Sand Cat: The King of the Desert

The Arabian Desert, one of the harshest ecosystems on the planet, summer days see scorching temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius and during winter nights temperatures drop well beyond negative 25. The animals that call these dunes, rocks and canyons home specialize in the extremes of these

desert

s. The residents are small, you may have never heard of the

sand

cat, they may look like house cats, but these beige beauties are the only cat that lives predominantly in the

desert

, built to withstand its extremes on especially hot days, the

sand

can reach temperatures of 80ºC. degrees Celsius hot enough to burn a cat's paws, sand cats, however, have long fur that covers their paws and protects them from the hot Arabian sand.

This has a secondary benefit: it allows them to leave almost no tracks, ma

king

it almost impossible for predators to track them, but in the desert heat is only half of the equation with little water vapor in the air to trap the heat. At night temperatures drop to freezing. Fortunately, sand cats have thick fur that insulates their bodies from the cold, keeping them warm at night and cool during the night. During the day it is difficult to spot a sand cat, they live at low densities, they are very well camouflaged and when they move they stay close to the ground, even when they run they will keep their bellies as close to the ground as possible, even if they look silly.

They can still exceed 40 kilometers per hour during the day. They will try to avoid the intense sun by ta

king

a nap in the shade or in their burrows. At night is when they are most active. Its habitat is almost sterile vegetation. Water and prey are rare to find. a meal sand cats travel great distances covering up to five miles a night their huge habitat is sparsely populated by creatures that do their best to stay undercover to find something to eat in this difficult terrain sand cats have two big advantages their ears Their ears are gigantic and contain an ear canal that is approximately twice as wide as that of a domestic cat.

These cats can pick up very low frequencies with complete skill in the open desert, where low sounds travel the furthest. These adorable oversized ears allow them to listen to their prey slinking around in the sand for up to half an hour. a mile away with meals few and far between these cats are not picky eaters they will eat whatever they can get in this case a cricket the desert is a dry and unforgiving place to live sand cats will have to take what she can Getting 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, although this sand cat has ears on something a little more substantial than a cricket.

A mouse that picks up by the sound it makes running along the ridge has to move quickly and silently or it will get lost in the rocks. It lowers its body to the ground ready to pounce on a stranger, luckily for her the mouse didn't hear it. When it arrives, it They swallow it whole and run off into the night while their large ears turn them into deadly predators. They have another use for listening to other sand cats. Felines live in very low densities and between two potential mates there may be tens of kilometers of hard terrain.

They will call making a bark-like sound long enough to find a mate and manage to mate. Mothers will usually have a litter of three kittens. Kittens grow quickly, reaching three-quarters of their adult size in just six months. In a year they will be. Independent, like all small cats, sand cats are incredibly elusive and we know very little about them. Their populations are scattered in remote areas with hostile environments, making studying them almost impossible. Fortunately, for the same reasons they are difficult to study, they are also protected. In fact, from poaching and human encroachment until 2015, we knew almost nothing about these desert-dwelling cats and we still have a lot to learn, but thanks to a handful of dedicated researchers working with limited resources and new technologies like VHF collars and camera traps, we are beginning to shed light on one of the world's most unknown species: the elusive sand cat