Black-Footed Cat
Scientific Name: Felis nigripes
Habitat
Black-footed cats live in Africa,in the plains and sometimes on the deserts. They live by themselves, and hunt for small prey that suite there tiny size. They also, however, live by ranchers and cattle-farmers, who set out poisoned prey and steel-jaw bear traps in order to keep the cats away. Also, locusts are poisoned, another common prey of the Black-footed cat. The last reason resulting in the Black-footed cat's rarity is that these cattle-farmers and ranchers are overgrazing and this causes the Black-footed cats to be killed more in the only place they exist: Africa. They live alongside animals such as lions, zebras, hippos, rhinos, crocodiles, giraffes, and elephants, sharing watering holes and prey with their much larger carnivorous cousins. They only frolic with others of their kind during mating season.
Diet
Black-footed cats have a rather limited diet, due to their phenomenally small size. Their diet mainly consists mainly small birds and mammals such as bustards, mice, hares, and carrion. Since the Black-footed cats get most of it's moisture from it's prey, they don't stop to drink much. However, if they do come across a watering hole, they will stop and get a nice, long drink of actual water. They are also pretty rare since cattle-farmers and ranchers in Africa like to poison/poison the prey or set out bear traps to kill and/or keep the Black-footed cats away from their property. Also, prey is continuously being killed rapidly by overgrazing of the cattle.
Description
Black-footed cats are remarkably small cats that are in the wild, about the size of an average house cat. Their coats range from tan to brown to brownish reddish, covered with all sorts of spots and stripes that are black in color. They have stripes only on their legs though, and spots are all over the rest of their bodies. Their tails have a black tip, along with black rings around the remainder of their tails. Also, in relationship to their names, black-footed cats' paws are totally black on the bottom! Pretty cool, huh?
Types
The black-footed cat has 2 known sub-species. The first is much like the common black-footed cat, but is actually smaller and paler than both the other sub-species and the actual black-footed cat. The second sub-species looks a lot like the regular black-footed cat, only with different stripe and spot placement.
Fun Facts
- The black-footed cat is the smallest breed of wild cat
- Black-footed cats have unusually large eyes
- Black-footed cats have such great timing skills that they know exactly when to jump in order to catch a bird in mid-air!
- A very solitary species of wild cat; they will only be seen together during mating season