IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Guggisberg, C.A.W. | |
| Black-Footed Cat _Felis nigripes_ (Burchell 1822) | |
| 1975 Book Chapter | |
Characteristics, distribution and habits of the black-footed cat The Black-footed cat is something like a southern counterpart of the sand-dune cat, a species not far from Felis silvestris, but adapted to life in a fairly arid region, in this case the southern dry belt of Africa. It was made known to science by the great naturalist explorer William Burchell, who obtained several skins at Litakun, not far from present-day Kuruman. The black-footed cat is the smallest of the African felines and can be considered as the smallest wild cat of the world. Its coat varies from dark ochre to pale ochre and sandy, somewhat darker on the back and lighter on the belly. While the markings of other dry-country cats tend to be pale, sometimes almost invisible, the black-footed cat shows a bold pattern of rounded dark brown to black spots which are arranged in rows on the throat, chest and belly. There are two streaks across each cheek, two transverse bars on the forlegs, and up to five on the haunches. The backs of the slightly rounded ears are pale brown. The soles of the feet are black. The tail is shortish-only about half the length of the head and body-thin, tapering to a point and tipped black, with two or three black sub-terminal rings, sometimes with a few incomplete rings on the basal part. The black-footed cats of the Karroo are larger, with darker ground colour and spots than the typical form, and have been named as a subspecies, felis nigripes thomasi. |
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