Steppe cat: photo, description, color, character, habitat

There is an opinion that the steppe cat is one of the very first representatives of cats. It is believed that they existed on Earth long before the appearance of man.

They are the ancestors of modern pets. Once upon a time, cats were first domesticated in Ancient Egypt and became sacred there. Steppe cats are otherwise called “savages”. Visually, they resemble domestic cats, but they lead a wild lifestyle, which is why they differ from their counterparts.

Appearance

The wild steppe cat is a subspecies of the wild forest cat. Outwardly they are very similar, but there are also significant differences. They are more like ordinary domestic cats.

Features of the appearance of the steppe cat:

The animals have a long and muscular body, the length of which can reach 80 centimeters. This is not to say that these are big cats;
The weight of steppe cats does not exceed 6 kg;
The animal's paws are strong and strong, of medium length;
The tail is long and thin, can reach 25 centimeters in length;
The cat's head is small in size, the muzzle is slightly elongated;
This cat has large eyes;
The animal has large ears, with tassels at the tips;
The animals' fur is short but thick. In winter, the fur remains the same length, which distinguishes it from the forest cat;
The color of steppe cats is inconspicuous, usually gray or sandy.

In a word, the steppe cat is very easy to confuse with a domestic cat.

Reproduction

Steppe cats lead a solitary lifestyle; animals of different sexes meet only in certain seasons of the year in order to leave offspring. Despite this, cats have rich facial expressions and use various poses and rituals when communicating with their relatives.

Steppe cat kitten

The breeding season for steppe cats and cats in Russia begins in winter at the end of January - February. At this time, silent animals begin to scream loudly, they behave in the same way as the familiar “March” cats. Males sort things out, fighting for the female, and after fertilization, the cat bears kittens for 60 days. The wild predator is capable of bearing and giving birth to two to six kittens, which are born blind with tight ear canals and weighing 40 grams. By the end of the second week of life, babies begin to open their eyes and hear. They suck milk for up to 2–2.5 months, after which the cat accustoms the babies to eating meat.

When teaching hunting, the mother brings the kittens first dead prey, then tortured, and then live food. Already by 12 weeks, the cat begins to take the babies with her on hunts and at the end of the 8th month of life. After all the kittens' teeth are completely replaced, they are able to live and hunt separately. While the kittens are small, the cat does not allow anyone near them, not even the father of the family. At one and a half years old females can bear offspring; the reproductive capacity of males awakens only from 2.5 years.

Habitat

African wild cat is another name for the animal. This name is closely related to its habitat. Steppe cats live in the vastness of Africa and Asia.

They can also be seen in Russia, but they are found only in the Astrakhan region in semi-desert areas.

They prefer to live near bodies of water where there are thickets and where they can hide to hunt for prey. Open areas are not suitable for the steppe cat. There they can become prey for large predators. Cats also do not like to settle in areas covered with snow because they are visible there.

Origin of the caracal, history and photo

It is believed that “caracal” is translated from Turkish as “black ear.” Indeed, the back of the ear in cats is black. It has long been known that animals are easy to tame. Therefore, in Asia it was possible to meet a caracal in the house of even a poor person. The predator, which was called the little cheetah, was often used to hunt birds, hares, and small antelopes.

At one time, the habitat of caracals was very vast - from Africa to Central Asia. But under the influence of various factors, mainly due to mass extermination, the population began to decline rapidly. Some species of steppe lynx are protected and included in the list of rare animals. Hunting is prohibited. First of all, this concerns the CIS countries.

Nowadays, caracals are purchased as exotic pets. Of course, this should only be done in specialized nurseries. In South Africa, relatives of the lynx are used to scare away birds from airfield runways.

Lifestyle

The steppe cat is a predator just like a domestic cat. African cats have their own wild characteristics. They prefer to live along the banks of reservoirs and are not at all afraid of water, they can even swim across the river.

But snow is a problem for the African predator; they do not like to hunt on snow cover. Predators also lead a solitary cat-like lifestyle, excluding mating seasons.

Predators spend most of their time in shelters; they can occupy the burrows of foxes, porcupines and other animals, or hide in thickets of bushes.

When encountering a dangerous predator, the cat raises its tail and arches its back, its fur begins to stick out on end. If the enemy continues to attack, she lies on her back and begins to fight him off with all four paws, releasing sharp claws. At the first opportunity, he prefers to run away and hide in a shelter.

