Sand Cat Habitat And Food

Sand cats habitat description.

Sand cat habitat and food. Sand cats are mainly carnivorous and eat small mammals reptiles including venomous snakes birds insects and spiders. The Sand Cat Felis margarita Loche 1996 Communication Channels. The study animal was a single captive born adult sand cat male in Parken Zoo in Eskilstuna Sweden.

The sand cat was housed in a 70m 2 enclosure which contained rocks water trees and several hiding places including a cave se fig. In Turkmenistan the sand cat was described as most abundant amongst extensive stabilized sand dunes and heavier clay soil habitats. Sand cat hides leftovers of food in the sand.

The sand cat of North Africa and the Middle East survives in a land with very little water by hunting at night and sleeping and keeping cool during the day. They like to inhabit flat terrain and keep away from dunes which provide little food. Vulnerable arid ecosystems are being rapidly degraded by human settlement and activity especially livestock grazing Allan and Warren 1993 Al-Sharhan et al.

Arabian Sand Cat Distribution Habitat and Ecology. Sand cat is carnivore meat-eaters. Sand cats live exclusively in desert regions.

With its sandy to light grey fur it is well camouflaged in a desert environment. Their home range may be to up to 16km2 62mi2. Habitat degradation is the major threat to the sand cat.

The smallest cat species in Arabia the sand cat Felis margarita is well adapted to its arid desert habitat obtaining all the water it needs from its foodPrey capture is facilitated by the sand cats highly sensitive ears which are large and triangular and capable of detecting noises from animals both above and below the surface of the sand. Sand cats live in temperatures that sometimes rise to more than 40C 104F. Local people sometimes trap sand cats for pets.