Almost 6 weeks ago, scientists captured the very first recorded footage of African sand kittens while conducting research in the Moroccan Sahara.
The cats were discovered by Grégory Breton and Alexander Sliwa of Panthera, an organization devoted to wild cat conservation. In a blog post, Breton describes the incident, writing:
“It was 2 a.m. in the Moroccan Sahara, and I was heading back to camp after seven hours of driving through sand, dust […] My colleague Alexander Sliwa spent a few more minutes squatting on the roof of our Toyota Land Cruiser shining spot lamps into the bushes, close to giving up.”
“Then, it happened. Three pairs of eyes gleamed back.”
Sand cats are a species of cat that lives exclusively in sandy, desert areas. Although they are scattered across northern Africa, the Middle East, and southwest and central Asia, Breton says they are extremely difficult to find. Sand cats don’t leave noticeable paw prints in the sand, are extremely stealthy, good at hiding, and have the perfect colored coat to camouflage with their surroundings.
Breton has been studying sand cats since 2013, and throughout his career, he has spotted 29 different sand cats, radio-collared 13, and collected what he describes in his blog as “surprising” data. Before Panthera, very little research into African sand cats had been done.
This was Breton’s fifth and final expedition to document sand cats, and it looks like he was finally rewarded for all of his hard work. After finding the kittens, Breton and his team spent roughly an hour taking pictures and videos, and setting up camera traps in an effort to capture the kittens in their natural habitat. When the researchers left the scene, they spotted a nervous looking female sand cat assumed to be the kittens’ mother. She was radio-collared by the team.
In his blog, Breton explains, “If we collect footage on [the mother] and follow her for a long period, we can gather data on the natural reproduction cycles and offspring dispersal of this species in the wild—all topics never before documented.”
That researchers were able to spot these three evasive African sand kittens is truly a miracle on its own— but the fact that managed to catch them on video makes it that much more incredible.
In his blog, Breton writes, “Finding these kittens was astonishing. We believe this was the first time researchers ever documented wild sand cat kittens in their African range.”
Check out the (adorable) groundbreaking footage below!
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