The animal's meal is usually small rodents or birds; the predator is not able to hunt larger prey than a hare.

Features of feeding

Since caracals are predators, for proper development and health they need a balanced diet based on protein. This means that the pet must receive a portion of meat daily - beef, turkey, chicken, rabbit. The quantity varies from 500 g to 1 kg (depending on gender and age).

Some of the meat can be boiled, but the raw product should predominate. There is no need to remove bones and cartilage from the tenderloin. Firstly, they are rich in calcium, which is necessary for development. Secondly, they serve as an excellent “trainer” for the teeth and claws of a predator. It is not recommended to feed your animal soups or cereals. These products do not contain substances beneficial to your pet.

You can diversify your diet with:

sea fish;
vegetables (cabbage, pumpkin, carrots, zucchini);
eggs;
fermented milk products.

It is advisable to add vitamins and mineral supplements to your food. You should not feed the caracal too fatty or smoked food, pork, or milk.

An adult animal needs 1-2 meals a day. Once a month you need to have a fasting day. Water and food should always be fresh and not too hot or cold.

Wild cat nutrition

The African wild cat prefers to hunt animals such as small rodents, birds, and hares. The diet may also include insects and lizards. The most common rodents eaten are mice, gophers and jerboas.

Among the birds, pheasants and sparrows are distinguished, and they also prefer to hunt domestic chickens. Cats are excellent at climbing trees thanks to their long and sharp claws, climbing into bird nests and happily eating their eggs.

They can eat amphibians, and in water cartilaginous fish become food for the African cat.

Features of education

Caracals easily adapt to being kept in captivity and get used to humans. But still, experienced breeders do not recommend buying an animal for families with small children.

With the right approach to education and timely suppression of bad habits, a kitten will grow into a friendly, active and affectionate cat. Education must be quite strict . But physical punishment in dealing with animals is excluded.

If you plan to keep your pet in the house, then you should remove valuables, shoes and clothes, and hide wires in advance. Owners who do not plan to breed animals should consider sterilization. After reaching sexual maturity, animals begin to actively mark their territory and can sometimes show aggression.

Steppe cats in captivity

It is not difficult to meet a wild animal in a zoo. It should be noted that their life expectancy is low; they rarely live more than 6 years. In zoos, African cats live much longer.

It is believed that the steppe cat is an animal that has no place among people. However, if you start accustoming him to social life from infancy, then it is quite possible to raise an obedient cat.

Steppe cats are wild predators that live in semi-desert areas, often near bodies of water, where there are many thickets and other opportunities for shelter. They feed mainly on small rodents, birds and their eggs.

The most dangerous enemy of an animal is a wild dog. The life expectancy of a steppe cat in the wild is short - about 6 years. You can meet African cats at the zoo and even have a kitten at home.

Mr. Cat explains: who is the Steppe Cat and what subspecies he has

To figure out who the Steppe Cat is, we need to consider the entire species of Felis Silvestris, which in Russian is called Forest, and in English simply Wildcat. This scientific name was given to the species in 1777 by Johann von Schreber, when he first described the European forest cat based on the work of earlier naturalists such as Mathurin Brisson, Ulysses Aldrovandi and Conrad Gessner.

In the 1940s, taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock examined a collection of skins and skulls of these predators at the Natural History Museum in London and identified subspecies of forest and steppe cats. Hence, all subspecies of Felis Silvestris are conditionally divided into two large groups, namely European forest cats (silvestris) and steppe cats (libyca), which in turn can also be conditionally divided into their own subspecies. More details below.

Silvestris group (forest cats):

F. s. caucasica (Satunin, 1905) or Caucasian forest cat. Lives in the forests of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus. With the exception of the countries of the former USSR in Turkey (Asia Minor).

F. s. grampia (Miller, 1907) or Scottish forest cat. As the name implies, it lives in Scotland, in its northern part.

F. s. silvestris (Schreber, 1777) or Central European forest cat. It lives throughout Europe, but is fragmented, with the exception of Scotland, the Mediterranean islands, and Holland. Also extinct in Austria, but now found there as well due to spread from Italy to the north.

Transitional group silvestris-libyca:

Why transitional? The fact is that previously these subspecies were considered as part of libyca, i.e. steppe cats, and now as part of silvestris, i.e. forest

F. s. cretensis (Haltenorth, 1953) or Cretan wild cat. Lives exclusively on the island of Crete. The subspecies was considered extinct, but an expedition from the Italian University of Perugia in 1996 managed to catch one individual, which was subsequently released into the wild with a radio transmitter. Later, a nest with kittens was found in the Rouvas forest.

