Black-footed cat

Black-footed cat
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Felinae
Genus: Felis
Species:
F. nigripes
Binomial name
Felis nigripes

The black-footed cat (Felis nigripes), also called the small-spotted cat, is the smallest wild cat in Africa. Its body is about 35–52 cm (14–20 in) long. Only the bottoms of its feet are black or dark brown. Its yellow-brown fur has small dark spots and stripes that help it hide at night. It has black lines from its eyes to its cheeks, and its tail has dark bands with a black tip.

Scientists first found the black-footed cat in the northern Karoo of South Africa and described it in 1824. It lives only in the dry steppes and grasslands of Southern Africa. It has been seen in southern Botswana, and is rarely found in Namibia, southern Angola, and southern Zimbabwe. Because it lives in only a few places, it has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2002. Its population is likely decreasing because of poaching of its prey for bushmeat, road kills, attacks by herding dogs, and human conflict.

Since 1993, scientists have studied the black-footed cat using radio telemetry. They found that it rests in burrows during the day and hunts at night. Each night it usually travels 5 to 16 km (3 to 10 mi) to look for small rodents and birds. It eats about 40 kinds of vertebrates and may kill up to 14 small animals in one night. It can jump up to 1.4 m (5 ft) high to catch birds, and sometimes attacks prey that is heavier than itself. Females usually give birth to two kittens between October and March. The kittens stop drinking milk at about two months old and live on their own by four months.

Taxonomy

The scientific name Felis nigripes was given in 1824 by British explorer William John Burchell, after he saw skins of small spotted cats near Litákun (now Dithakong) in South Africa.

In 1931, South African mammalogist Guy C. Shortridge suggested a subspecies called Felis nigripes thomasi. He based this idea on darker skins found in Griqualand West.

Later, British zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock confirmed that the black-footed cat belongs to the genus Felis.

The idea that the black-footed cat has subspecies was later questioned because there are no clear natural barriers, like a mountain, river, or desert, between its populations. In 2017, the IUCN Cat Specialist Group reviewed cat classification and said the black-footed cat is most likely a monotypic species, meaning it has no subspecies.

Evolution

Studies of DNA show that cats (Felidae) first spread across Asia during the Miocene, about 14.45 to 8.38 million years ago. Studies of mitochondrial DNA suggest this may have happened about 16.76 to 6.46 million years ago.

The black-footed cat belongs to the Felis group. Based on DNA found in the cell’s nucleus, it split from the common ancestor of all Felis species about 4.44 to 2.16 million years ago. Studies of mitochondrial DNA suggest it split earlier, about 6.52 to 1.03 million years ago. Both studies agree that the jungle cat (F. chaus) split first, and the black-footed cat split after that.

No fossils of the black-footed cat have been found. It probably moved into Africa during the Pleistocene. This may have been possible because sea levels were lower between Asia and Africa.

The following cladogram shows its relationships based on nuclear DNA:

Felidae
Felinae
Felis

Domestic cat (F. catus)

European wildcat (F. silvestris)

African wildcat (F. lybica)

Chinese mountain cat (F. bieti)

Sand cat (F. margarita)

Black-footed cat

Jungle cat (F. chaus)

other Felinae lineages

Pantherinae

Distribution and habitat

The black-footed cat is found only in Southern Africa, and it has a smaller range than other small cats in the area. It lives in South Africa and southern Botswana, where it was first recorded in the 1960s. It has also been recorded in Namibia, southern Angola, and southern Zimbabwe, but it is unlikely to live in Lesotho or Eswatini.

Its habitat includes open, dry savannas and semi-dry shrubland in the Karoo and the southwestern Kalahari. These places have short grass, low bushes, and some taller grasses. Rainfall in these areas is about 100 to 500 mm (3.9 to 19.7 in) each year. In the Drakensberg, it has been found at heights of up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) above sea level.

Behaviour

An adult black-footed cat resting
A black-footed cat under cover

The black-footed cat is nocturnal (it is awake at night) and usually lives alone, except when females are raising kittens. During the day, it rests in hollow termite mounds or empty burrows made by animals such as the springhare, aardvark, or Cape porcupine. It often digs to make these burrows larger. At night, it comes out to hunt. When disturbed, it hides quickly, often in termite mounds. If it cannot escape, it fights aggressively. This behaviour gave it the Afrikaans name miershooptier (“anthill tiger”). A San legend even says it can kill a giraffe, showing how brave it is believed to be.

