The Arabian sand cat is part of the cat family, and even looks a bit domesticated! Although it isn’t they do have the appearance of a house cat save for their unique pattern and bigger ears. These cats have a shorter lifespan than a house cat however, only living up to thirteen years while it is unknown how long they do live in the wild. These cats have a unique diet mainly because of their exclusive environment of living in the Sahara, Iraq deserts, Iran rustic deserts, and the Arabian desert to name a few.
While hunting for prey they use the same tactic a house cat would use, such as linking slowly across the ground which provides great cover for themselves, especially if they are lurking in the sand during a storm. They have a camouflaged pattern and this works for them since many of their prey which are rodents cannot differentiate the pattern from the flowing sand. They mainly feed on the smallest of rodents like mice and rats and even small burrowing animals similar to that of moles. For these, they wait until the critter comes out of its borrow. With their almost super sonic hearing, they can hear animals going across the sand easily.
This is very effective on another type of prey, sand lizards. Their main diet not only is rodents but lizards as well, small ones. They can’t feed on anything too large since their digestive system is very delicate. Since they are lone hunters, and lone cats in general they can easily catch their hunting prey since being alone proves much better concentration especially when they are after a few types of birds, another staple in their diet.
So what if they can’t find any of these types of animals around? Well sand cats can live in harsh conditions where food becomes quite scarce for them so they dig around for insects such as sand beetles and desert spiders. When even that isn’t enough for them to eat, they feed on plants in the area since some contain moisture. Sand cats stay away from watering areas since actually they get all the water they need from their prey which is why sand cats are one of the most unique hunters in the Sahara. This makes them tough prey for other desert animals who stay close to water points just to hunt down thirsty animals. Sand cats still need to be careful because wolves, snakes, and even humans can hunt them down if they are not too careful during their own hunts.
