What is the mystery behind this little-known "cat special forces soldier"?

Recently, an infrared camera at the Dagu Glacier Scenic Area in Sichuan Province captured precious images of desert cats in the wild. Desert cats look like domestic cats or even pet cats, but they are actually wild cats living on the plateau; they are not only the "nemesis of rats", but also eat insects, birds and other small animals; they only live in China and are "the least known cat species" ("Field Manual of Chinese Mammals")... As a national first-class protected wild animal, desert cats are little known and appear very mysterious.

01

Fierce "Kitten"

In terms of body shape, cats in the order Carnivora can be roughly divided into two categories, namely big cats and small cats. Usually, the weight of 15 kg is used as the classification standard. Cats weighing more than 15 kg are large cats, referred to as big cats, such as tigers, leopards, snow leopards, etc.; cats weighing less than 15 kg are small cats, referred to as small cats, such as leopard cats, jungle cats, manuls, desert cats, etc.

The difference between big and small cats (see watermark for image source)

The desert cat is the most mysterious and most watched "kitten". As the name suggests, the desert cat refers to a wild cat that lives in desert or semi-desert areas . It is one of the 12 wild cat species in China. First of all, the wild cat mentioned here refers to a cat that has always lived in the wild, not a stray domestic cat.

Compared with domestic cats, desert cats have three different appearance features: first, they are longer than domestic cats , usually twice as long, and can weigh up to 10 kilograms; second, like lynxes, they have two tufts of hair on their ears , so some people call them "grass lynxes"; third, they have 3-6 obvious black rings on their tails . The tufts of hair on their ears and the black rings on their tails are the main differences between desert cats and domestic cats.

Desert cats prey on small rodents, insects or birds, and are super hunters in the cat family. In the first three seasons of the year, their diet includes mice, venomous snakes, lizards, etc., while in winter, their diet mainly consists of birds . If there is really nothing to eat, desert cats will also run to the countryside to steal poultry. According to reports, in the winter of 2005, a desert cat ran from the grassland to a small village in Wuwei City, Gansu Province, dozens of kilometers away, and killed nearly 100 chickens. When the villagers found it, it was eating happily.

Desert cats look docile, but they are actually very ferocious . As the nemesis of wild mice, desert cats usually kill them with one bite; for larger mole rats and lynxes, they usually kill them by strangling their throats before eating them; for flying birds, they usually walk to the edge of the cliff at night and launch a surprise attack on their nests...

A cat preying on a zokor (Photo source: Qilian Mountain National Park Qinghai Province Administration official website)

02

The mysterious lone traveler

The desert cat is widely distributed but sparsely distributed. It is mainly distributed in the desert and semi-desert areas in the northwest of my country, such as Qinghai, Tibet, Gansu, Sichuan, etc., and the northernmost can reach the Qilian Mountains. It is a species unique to my country. (Endangered Species Science Newsletter, Issue 3, 2004)

There are three main reasons why desert cats seem mysterious. First, they generally live in meadows 3,000-5,000 meters above sea level or in deserts where few people go. Second, like most cats, they like to live alone . Third, they usually hide during the day and move at night , and are good at using their grass-yellow fur to protect themselves. Even if people find desert cats, they will be mistaken for ordinary wild cats or stray domestic cats because they look so much like domestic cats.

For various reasons, the desert cat has not been in people's sight for long. In 1892, a French zoologist named Meen Wade speculated that this was a special species living in China's desert areas based on the straw-yellow fur purchased from China, and named it the desert cat. For more than 100 years, people did not find any traces of it. In 2007, on a mountain with an altitude of more than 3,500 meters in northwest Sichuan, scientists took the first photo of a wild desert cat with an infrared camera, thus confirming its existence.

The world's first wild desert cat photographed in 2007 (Photo source: Peking University Shanshui Nature Conservation Center official website)

03

Endangered "grass cat"

The desert cat, a mysterious "loner", is called "the most mysterious cat on earth" because of the small number of observed populations and the difficulty in research. Because it is so similar to a domestic cat, except that its color is similar to grass, many herders call the desert cat "grass cat".

The desert cat was originally a national second-class protected wild animal. Due to the decrease in the number of sightings and the number of species, it was adjusted to a national first-class protected animal in the "National List of Key Protected Wildlife" in February 2021. The main reasons for its decline are human slaughter and difficulty in captivity.

One is hunting . Since they live in colder areas, they grow thick hair and soft fur to adapt to the climate, which has excellent thermal insulation properties. For a long time, people would set various traps, and even follow the footprints in the snow to the caves in winter, kill the cats and take their skins. As mentioned earlier, Western scientists also confirmed the existence of desert cats through the fur that traveled across the ocean.

A female desert cat and two cubs (Photo source: Official website of the Qinghai Provincial Administration of Qilian Mountain National Park)

The second is accidental killing . After liberation, grassland degradation was controlled in Tibet, Qinghai and other places, and people poisoned and hunted wild mice on a large scale. Wild animals that feed on mice, such as manuls and desert cats, were either poisoned or starved to death (90% of desert cats' food is wild mice), and their numbers decreased rapidly.

Third, it is not easy to keep them in captivity . Scientists keep most endangered wild animals in captivity to ensure their numbers. But this method is not suitable for desert cats. Because they are very wild, they are wary and distrustful of humans. Some experts kept desert cats in captivity in zoos. When they threw meat to them, they not only refused to eat it, but bared their teeth and roared at the experts. Later, they carefully observed the surrounding environment and carefully ate the meat when there was no one around. Artificial breeding is so difficult, so there are very few cases of zoos successfully keeping desert cats in captivity.

Cute desert cat (Photo source: Peking University Shanshui Nature Conservation Center official website)

The desert cat is solitary by nature, hunted by humans, and failed scientific captive breeding, which has led to a decreasing number of desert cats. The harsh climate and natural environment are also natural enemies that cannot be ignored for the survival of desert cats. Therefore, protecting desert cats is a matter of love and patience, which requires our long-term and continuous efforts.

References:

1. "Come and see the cats! It turns out that there are standards for the classification of "big cats" and "small cats", Guangming.com, March 23, 2023

2. "Desert Cat: Wild Cats Unique to my country", author Cheng Zui, collected by the Institute of Scientific and Technological Information of China

3. "This cat cannot be petted. Desert cat: its thick fur makes people covet it, its temper makes people stay away from it", author Liu Guowei, "Environment and Life", Issue 2, 2018

Author: Wei Deyong, member of Shenzhen Writers Association, Guangdong