Felines - small, wild and beautiful II

Spotted beauties from two continents

Last week we introduced some small, furry friends who are the 'wild' cousins of your lovable feline friends at home. We familiarise you with two more members from the cat family who may look as cute as your pet cat, but may not be as docile, since they live in the wild in Africa and South America.

Some of them are kept as exotic pets or in zoos but, they are best left in their own natural habitats - wild and free! As we were informed by some wildlife enthusiasts that there are small wild cats endemic to our country too, we decided to investigate into this... We learnt that even though there are a couple of small wild cats found only in Sri Lanka, they are not classified as endemic since they are only a sub species.

Anyway, as promised, we will try to enlighten you about these cats in our future issues. Anyone who has information of these small, wild cats found here is most welcome to send it to us so that we could share it with our readers.

Meanwhile, let's check out some interesting facts about the Black-footed cat and the Pampas cat.

Black-footed cat

A solitary animal, the black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) is one of the smallest species in the family of cats. It is the most fascinating among the small, wild cats and is considered exceptionally fierce compared to its size. Two sub species of the black-footed cat have been identified.

These small wild cats are distributed only in three Southern African countries - Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, and marginally in Zimbabwe. They are also called the little spotted cats and ant-hill tigers. They are found in habitats such as arid semi-deserts and the savannah.

Described as a rare species by some experts, black-footed cats are generally shy animals that seek refuge at the slightest disturbance. The habit of hiding in abandoned anthills or termite mounds is one of the reasons they are known as anthill tigers.

The other reason being their courage. It has been said that though small in size, these cats are brave animals that defend themselves fiercely when confronted. In fact, according to legends of the Bushmen, the black-footed cat can even kill a giraffe by piercing its jugular (one of three large veins in the neck) vein.

Even though this may be an exaggeration, there is historical evidence of these wild cats killing sheep and goat by hanging on to the jugular vein until it pierces. Apart from the abandoned anthills, they also take refuge in places such as burrows and under rock slabs.

By now, you must be aware that most small wild cats resemble the domestic cat, or your pet cat in general appearance. However, unlike the domestic cats, the wild counterparts have very distinctive fur coats; more like the ones the big cats wear!

Let's then check out what the black footed cat's appearance is like. The background colour of the pelage (French word for coat, pronounced as pel'ij) varies from light sandy brown to reddish brown or cinnamon, buff to tawny or off-white, with dark, black spots, which sometimes coalesce (come together) into broken stripes.

The legs are barred with dark horizontal stripes. The black-tipped tail is banded with dark rings. Like the name suggests, the pads on the feet are black and surrounded by long, black hair. The hair protects the feet from the heat of the semi-desert habitats the animal lives in.

The cat has a large, broad head in proportion to its small body and is about 22 cm (9 inches) at shoulder height. Its body length is 19-24 inches. The male cat weighs about 2.2 kg while the female, which is considered to be the smallest of the wild cats weighs, only 1.5 kg.

These cats have rounded ears, very large eyes and short tails. Unlike in most spotted cats, the skin of black-footed cats is an unpigmented pink.

Secretive and rarely seen in the wild, these species of cats are opportunistic hunters. They share the home range with African lions and cheetahs. As they have healthy appetites and consume 1/5th or 20 per cent of their body weight each night, they hunt a lot.

Every half an hour, an attempt at hunting is made with a 60 per cent success rate. They kill and eat a small bird or mammal every 50 minutes on average, thereby consuming around 10-15 numbers of prey per night.

Their hunting techniques, which include flushing of birds' nests and 'wait and stalk' techniques vary according to the prey. Sometimes they could be seen scavenging on larger prey, especially mammals killed by their bigger cousins, their diet includes rodents such as gerbils and ground squirrels, small mammals, birds and also reptiles, spiders and insects.

It is said that these cats are virtually water independent, deriving their moisture requirements mostly from food. However, they do drink water when it's available. The females give birth to a litter of 1-3 kittens (typically two), after a gestation period of 65 days.

The development of the kittens is better than the domestic cat and the kittens which weigh between 60-90 gr. at birth, gain around eight grammes daily. The mother changes the den quite often when she has a litter of kittens.

Several distinctive mannerisms, and vocalisations have been observed by researchers in females. According to one report, in times of danger, the mother protects the kittens using a special technique. She first alerts the kittens to the danger so that instead of running to her for safety, the kittens freeze wherever they are.

They will only move once again when the mother makes a low call, accompanied by a vertical movement of the ears. The males are said to have loud calls which are often linked to a high pitch roar.

These delicate and beautiful specie of wild cats are difficult to bring up in captivity as they need specialised care. They are known to live upto 13 years in the wild.

Pampas cat

Even though some of you may be familiar with the name pampas which refers to a large, treeless plain in South America, many of you would not have heard of the pampas cat (Oncifelic colocolo).

It is yet another species of small wild cat found mostly in Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It is different from other South American wild cats and resemble more the European wildcat.

It has a greater geographical area than other small wild cats and are found in primarily open grassland and humid forest habitats.

It has a broad face, pointed ears, pink nose, relatively large amber eyes, short and stout legs, a fairly short but bushy tail and short muzzle. It is similar in appearance to a robust domestic cat.

The colouration of the coat varies from area to area. For instance, in the High Andes, the coat is grey with reddish stripes, broken up into spots. In Argentina the fur coats are longer, more yellowish brown and have muted patterns while in Brazil, the coats are rusty coloured with irregular black stripes.

The back of the ears is grey and in some species, there is a central white spot. Black rings mark the tail. Two brown bands run from the eyes across the cheeks, meeting beneath the throat. Bands of yellow or brown run obliquely from the back to the flanks, and a brown band runs around the upper part of the forelegs.

The thickness of fur varies from region to region with the pampas cats in colder areas having thick, soft coats and those in warmer areas having straw-like fur coats. In some species, the long fur may even form a mane on the back, up to 7 cm long.

Sometimes referred to as 'gato pajero' or the 'gross cat' in Argentina, the pampas cat's diet comprises small mammals, guinea pigs, ground dwelling birds, rodents, penguin eggs and small chicks from nests.

The pampas cat is a good climber and a nocturnal creature. The females give birth to about 2-3 kittens after a gestation period of 80-85 days. It could live up to 16 years in captivity, but in the wild its lifespan does not exceed 9-10 years.

While enlightening you about the pampas cat, we'd like to also focus your attention to its main habitat, the pampas from which the cat has got its name.

The pampas is a flat, fertile plain that covers an area of 300,000 sq miles or 777,000 sq kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean to the Andean Mountains found primarily in Argentina and extending into Uruguay.

It is one of the most endangered habitats of the Earth due to domestic livestock and farming. The humid pampas eco-region is a savannah-like grassland mosaic dominated by bunch grasses scattered with shrubs and small trees.

It is one of the richest grazing areas of the world. The semi-arid pampas' eco-region, which is also a rich grassland, is dominated by tufts of grasses, trees and shrubs. Today no pristine (unspoilt) area remains in this once vast sea of grass.

Like many of the other creatures that are facing problems due to loss of habitation, the pampas cat too is under threat due to the declining conditions of the pampas and also because of its incredibly diverse coat colouration and markings which attract many in the fur trade.

We will bring you more interesting facts on the many species of small wild cats in our forthcoming issues.

The pampas cat is only 55 to 70 cm (22 to 28 in) in length and weighs about 3 to 7 kg (6.6 - 15.5 lbs) in average.