Chloe Brown

3 big cats that you (maybe) don't know:

1. Sandcat: The Little Hard One:

Looks like the cute pussnext door, but this big cat can master real extremes: the sand cat lives in the Sahara, on the Arabian Peninsula and in the areas east and south of the Caspian Sea, such as the Karakum desert. It is known that it is very hot there. And very dry. Their dense fur insulates against extreme temperatures. They manage just as well during the day at just under 60 ° C as with the up to -25 ° C that can be reached at night in winter. The paws are covered with a kind of fur felt to protect them from the desert sand, which is up to 80 degrees hot. With her big ears, the little wildcat can hear prey even under the sand. And she almost never has to drink. It can meet all of its fluid needs from its prey.

2. Asian gold cat: many colors, many names:

Asian gold cats have long been available not only in gold, but in many colors. There are also some in gray, red, cinnamon, black and mottled in various ways. Camera traps in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh have captured Asian gold cats with six different colors - in a single valley!

3. Andean cat: The rare big cat from the high mountains:

The mountain cat or Andean cat is the most endangered predator species in South America - and probably also the hardest. According to its name, it lives in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru in the rocky, treeless, cold regions of the Andes at an altitude of over 3000 meters. In the meantime, a further spread has been discovered in the Patagonian steppe down to a height of 650 meters. But only a few have ever seen the mountain cat, let alone been able to study it scientifically. The first films were only made after the year 2000.