The fierce beast that makes you adorable must be me!

When it comes to the cutest animal, most people’s first reaction is probably the cute cat.

What about the cutest wild animal? The manul, a relative of cats and a member of the same family as cats, is a fierce and adorable animal that has to be on the list.

Your little cutie suddenly appears

The manul in the picture was born on May 7, 2021. It comes from Qinghai Xining Wildlife Park, the only place in my country that raises, breeds and exhibits manuls. The breeder has put a lot of effort into this ferocious and cute creature. Next, let's take a look at how this cutest wild animal was born.

Personal profile of "Mao Da Ma" ✦

Name: Mau Ma

From the name, you can tell that Auntie Mao is a girl.

The reason why she was named "Daniang" is that according to the naming custom in ancient China (mainly in the Tang Dynasty), the eldest daughter in the family was called "Daniang", and when she was born, she had a younger brother named "Mao Dalang" and a younger sister named "Mao Erniang". This name seems friendly and makes it easier for breeders to distinguish their gender and size. It does not mean to take advantage of everyone.

"Hello, nice to meet you guys."

Species: Manul

The manul is the only wild animal in the genus Felidae. As a small cat, the manul is a relative of the domestic cat.

The manul is small in size, but has very dense fur. The length of its winter fur can exceed 10 cm, so although it looks chubby, it is actually not fat!

"Let's see who dares to call me chubby again"

Their ears are not on the top of their heads like domestic cats, but look more like they grow on the sides of their heads, which helps them hide themselves in the wild. The pupils of the manul are not vertical like other small cats, but look round, and shrink into a dot when the light is good, so it often seems that the manul looks down on others...

"Oh? Really? Then I'll leave?"

Date of Birth: May 7, 2021

The manul is now over one year old, and will be an adult this winter at one and a half years old. Wild manuls are generally 6-9 years old, and captive manuls in zoos can live to over 10 years old.

Weight: 3.4 kg

The average weight of a wild manul is 3-5 kg, and the plateau subspecies is slightly smaller, mostly 3-4 kg. The size of a one-year-old manul is no different from that of an adult manul, and the adult weight is expected to be around 3.5 kg.

Home address: Xining Wildlife Park

Auntie Manul lives in Xining Wildlife Park (Qinghai Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Center), which is the only zoo in China that raises, breeds and exhibits manuls. In the wild, wild manuls are mainly distributed in China, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Bhutan and other countries. The plateau subspecies to which Auntie Manul belongs is only distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and surrounding areas.

"My hometown is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. I heard that many people have been there recently? But please protect the environment there~"

Eating habits

The daily food of the manul lady is frozen beef and mutton and canned cat food. The food of wild manuls varies according to the distribution area and local species, but generally they mainly feed on small mammals such as pikas and wild mice, as well as some small birds.

"Of course there are also those bad people who destroy the environment...Haha! Just kidding, I don't eat people."

Family members

The father, Simiao, was rescued from a resident of Xining, Qinghai in 2015. He was said to be a cub found on the roadside. He was raised in Xining Wildlife Park and is very likely the only captive purebred male highland subspecies of manul in the world.

The mother, Shangxiang, was rescued from Datong County, Xining, Qinghai in 2019. She was bought as a kitten by a citizen at the vegetable market. Later, the citizen called the police after finding that she did not look like ordinary cats. She was rescued and raised by the Qinghai Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Center.

The younger brother, Maudalang, was born on May 7, 2021 and died on August 22.

The younger sister, Meng Erniang, was born on May 7, 2021 and died on August 26.

The life story of "Mrs. Mau"✦

The starting point of life

For the manul, their estrus period is from January to March every year. During this period, male manuls will be in estrus continuously, while females will be in estrus periodically, with each estrus lasting 26 to 42 hours. If conception fails in this cycle, they will generally go into estrus again one month later.

On February 27, 2021, the keepers observed that the parents of the cat had mated many times, which was probably the starting point of the cat's "life".

"Yes, it's this cutie."

After observing the multiple mating behaviors of the cat's parents, the keepers began to prepare for the arrival of the new cute creatures.

Necessary Preparation

The zoo has made adequate preparations to welcome the arrival of the manul.

1. Set up the breeding nest box

As a small cat, the manul is very timid and will look for rock caves or earth holes as breeding nests in the wild, or directly rob the holes of marmots. In order to increase their sense of security as much as possible, the zoo set up a wooden box with a corridor as their breeding nest, and installed a camera inside so that they can understand the situation inside at the first time.

"You're the one taking secret photos of me? For my safety, I forgive you!"

2. Special foods

Toxoplasmosis is the biggest problem in captive manul breeding. The mortality rate of European manul cubs is 60%-65%, and the culprit is toxoplasmosis. In order to prevent toxoplasmosis, the zoo began to add drugs to prevent toxoplasmosis to the food of manul mother Shangxiang 10 days before the due date.