F. s. jordansi (Schwarz, 1930) or Balearic wild cat. It lives on the Balearic Islands, previously it was believed that on all of them, but now only on Mallorca.

F. s. reyi (Lavauden, 1929) or Corsican wild cat. Lives on the island of Corsica.

Previously, this entire group was called F. s. sarda (Lataste, 1885). Moreover, at different times only cats living in Sardinia had this name, then in Sardinia and Sicily, and after that all 4: cretensis, jordansi, reyi and sarda.

The libyca group (i.e. the steppe cats themselves), they are further divided into two: ornata-caudata and ornata-libyca.

ornata-caudata (steppe cats) differs from forest cats in their smaller size, lighter fur color and longer and thinner tails. The domestic cat is thought to have evolved from this group.

F. s. caudata (Gray, 1874) or Turkestan steppe cat. It lives in Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Eastern Transcaucasia, northern Iran and Afghanistan, southwestern Mongolia and northwestern China. Since the end of the last century it has also been found in Russia.

F. s. gordoni (Harrison, 1968) or Omani wild cat. Lives on the Arabian Peninsula, Oman and the northeastern part of the UAE. Very small, they easily interbreed with ordinary domestic cats, which leads to the extinction of the subspecies.

F. s. iraki (Cheesman, 1921). Lives in Kuwait and Sheikh Saad on the Tigris River, Iraq.

F. s. nesterovi (Birula, 1916). Approximate habitats: Mesopotamia and southern Iran, borders unknown.

F. s. ornata (Gray, 1832) or Asian steppe (desert) cat. It lives throughout Pakistan, in the western and central parts of India south of the Ganges.

F. s. tristrami (Pocock, 1944). Lives in Palestine, as well as in the west and south of Arabia.

ornata-libyca (damn cats). It is distinguished by lighter fur, well-developed dot patterns and stripes.

F. s. foxi (Pocock, 1944). It lives in western Africa (Paniam plateau, Bauchi province, northern Nigeria).

F. s. haussa (Thomas and Hinton, 1921). Lives in the Sahara (Chad, Niger, Nigeria, western Sudan (Darfur deserts).

F. s. cafra (Desmarest, 1822) or South African wild cat. It is found, as the name suggests, in southern Africa.

F. s. griselda (Thomas, 1926). Habitat: southern Angola, Namibia, Botswana.
F. s. mellandi (Schwann, 1904). Lives in Central Africa.

F. s. griselda

F. s. mellandi

F. s. rubida (Schwann, 1904). Lives in Congo.

F. s. ugandae (Schwann, 1904). It lives in the south of Sudan, Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Lake Tanganyika.

F. s. lybica (Forster, 1780) or African steppe cat. Lives in semi-desert regions of northern Africa.

F. s. ocreata (Gmelin, 1791). Lives in Ethiopia.

Thus, there are 15 subspecies of Steppe cats.

However, now a simplified system is increasingly used, where not groups are considered, but simply subspecies (ornata-caudata is mixed with ornata-libyca):

F.. s. lybica - African. The species and nominate subspecies have pale, whitish or light grayish fur tinged with red on the spinal stripe, and its pointed tail is about two-thirds the length of the head to the size of the body.
F. s. cafra - South African. Slightly different in color and pattern from the nominate species. In existing zoological specimens, the skulls are slightly longer than in northern African specimens.
F. s. ornata - Asian. The animals have dark spots on their light, ocher-gray fur.
F. s. silvestris - European and transitional. They have dark gray fur with distinct transverse stripes on the sides and a bushy tail with a rounded black tip.

Also often included here are Felis bieti, Chinese mountain cats.

The spotted cat is a member of a family that descended from a common ancestor about 10-15 million years ago. Felis species diverged from it about 6-7 million years ago. The European subspecies formed from 1.09 to 1.4 million years ago.

The direct ancestor of the European forest cat was Felis lunensis, which lived in Europe during the late Pliocene and Villafranchian period. Fossil remains indicate that the transformation from lunensis to silvestris was completed by the Holstein Interglacial Period 320-340 thousand years ago.

Craniological differences between the European and African cats indicate that their ancestor likely migrated during the late Pleistocene from Europe to the Middle East, resulting in a new phenotype.