One of the world’s best-looking felids is the Arabian sand cat, Felis margarita. It’s endemic to parts of the Sahara Desert, the Arabian Peninsula, and Turkestan (it’s also called the “sand-dune cat”). Individuals are eminently well adapted for desert life: their feet are thickly padded and furred for walking on loose (and hot) sand, they’re camouflaged, they’re crepuscular, and they have relatively big ears that act as heat radiators.
Sand cats dig shallow burrows in the sand or scrub to escape the daytime heat, and hunt jerboas, sand voles, and other rodents, as well as reptiles and even locusts. Since some inhabit completely waterless areas, it’s thought that they can survive without drinking.
Here are two sand cat kittens, Nahah and (ugh) Faith, born in the Cincinnati Zoo on October 29, and first shown to the public on January 20. Mom is in the second picture.
VIDEO: look at these adorable little guys in the fur:
Guuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
*melts*
37 species. It gets me every time. Far too few.
Fine, me too.
But as counteract to the kittehlicious imagery, my next reaction was “Wut, margarita? On the rocks?”
They are gorgeous–looking cautious but splendidly wise and calm.
They’re so lovely!
Are cat-houses legal in Cincinnati?
OMG cute overdose!!!
…the kind of cute that can tear your face off if you get too close. 😉
Has the genome on these been run? They look like a probable most-closely related to domestic cats and I think the geography is correct as well.