Sand cat スナネコ

The sand cat is a small wild cat of the deserts of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and central Asia. It is unusual among cats in making true desert its main home. Its large ears and fur-covered soles are distinctive. It is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List. In Japan it is kept at several zoos.

It has a head-and-body length of 39–52 cm and weighs about 1.35–3.4 kg, making it the second-smallest species in the genus Felis after the black-footed cat. The coat is pale sandy with fine black spots on the shoulders and black bars on the legs. The ears are large with darkish tips. Dense hair grows between the toes and on the soles, which is thought to protect the feet from hot sand and give grip on sand.

It is mainly nocturnal and hunts at night. It eats rodents such as spiny mice, gerbils and jerboas, as well as birds, reptiles and insects. Because it gets much of the water it needs from its prey, it can live far from water (though it drinks when water is available). Gestation lasts about 59–67 days, and litters are of 2–8 kittens (about 3 on average).

It has a patchy distribution across North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran and central Asia. The 2017 classification recognizes two subspecies: F. m. margarita in North Africa and F. m. thinobia from the Arabian Peninsula to southwestern and central Asia.

It prefers sandy or stony desert with sparse vegetation and is found up to about 2,000 m. In the Sahara it copes with daytime temperatures of 58°C even in the shade and below-freezing nights, and in the northern parts of its range with winter temperatures of −25°C.

It belongs to the same genus, Felis, as the house cat. No recognized breed is known to have been created using sand cats. Feral and pet cats may compete with sand cats for prey or pass on diseases, which is one of the conservation concerns.

In the IUCN Red List assessment published in 2016, it was moved from Near Threatened (NT) to Least Concern (LC). That assessment estimated about 27,000 adults, but the figure is based on limited survey data. On the Arabian Peninsula, however, it is thought to be declining. The main threats are habitat loss and degradation, competition and disease from feral and pet cats, and poison baits and traps. It is listed in CITES Appendix II.

It was described in 1858 by Victor Loche, a French army officer and naturalist, based on an animal found in the Algerian Sahara. The scientific name margarita honours Jean Auguste Margueritte, a French army officer who supported the expedition.