Saturday is Caturday! The Mysterious Pallas's Cat and photos, videos, memes and anything kitty related.

Pallas's cats, also known as manuls, are fascinating creatures with unique behaviors and characteristics. These tiny wild cats are perfectly adaptable to the harsh conditions of their habitat, including montane grasslands and Central Asia steppes. They are small wild cats with long and dense light grey fur and rounded ears set low on the sides of the head. They have a stocky posture and appear stout and plush due to their long, thick coat, which helps protect them in their frosty habitat. Their head-to-body length ranges from 46 to 65 cm (18-25 inches) with a 21 to 31 cm(8-12 inch) long bushy tail, weighing 2.5 to 4.5 kg (5 to 9 lbs).

Suppose you are looking for Pallas's cats. In that case, you can find them in Asian countries like Nepal, China, Iran, and Mongolia, primarily in hilly areas and steppes with rocky outcroppings between 9,000 and 13,000 feet. Their habitat has little rainfall and low humidity, and they cannot live in deep, loose snow areas. The Pallas cat has the longest and densest fur of any cat species, allowing it to survive in frigid environments.

The conservation status of Pallas's cats has been classified as "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List since 2020 due to their widespread range and assumed sizeable global population. However, some population units face threats by poaching, prey base decline, and habitat fragmentation due to mining and infrastructure projects. In specific countries, the conservation status varies, with the species listed as "Endangered" in China and Turkmenistan and "Near Threatened" in Mongolia and Pakistan. Habitat degradation and overgrazing by domestic livestock are significant threats to the species.

The total population size of Pallas's cats is approximately 58,000 mature individuals, with the largest population believed to exist in Mongolia. The species is widespread but rare across their range, and their numbers are decreasing. They face numerous threats, such as habitat degradation and fragmentation, dog predation, loss of prey, and accidental capture. These small cats are specialized predators of small mammals, known for their unique behavior and ecology. 

Pallas's cats exhibit a variety of hunting behaviors in the wild. They are highly specialized predators of small mammals, and their hunting techniques include stalking, flushing, and ambushing prey. They primarily prey on small mammals such as pikas, rodents, and birds, and they are crepuscular carnivores, hunting during dusk and dawn to avoid their predators like eagles and foxes. These hunting behaviors and specialized predatory techniques enable Pallas's cats to effectively capture their prey in their natural habitat, which consists of rocky and ravine areas in cold and arid environments across Central Asia.

They are solitary and territorial animals, spending their days in caves, crevices, and burrows made by other animals and emerging toward dusk to hunt. They have an extremely short mating season, and females give birth to a litter of two to six kittens in April and May. The kittens begin hunting with their mother at four months old and reach adult size by six months. Pallas's cats are known for their secretive nature and are difficult to find, thus making them a subject of ongoing research to better understand their behavior and ecology.