Picture copyright protected.
This is a interesting Pallas cat picture. “Pallas cat” is strictly speaking incorrect. It should be “Pallas’s cat” after the gentleman who in 1776 first described the cat, Peter Simon Pallas. Pallas was a German biologist who lived and worked in Russia and who made trips into various parts of the Russian empire.
I think this cat had been mildly anesthetized before being handled. Small wildcats can do a lot of damage! And it would very stressful for the cat.
Another name, used by the respected authors of Wild Cats of the World is “manul”. Another interesting point is that when you search for “manul” using Google.com it gets confused and finds a long list of manuals relating to various types of equipment!
The Pallas cat picture was taken by Pallas Cat Project In Mongolia. This is a conservation project that is, in part, funded by WAC (Wild About Cats). The project members also took the photo below.
In order to help a bit, this website has donated $25 (USD – PayPal) to the fund as a thank you for the use of the photographs on this page.
Still, today, you will read that observations of this small wild cat species were made of cats in captivity. We probably still need to know more. Or do we? The wild cats are best left alone. They are vulnerable to human activity. As you can see this is a small animal. Fortunately it lives in some very bare, inhospitable habitat which helps protect it (see photo below). Few people live in the same place, thankfully. Read more about the Manul. And see another picture here.
