Yes, sand cats kill snakes very efficiently even if they are venomous. In some areas of the sand cat’s distribution reptiles play an important role in the cat’s diet. For example the nomads of the Sahara desert in North Africa … please continue reading
The sand cat is called ‘the cat that digs holes’ by Saharan nomads. I think uniquely, this cat makes its home exclusively in burrows. The sand cat is the only true desert cat. It either occupies an abandoned (or even … please continue reading
There is an astonishing story about a sand cat eating a prodigious amount of food which answers the question. A professor whose name is H. Mendelssohn working at Tel-Aviv University (the sand cat is found in Israel) wanted to find … please continue reading
Sand cats have few large terrestrial predators to fear. Sub-adult sand cats are sometimes killed by eagle owls and in some areas of their range golden eagles, jackals and wolves occasionally kill adult sand cats. Aside from these predators the … please continue reading
Big ears tell us that the sand cat relies heavily on sound, and possibly picking up vibrations in the ground, to detect prey. The sand cat has huge ears (the ear flaps or ear pinnae). This small wild cat also … please continue reading
Rashed Al Qamzi, who I believe is a supervisor at Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort (believed to be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), says that sand cats do purr but in a slightly different and more subtle way to domestic … please continue reading
On the internet people ask if sand cats make good pets. The same question applies to other small wild cats. There are a lot of people who fancy the idea of having a small wild cat as a pet because … please continue reading
Officially sand cats are not endangered. So there! The IUCN Red List categorise this small wild cat as Least Concern. This is the most positive classification under the Red List scheme. The classification has improved from Near Threatened in 2011. … please continue reading
Today, there is a splash of online news activity about the charming, female sand cat, Naiade, who has just died at El Paso Zoo at the old age of 17. This is an exceptional age for a sand cat in … please continue reading
The DNA of all domestic cats has no trace of any wild cat species other than the African wildcat (also Near Eastern wildcat and Arabian wildcat – felis silvestris lybica). However, 10,000 years ago, there were a number of other … please continue reading
