Day One: Sand Cat (Felis Margarita)

Name: Felis Margarita (Sand Cat)

Classification: Genus - Felis
                         Family- Felidae
                         Order - Carnivora
                         Class - Mammalia
                         Phylum - Coradata
                         Kingdom - Animalia

Location: The Sand Cat is found in desert areas of Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Pakistan.

IUCN Red List Status: Near Threatened (likely to become endangered in the near future)

The Sand Cat is often hunted or collected for pet trade. With it's habitat being in the desert, it can live for months without consuming water and often preys on lizards and insects for food. These creatures have been known to survive in extreme weather conditions up to 225 degrees F. For shelter, they will find burrows dug out by foxes or porcupine. Since they live in such harsh climates, they are difficult to study and not much is known about their behavior as of today. Their form of communication is done by scent, claw marks, and marking territory by urine spraying.


Glenn, C. R. 2006. "Earth's Endangered Creatures" (Online). Accessed 2/24/2012 at http://earthsendangered.com.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_cat#Habitat

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2010/May/theuae_May433.xml&section=theuae