In the wild, we see many different animals that use the advantages inherent in their nature. There is a direct and an indirect one. For the direct one, we can cite the conscious use of spiders’ web-weaving abilities as an example. As an example of the indirect, we can point to things that give animals an advantage without them realizing it. For example sweetness or small size.
If you come across Pallas’s cat, you can easily become his target, as you won’t want to run away due to his surprising sweetness and tiny size. So where does this cat, which is so cute and looks like it will topple over when you push it, live? Let’s look at the details together.
Neither friendly nor social: if cats had a discord, this would undoubtedly be the mod…
What makes the Pallas cat look so chubby is its thick coat, which helps it adapt to its environment. As you can see, the hairs in question grow the most in the abdomen. In addition, it turns gray in winter and a faded red in summer. On the other hand, the black lines that appear in the summer stand out.
When we move on to the head of this species, also known as “Manul”, unlike other cats, its round eyes welcome us:
It has round ears extending to both sides of its round head and black spots between these ears. In addition, he has black stripes running from his cheeks to his neck. In documentaries, we often see the sweetest of these animals.
But if you happen to meet him on the high hills of Central Asia, he will look at you more like this:
Yes, the Pallas cat is only found in Central Asia, where countries like Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan are found. The fact that they live alone and are mostly in mountainous areas are some of the factors that reduce their likelihood of being seen.
The yellow color shows where they exist, the purple color shows where they are thought to be, although it is not certain, and the red color shows where they are thought to have never been:
It’s no bigger than a house cat, but it’s sure to make you regret it if you try to take it home:
There are several reasons for this. First of all, this species is accustomed to the cold, high and rocky areas or plains we just mentioned. Therefore, it will not be possible to adapt when you buy it in your home. The fact that the immune system has developed for different conditions will also leave it vulnerable to many diseases.
Yes, terrorizing the mountains of Asia with these legs:
This species, which has short legs, is not very successful in chases, as you can imagine. Although it is much more agile than it looks, it makes up for this disadvantage with abilities such as camouflage. In addition, it is known that they climb trees to hunt animals larger than themselves and attack their prey from there. You know, a complete guerrilla.
So what does it feed on?
Pallas’s cat, which is a very good hunter, feeds on birds, reptiles, rodents and mostly rabbits called pika. The fact that it carefully monitors its movements before attacking its prey is also reminiscent of master hunting. In other words, it prefers to catch its prey by surprise rather than chase it.
Let’s talk about the breeding details:
- One of the puppies born in captivity
The mating period, which develops between December and March, ends with the birth of offspring between March and May. It was observed that the gestation period in those taken from their natural environment and followed in captivity was between 65 and 75 days. As a result, between 1 and 6 puppies were born, mostly 3-4 puppies. In their natural areas, the times are thought to be close to these. While the cubs can hunt with their mothers when they are close to 4 months old, they reach adulthood when they are 6 months old.
Unfortunately, most of the puppies in question die before they can adapt to the harsh conditions. When we add to this the destruction of natural areas, we can understand why it was put on the “nearly endangered” list in 2002.
However, the IUCN, which decided on this, removed the same species from the list in 2019 and moved it one step back to the “species of least concern” list. Still, the number of members is declining and it is thought that there are 58,000 adult members of this species.
Sources: Petibom, Gage Beasly, Evolution Tree, IUCN, IUCN (2016), Wild Cat Conservation, Animalogic
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