BLACK-FOOTED WILD CAT. This is NOT a domestic cat. It is a wild animal. It does NOT like humans and both fear and will avoid them -- even (and especially) kittens. They can NOT be domesticated by taking them into a household. They will remain wild animals. That understood, some info about the Black Footed Wild Cat. Their range is throughout South Africa. They are a small cat. Males average 5 lbs; females 3 lbs. They hunt, kill and eat primarily rodents, but also (when they get a lucky kill) birds and rabbits -- and occasionally bugs. They drink water when its available to them; get it exclusively from their kill when no water can be had. They scent mark with strong urine, facial rubbing, pad/claw scratching and leave scat to identify their territory (probably would make them very bad domestic animals, similar to other wild species of cat that do not bury their droppings in litter.) Their territory is approximately 10 sq miles (plus or minus). They will scavenge game when the opportunity arises. They live on dry grasslands. They are NOT good at climbing trees (and avoid them), but instead use burrows in the sand for sleeping, hiding and raising their young. They have a genetic propensity toward AA-Amyloidosis (kidney disease). Their average life span is 10 - 13 years (even in captivity at zoos). While these cats have been captured and raised in zoos for the past several decades, they dont do well in zoos (they are a very private animal and dont like to be exposed to people, plus theyre cats and sleep a lot, so visitors to zoos dont see them much and are not often aware they exist). The current world zoo populations is under 20 (though over 700 have been held in zoos over the past 60 years). Wuppertal Zoo in Germany keeps the world-wide breeding records for zoo owned Black Footed Wild Cats. All that being said, they are adorable little cats, a different species but in the same family as domestic cats (which includes the African Forest Cat, the European Forest Cat, the African Jungle Cat, the Sand Cat and several other species). Its too bad the world population of this endangered species is too small to breed for domestic qualities. :-( Here is a video of Black Footed Wild Cat kittens born in April 8, 2014 at the Philadelphia Zoo. The mom-cats name is Aza (born 9/14/05 in Central Florida Zoo, came to Philadelphia from Kansas City Zoo on 10/12/11). The kittens names are Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion. Too cute!!!
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:17:45 +0000
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