Benny
The smallest wild cat in the African continent, the black-footed cat is the most lethal hunter in the cat family – domestic and wild cats combined.
According to Nature on PBS, the cat has a 60% success rate in hunting down their prey. This is in contrast to the king of the jungle, the lion, which has a 20% rate of catching their prey.
It’s rare to see black-footed cats due to their nocturnal nature. They are swift hunters, benefiting from the cover of darkness and plants. They usually stalk or approach their prey before they pounce on them. Additionally, they’re swift jumpers as they can catch birds on air as they flew from their predators. The cats can walk for more than 20 miles in search of a meal.
Unlike the domestic cats, Black-footed cats are poor climbers. This is attributed to their stocky bodies and short tails.
They are found in dry-open habitats that has some percentage of plants cover, mostly in southern and central Africa. During the day, they stay in unoccupied burrows or hollow termite mounds.
The black-footed cats are smaller than domestic cats. An average black-footed cat measures between 16-20 inches long. In terms of weight, an average adult can weigh between 1.3-2.5kg.
They are solitary animals and will only be seen in a sociable situation during the breeding season. Also, this will occur among females who have kittens that haven’t reached the age of fending for themselves.
Their feet aren’t black as their name suggests. It’s only the pads and underparts of the cats’ feet that are black. Their skin is pink in colour unlike other wild cats. They are light-brown with black spots spread on their body.
The black-footed cats aided by their big eyes can see their prey at night six times better than humans. Their hearing is impressive as they can hear even the tiniest sound.
A female black-footed cat becomes sexually active at the age of 8-12 months. Their gestation period lasts between 63-68 days. On average, a female will give birth to two kittens. Within a few hours, the newly-born kittens can crawl and at the age of 2 weeks they are capable of walking. They are fully weaned at two-months old though they start taking solid food when they’re one-month old. At the age of five, they become independent of their mothers.
Nice looking cat but I hope it doesn’t come to New Zealand. Birds are endangered as they are here and some species may become extinct with that cat.
As it is with introduced animals in New Zealand, many species of unique birds have already become extinct
That’s such a loss of some birds having gone extinct. Yah, it’s true if these cats are introduced in your country, many of them will go extinct.
I was not aware that this cat was the most dangerous. How beautiful he is.
Yah, he’s beautiful but very wild. You can keep as a pet though.
That’s one good looking cat! I love cats and I’m glad I found something new, it’s he first time I hear about this one.
Thank you Gogata. He is indeed good looking. It was only recently scientists were able to study it in detail due to the fact they mostly hunt at night.
He looks gorgeous, but I wouldn’t keep him as a pet. He should always be free.
Yah, he is cute. Actually, he is near-threatened.
Fantastic post. Thank you very much for sharing. He looks so cute. I hardly believe that it’s such a dangerous cat. ?
Thank you Vidocka. Yah, he looks cute. Actually, there are people who keep black footed cats as pets.
This is very dangerous , In which state this cat found ?
It is found mainly in South Africa but distributed in the southern region of Africa.
Thank you for telling me since my sister’s cat are known for telling each other with their body language “Leave me alone. Go somewhere else” when they are sharing some space inside the home.
Hahaha, they still have wild instincts the same with dogs. When the cats show through body language, better leave them alone till they become little adorable home cats??
That is true since it takes a long time for a new cat to get used to being with his fellow cats inside this home.
What an amazing kill rate (60%) thanks for sharing!
Thank you. You can watch how it catches a bird on air as it from the cat on Nature on PBS. I tried uploading it here but failed.
I did not that the black-footed cat was a deadly animal.
Yah, it’s a deadly animal inspite of its small size. But there are people keeping them as pets.
I guess some people like to take risks by having a black-footed cat as a pet. No black-footed cats for me and my relatives even if they were in my area.
Yah, these cats do possess wild animal instincts. They can turn wild and cause harm as evidenced by those who reared lions as cubs which afterwards turned against them.