Population Status
Although the sand cat has been frequently described as rare, this may be a result of its harsh environment
and nocturnal, subterranean and secretive habits. For example, Abbadi (1992) describes the cats’
“freezing” behavior when disturbed by people, and tendency to close their eyes against lights at night, making
them very difficult to spot. Despite early reports that the sand cat population of Baluchistan’s Chagai desert
was devastated by commercial collectors within 10 years after foreign collectors became aware of its existence
(Roberts 1977, Hemmer 1977), more recent information indicates that the sand cat still occurs widely
in the area (P. Paillat pers. comm. to S. Biquand 1993).
M. Abbadi (in litt. 1993), who carried out the first radio-telemetry study of the sand cat in Israel,
knew of 22 individuals within his 100 km2 study area. The home
range of one adult male was estimated at 16 km2, and overlapped
with those of neighboring males (Abbadi 1992). |
© 1996 IUCN - The World Conservation Union