Interestingly, as a caracal with a distinct personality, Shangxiang usually only eats live pigeons and refuses to eat dead pigeons. However, it seems that for the sake of her baby, before the due date, the breeder added medicine to the dead pigeons, and she actually agreed to eat it (after breastfeeding, she refused dead food again).

3. Safe environment

One month before the gestation period, the father of the mother, Simiao, was asked to move out of Shangxiang's boudoir to prevent the newborn baby manuls from being bitten to death by male manuls. In the wild, male manuls will leave after mating and will not help the mother manul take care of the baby.

The birth of Auntie

On May 6, 2021, Mao Shangxiang began to lick her abdomen, and based on experience, she knew that a new life was about to be born. At noon the next day, Mao Shangxiang used her tongue to assist in the birth of Mao Da Niang. In the afternoon, Mao Da Lang and Mao Er Niang were also born, and there was also a stillborn baby.

Newborn manul baby is feeding.

The gestation period of the manul is 9-10 weeks. Generally, there are three or four cubs per litter, and the maximum number of cubs born at one time is eight.

Newborn cubs are only a dozen centimeters long and weigh nearly 100 grams. They cannot open their eyes yet and can only suckle by instinct. They spend most of the day sleeping.

In order to prevent the dead fetus from rotting and infecting other cubs, the staff entered the inner house to remove the dead fetus when Shangxiang was out on May 9. The whole process was quick and quiet. Small cats are particularly sensitive to stress. When stressed, the mother cat may carry the baby cat in her mouth to move. This process may injure the baby cat, and in serious cases, the baby cat may be bitten to death.

Welcome to the new world

About 20 days after birth, the elder cat opened her eyes for the first time and observed the world. After her younger brothers and sisters opened their eyes, on the 24th day after birth, she led her younger brothers and sisters to crawl out of the nest box for the first time, moved around in the inner house, and showed interest in the outer activity area.

As the activity area increases, the various risk factors they may be exposed to are also increasing, and the mother feeds less and less frequently. Instead, she gives the pigeon meat to her children to practice chewing. At this time, it is time to get vaccinated.

“Is this the world outside?”

As a very ancient cat species, the manul has a weaker immune system than domestic cats. There are no vaccines or drugs developed for manuls in the world, so only those for domestic cats can be used. On June 7, the day when Aunt Manul was one month old, the veterinarian injected her with a cat triple vaccine. Fortunately, there were no allergic reactions or other adverse reactions.

"Look how cooperative I am. Why don't you open a can for me?"

On June 21, one and a half months after they were born, in order to avoid accidents and reduce the pressure on their mother, Auntie and Dalang were taken out for artificial raising. At this time, their weight had exceeded one kilogram, and their food was formulated goat milk powder, canned cat food and pigeon meat.

The two cats, Lady Cat and Dalang Cat, were taken out for artificial breeding

Unexpected changes

On August 8, when Auntie Manul was just three months old, her siblings began to experience diarrhea and vomiting, which was very similar to the symptoms of feline panleukopenia virus infection, but no feline panleukopenia virus was found in her feces. Moreover, she had received three shots of feline panleukopenia virus before, and her feline panleukopenia antibody level was also very high, so in theory, she should not be infected again.

Afterwards, the small cats in the park fell ill one after another, and even Auntie Mao’s parents had diarrhea. Auntie Mao was the first to fall ill. Because she ate a lot and was strong, she recovered quickly after early anti-inflammatory, anti-diarrhea and antiviral treatments. On August 22 and August 26, the younger brother Mao Dalang and the younger sister Mao Erniang died after unsuccessful treatment.

Mau Da Niang's younger brother Mau Da Lang

It was not until a few months later that the results of genetic testing confirmed that they were infected with a new type of feline panleukopenia virus, and conventional feline panleukopenia vaccines and drugs were ineffective. In order to prevent reinfection, the cats were moved from the nursery with an outdoor playground to a relatively closed parrot house for breeding.

Today, Lady Manul has grown up healthily and has become the only artificially bred manul in China.

The dream and wish of "Mrs. Mang"✦

Aunt Manul hopes that in the future there will be more brothers and sisters who can be bred and survive, and that more Manuls can grow and reproduce healthily in zoos across the country, so that more people can know, understand, pay attention to and care about the Manul species and better protect the Manul species.

As the famous animal conservationist Ms. Jane Goodall said: "Only when we understand can we care, only when we care can we act, and only when we act can we have hope."

"Let us share and protect the earth together~"

See more pictures of the cute cat lady

Author: Qi Xinzhang, Deputy Director of Xining Wildlife Park

The cover image and images within this article are provided by the author.