Rare Moroccan Sand Cat Reveals Unique Behaviors in 5-Year Study

Research on this small wild cat species, whose first photos were published on the Internet in 2017, has surprised researchers who equipped them with VHF collars to monitor and analyze their behaviors for nearly five years. Grégory Breton, general director of the Panthera France association, led the watch on these cats living in hot climates and weighing about 3.5 kilos.

At the end of the five years of observation by the research team composed of Dr. Alexander Sliwa from the Cologne Zoo, Saad Azizi and Mahmoud Zine Eddine from the Rabat Zoo and Alifal Elhaj, the results of the in-depth study on this species were published in the "Journal of Arid Environments" in March. The researchers explain in their article that they have noted very specific behaviors in the sand cat and hope that their research will help take measures for the conservation of this species.

The study informs about the behaviors of 10 wild cats and shows that they had no fresh injuries, broken teeth and almost no scars on the body, after having traveled different parts of southern Morocco. "This cat can share a habitat with others of its species; perhaps their perception corresponds to their nature, at least towards other desert cats," details Breton.

"If the vital domains are in fact wider and occupy only certain parts of the desert, as our study suggests, it could reasonably be reclassified in the ’near threatened’ category," added the director of Panthera France, specifying that there is still much to learn about this new species and that other researchers should also focus their studies on these cats to better know them.