximum) and rarely measures more than 25 cm at the shoulder and 80 an in total length (maximum 92 cm), including its tail of 32 cm. That makes it the smallest cat living in the Sahara and one of the smallest on the Black Continent, since only the black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) - its homologue of the arid regions of southern Africa - is smaller in size. The general appearance of the sand cat does not resemble in any way that of the wildcat of Africa. Photographs do not do it justice, because it is above all in moving that the animal shows the difference. It has a particularly clumsy air, because its legs are unusually short and seem too wide apart. This oddity is even more accentuated by the fact that the animal tends to graze the ground as it walks. As it has, moreover, an oversized head, the first contact with this animal is striking and unforgettable. |
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