Sand Cat, Red Panda, and Meerkat

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Sand Cat, Red Panda, and Meerkat

• By Patrick Lagua

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Sand Cat
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ID and Features

• Sand Cat
• Felis margarita

• The sand cats head is conspicuously broad with
  large, pointed ears.
• Its fur is a sandy yellow with pallid bars, which
  are sometimes hardly visible.
• The mucosa of the eyes is striking black, and so
  is the fur on the tip of its tail.

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Habitat and Population Size

• The sand cat likes hot, dry areas with rolling
  sand dunes and flat stony plains.

• It is solitary

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Predators and Food

• It has no predators

• The sand cat eats small rodents, lizards,
  insects, and snakes (it is a nocturnal animal).

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Relationships with other Species, Range, and
Management Issues

• They hunt their prey, stay away from water holes
  and are solitary.
• North Africa to Southwest Asia.
• Their food is becoming extinct.

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Red Panda
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ID

• Red Panda
• Ailurus fulgens
• Also called Fire Fox, Fire Cat, Fat Fox, Lesser
  Panda, Hun Ho, Red Cat Bear, and shining cat.

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Features

• The red panda is quite long , 31-47 in.
  (including tail), with the males weighing 10-14
  lbs. and the females weighing 6-10 lbs.
• It is specialized as a bamboo feeder, but it more
  closely resembles a raccoon than its larger
  relative the Giant Panda.
• Like Giant Pandas it has a false thumb that is
  an extension of the wrist bone.
• Its a medium-sized ,bear-like, animal with
  thick, long, soft, reddish-brown (rusty to deep
  chestnut) fur on the superior half and black on
  the inferior half.
• It has a light face with tear markings and robust
  cranial-dental features. The light face has white
  badges similar to those of a raccoon but each
  individual can have distinctive markings.

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Continue of Features

• The light face has white badges similar to those
  of a raccoon but each individual can have
  distinctive markings.
• Its roundish head has medium sized upright ears,
  a black nose, and very dark eyes (almost pitch
  black).
• Its long, bushy tail has six alternating
  yellowish-red transverse ocher rings, it also
  provides balance and excellent camouflage against
  its habitat of moss and lichen covered trees.
• The legs are black, short with thick fur on the
  soles of the paws to hide scent glands and
  serving as thermal insulation on snow-covered or
  ice surfaces.
• Its strong, curved and sharp semi-retractile
  claws are standing inward for the grasping of
  narrow tree branches, leaves, and fruit.
• Its roundish head has medium sized upright ears,
  a black nose, and very dark eyes (almost pitch
  black).

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Habitat and Population Size

• The red panda lives in bamboo forests of the
  Himalayan Mountains and mixed deciduous and
  coniferous forests that have a dense conpy and
  hollow tree understory below.
• They live in elevations of 2,000-4,800 meters
  where the weather is cool and moist.

• Fewer than 2,500

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Predators

• Snow Leopards attack adults and Yellow-Necked
  Martens often take cubs in the nest.

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Food

• They are mostly vegetarian, primarily bamboo
  shoots, roots, fruit, acorns, berries, lichen,
  grasses and mushrooms.
• They also eat insects, bird eggs, young birds,
  small rodents, and fish.
• red pandas have the digestive system of a
  carnivore therefore it cannot digest wood fiber.
• It therefore has to eat large amounts of bamboo
  everyday in order to survive.
• They need to consume about 30 of their body
  weight in bamboo daily.

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Relationships with other Species and Range

• They are mostly solitary but sometimes they form
  pairs or small family groups.
• They are crepuscular (active around dawn and
  dusk) and nocturnal.

• Native to southeastern Asia, along a crescent
  formed by the Himalayan Mountain foothills from
  western Nepal, southern Tibet, Bhutan, northeast
  India, east into the highlands of Burma (or
  Myanmar), the Gongshan Mountains of Yunnan
  province in China, and the Hengduan Mountains of
  Sichuan province in China.

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Management Issues

• They are endangered in China and protected in
  Nepal, habitat destruction (habitat
  fragmentation), competition of local live stock,
  poaching, deforestation and farming .
• In southwest China the red panda is hunted for
  its fur and especially for its highly-valued
  bushy tail from which hats are produced.
• Their fur is often used for local cultural
  ceremonies and in weddings, the bridegroom
  traditionally carries the hide.
• The good-luck charm hats are used by Chinese
  Newlyweds.

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Meerkat
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ID and Features

• Meerkat (suricate)
• Suricata suricatta

• Its a small (mongoose) weighing on average about
  1.61 lbs. for males and 1.58 lbs. for females.
• Its long slender body and limbs give it a body
  length of 10-14 in. and an additional tail length
  of 7-10 in.
• Its tail is not bushy like all other mongoose
  species but is rather long, thin, and tapers to a
  black or reddish colored pointed tip.

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Features page 2

• Its face tapers, coming to a point at the nose,
  which is brown.
• The eyes have black patches around them, which
  help deflect the suns glare.
• The meerkat has small black crescent ears that
  can close when digging to keep the sand out.
• Like cats, meerkats have binocular vision, a
  large peripheral range and depth perception.
• At the end of each of a meerkats fingers is a
  non-retractible, strong, .8 in. long curved claw
  used for digging underground burrows and digging
  for prey.
• The claws also help them climb trees
  (occasionally they do to get a better view).

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Features page 3

• They have four toes on each foot and long,
  slender powerful limbs.
• The coat is usually fawn-colored peppered with
  gray, tan or brown with a silver tint.
• They have short parallel stripes across their
  backs, extending from the base of their tail to
  the shoulders (The patterns of stripes are unique
  to each meerkat).
• The underside of the meerkat has no markings but
  the belly has a patch which is only sparsely
  covered with hair and shows the black skin
  underneath.
• The meerkat uses this area to absorb heat while
  standing on its rear legs, usually early in the
  morning after cold desert nights.

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Habitat

• They are found in the semi arid plains of
  southern Africa.
• They avoid woodland and dense vegetation,
  preferring to live among the scrub.
• At night the meerkat retires to a network of
  burrows, which may be as deep as 10 feet.
• They make dens in the crevices between rocks.

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Population Size and Predators

• They live in large groups and watch out for one
  another, with numbers, up to 40.
• This is called a mob, gang or clan.

• The main predators are
• Martial Eagle
• (to right)
• Jackals
• (below)
• Tawny Eagles.
• (to right)

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Food and Relationships with other Species

• They eat scorpions (they are immune to their
  venom), beetles, spiders, centipedes, millipedes,
  worms, crickets, small mammals, small reptiles
  (like lizards and snakes), birds, plants (like
  tubers and roots). They are primarily
  insectivores.
• They have no excess body fat stores, so foraging
  for food is a daily need.

• They are prey to larger animals.
• Ground squirrels and mongoose sometimes live in
  the burrows with them.
• Their prey (mostly insects).
• Mutual benefit with other animals

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Range and Management Issues

• They range from Angola through Namibia, Botswana,
  Karroo, and South Africa.

• Predators

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Cites

• wikipedia.com
• indiantiger.org
• tigerhomes.org
• lsb.syr.edu/projects/cyberzoo/redpanda.html
• itech.pjc.edu/sctag/REDPANDA/Red20Panda.htm
• wonderclub.com
• meerkats.net
• bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/Behavior/Spring2004
  /fitzpatrick/Environmental20Factors.htm