It is not a good climber because of its short, strong body and short tail, although one was once seen resting in a camelthorn tree.

Females usually live in areas of 6.23–15.53 km2 (2.41–6.00 sq mi), while males range over larger areas of 19.44–23.61 km2 (7.51–9.12 sq mi). A male’s range often overlaps with those of several females. They mark their territories using scent, such as spraying urine, rubbing, claw marks, and leaving faeces in easy-to-see places. Their calls are louder than those of most other small cats, but they also purr and make gurgling sounds when close together. When threatened, they hiss and growl. Adults usually travel about 8.42 ± 2.09 km (5.23 ± 1.30 mi) each night while hunting.

Because it is shy and moves fast without using roads, the black-footed cat is difficult to study. In South Africa, its population density was estimated at 0.17/km2 (0.44/sq mi) near Kimberley in 1998–1999, but this dropped to 0.08/km2 (0.2/sq mi) between 2005 and 2014. In Nuwejaarsfontein, densities from 2009 to 2014 were about 0.06/km2 (0.16/sq mi). In poorer habitats, numbers may be as low as 0.03/km2 (0.08/sq mi).

Reproduction and life cycle

In captivity, males become able to reproduce at about nine months old, and females at about seven months. A female’s oestrus lasts around 36 hours, and gestation lasts 63–68 days. She can give birth to one or two litters each year between October and March. Litters usually have one or two kittens, but can have up to four.

In the wild, females are ready to mate for only five to ten hours, so males must find them quickly. Males may fight each other, and copulation happens every 20–50 minutes.

Kittens weigh 60 to 93 g (2.1 to 3.3 oz) at birth. They are born blind but can crawl within a few hours. Their eyes open after 3–10 days, and their teeth appear at 2–3 weeks. They start eating solid food at about one month old and are weaned at two months. Adult teeth appear at 148–158 days.

In captivity, mothers move their kittens to new hiding places every 6–10 days, which is more often than in other small cats. In the wild, kittens are born in springhare burrows or termite mounds. From four days old, the mother may leave them alone at night for up to 10 hours. By six weeks, the kittens move quickly and leave the den often. Young cats may be killed by predators such as the black-backed jackal, caracal, and nocturnal raptors. They become independent at 3–4 months old but usually stay close to their mother’s area. In captivity, they can live for up to 15 years.

Diseases

Black-footed cats often suffer from AA amyloidosis, a disease that causes long-term inflammation and usually leads to kidney failure and death. Wild cats are also at risk from diseases spread by domestic dogs and cats.

Threats

The black-footed cat faces many dangers. Some are killed by poison bait or steel traps that are used to control other predators. Habitat destruction happens when land is damaged by overgrazing. There are fewer springhares, which are an important food source. They can also be attacked by other carnivores, harmed by diseases, or affected by poor farming methods. Herding dogs sometimes kill them. Many protected areas are too small to keep healthy populations.

Conservation

The black-footed cat is listed on CITES Appendix I and is protected in most of its range, including Botswana and South Africa, where hunting is not allowed.

Field research

The Black-footed Cat Working Group runs a long-term study at Benfontein Nature Reserve and Nuwejaarsfontein Farm near Kimberley, Northern Cape. In 2012, the study expanded to Biesiesfontein Farm near Victoria West. Between 1992 and 2018, 65 cats were fitted with radio collars to study their social behaviour, home ranges, hunting, and diet. Camera traps are also used to study their behaviour and interactions with aardwolfs.

In captivity

The Wuppertal Zoo in Germany obtained black-footed cats in 1957 and successfully bred them in 1963. In 1993, the European Endangered Species Programme was set up to manage breeding and reduce inbreeding. The International Studbook for the Black-footed Cat was maintained at Wuppertal Zoo. As of July 2011, records showed that 726 black-footed cats had been kept in captivity since 1964. At that time, 74 cats were living in 23 institutions in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, the US, the UK, and South Africa.

Several zoos have reported successful breeding, including Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, and Philadelphia Zoo.

The Audubon Nature Institute’s Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans has carried out advanced genetic research on cats. In February 2011, a female there gave birth to two male kittens. These were the first black-footed cats born using in vitro fertilization with frozen sperm and embryos. The sperm was collected in 2003, used to fertilize an egg in 2005, and the embryos were frozen. In 2010, the embryos were thawed and placed into a surrogate female, who carried the pregnancy and gave birth to the kittens.

On 6 February 2012, the same center reported another success. A female kitten named Crystal was born to a domestic cat surrogate after interspecies embryo transfer.

References

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