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Sand cat

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iSand Cat

Conservation status
Image:Status iucn3.1 NT.svg
Near Threatened (NT)<ref>Cat Specialist Group (2002). Felis margarita. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 09 May 2006.</ref>

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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Felis
Species: F. margarita
Binomial name
Felis margarita
Loche, 1858

The Sand Cat (Felis margarita) is a small wild cat (length 50 cm, plus 30 cm tail) distributed over African and Asian deserts. The name "Desert Cat" is reserved for a subspecies of the true Wild Cat, but it would go better with this species. It lives in those arid areas, that are even too hot and dry for the Desert Cat: the Sahara, the Arabian Desert, and the deserts of Iran and Pakistan.

The head is conspicuously broad, the ears are large and pointed. The colour of the fur is a sandy yellow, with pallid bars, which are sometimes hardly visible. Generally the bars are more visible in the African subspecies. The tip of the tail is black. The paws are covered with long hairs in order to protect the skin against the hot sand.

In the daytime the Sand Cat hides under rocks. At night it hunts for rodents, lizards and insects.

There are four subspecies:

Felis m. thinobia is sometimes regarded as a separate species; Felis m. scheffeli is listed by CITES as endangered, although IUCN only lists it as 'near threatened' as of 2001.

[edit] External links

bg:Пясъчна котка cs:Kočka pouštní da:Sandkat de:Sandkatze es:Felis margarita fr:Chat des sables he:חתול חולות la:Felis margarita lt:Margarita nl:Woestijnkat ja:スナネコ no:Sandkatt pl:Kot arabski ru:Барханная кошка sk:Mačka púšťová fi:Hietakissa sv:Sandkatt tr:Benekli kedi

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