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Pallas's Cat (Manul) - Otocolobus manul
Topic Started: Jan 7 2012, 08:14 PM (3,915 Views)
Taipan
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Pallas's Cat (Manul) - Otocolobus manul

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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Otocolobus
Species: Otocolobus manul

Subspecies
There are three recognized subspecies of this cat:
Otocolobus manul manul, Mongolia, Russia, western China
Otocolobus manul ferruginea, Iran, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan
Otocolobus manul nigripecta, Kashmir, Nepal, Tibet

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Pallas's Cat (Otocolobus manul or Felis manul), also known as the Manul, is a small wild cat of Central Asia. It is about the size of a house cat, at 60 cm (24 in) long, not including its 25 cm (10 in) tail, and an average weight of 3.6 kg (8 lbs). Its fur is ochre in colour with vertical bars, which are sometimes not visible due to the thick fur. It is named after the naturalist Peter Simon Pallas, who first described the species in 1776.

Pallas's Cat is the oldest living species of a clade of felids that includes the modern genus Felis. This feline, along with the extinct Martelli's Cat, were the first two modern cats to evolve from Pseudaelurus approximately 12 million years ago.

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This cat has several features which distinguish it from other felines. Most strikingly, it has round pupils. Its legs are short, its rump is rather bulky, and its fur long and thick. The combination of its stocky posture and thick fur makes it appear especially stout and plushy. Its coat changes with the seasons: the winter coat is greyer and less patterned than the summer coat. The ears are set low and give the cat a somewhat owl-like appearance. Because of its relatively flat face, it was once thought that Pallas's Cat was the ancestor of the Persian cat breed.

Pallas's Cat inhabits the Asian steppes up to heights of 4000 m (13,000 ft). They are thought to be crepuscular hunters and feed on small rodents, pikas and birds.

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Conservation
Like other species of exotic felines, Pallas's Cat has been hunted for its fur. Before it became a legally protected species, tens of thousands of skins were harvested yearly from countries in the habitat range, including China, Mongolia, Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. Today, the cat is regarded as beneficial to its environment as the cat feeds on agricultural pests. However, poisoning of pest rodents and pikas may also affect the cat's survival.

Successful captive-breeding of Pallas's Cat is difficult. Although it breeds well, survival rates are low owing to infection. This has been attributed to an under-developed immune system, as its natural habitat is isolated and it wouldn't normally be exposed to infection.

Taxonomy
Pallas's Cat at the Zurich ZooPallas's Cat has a complicated taxonomical history. It used to be placed in the genus Felis (along with most other cats). This bloated genus has later been split into many smaller genera, resulting in Pallas's Cat to be reclassified as the only member of the genus Otocolobus. However, during the late 20th century Pallas's Cat was considered to be closely related to the remaining species of the genus Felis and was classified accordingly. Finally, recent research has shown Pallas's Cat to be closely related to both Felis and Prionailurus. As a result, the genus Otocolobus has been resurrected and Pallas's Cat has been reclassified (again).

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Taipan
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Distribution
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Diet/Hunting
In the Lake Baikal region, analysis of 502 scats found pikas to form the major part of the manul’s prey (89%), with small rodents also frequently taken (44%). Other prey included susliks (3%), birds (2%) and insectivores (1%) (Fetisov 1937). Bannikov (1954) reported that one cat’s stomach from Mongolia contained the remains of 16 voles; another contained two pikas, one vole and a hamster. Pikas and small rodents were also reported to be the major prey in Ladakh (Stockley 1936) and China (Feng et al. 1986, Gao et al. 1987, Anon. 1987a, Cai et al. 1989a). One cat in Baluchistan, Pakistan, was found feeding on chukor partridge (Roberts 1977). Manuls are generally crepuscular, being most frequently encountered at dusk or in early morning, but are occasionally seen at mid-day (Heptner and Sludskii 1972). They den in small caves and rock crevices, and may take refuge in the burrows of other animals such as marmots, foxes and badgers (Bannikov 1954, Y. Ma pers. comm. 1992). Heptner and Sludskii (1972) reported that tame manuls hunting for rodents caught not only animals running on the surface, but also successfully ambushed them by hiding near exits of burrows, using their paws to fish out the inhabitants when the holes were shallow enough.

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Sneaky Cat Caught on Camera in Himalayas

by LiveScience StaffDate: 29 October 2012 Time: 11:32 AM ET

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Here, kitty! The Pallas's cat comes in for it's camera-trap close-up.

An elusive thick-furred feline has been caught on camera for the first time in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

A camera trap captured images of the fluffy Pallas's cat, also known as the manul, in the country's sprawling Wangchuck Centennial Park (WCP), which is also home to the snow leopard and Himalayan black bear. Pallas's cats had never been documented in the region before, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

"This is an exciting and remarkable discovery that proves that the Pallas's cat exists in the Eastern Himalayas," Rinjan Shrestha, a conservation scientist with WWF, said in a statement. "This probably indicates a relatively undisturbed habitat, which gives us hope, not only for the Pallas's cat, but also the snow leopard, Tibetan wolf and other threatened species that inhabit the region."

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The Pallas’s cat, photographed this year in Bhutan’s Wangchuck Centennial Park, had never before been documented in the region.

The cat is a primitive species that has evolved little in the past 5 million years. It's about the size of a house cat and slightly resembles a Persian cat with its flat face, high-set eyes and thick coat, which keeps it warm at high altitudes. The Pallas's cat's distinct gray fur with dark spots on its head also helps it blend in with mountainous habitats across Central Asia.

Bhutan's park service and a WWF team surveying snow leopards in the region set up the camera traps, which first snapped a photo of a manul in January, then in February and April. In one shot, the cat appears to be sneaking right up to camera in for a close-up, staring right into the lens from the bottom-right corner of the frame.

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Researchers say the photos prove that the Pallas’s cat exists in the Eastern Himalayas.

The Pallas's cats are vanishing from some parts of Central Asia, including the Caspian Sea region and Pakistan's Baluchistan province, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed it as a near threatened species. Poachers target Pallas's cats for their fur, as well as their fat and organs, which are used in traditional medicines in Mongolia and China, according to conservationists.

Bhutan might be a good place for the cats to take shelter. More than 60 percent of the country is under forest cover, and a quarter of its territory has been designated as national parks or protected areas, with its rugged mountains and valleys considered hotspots for biodiversity.

http://www.livescience.com/24369-sneaky-cat-caught-on-camera-in-himalayas.html
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Save the world's fluffiest cat

By Kate Baklitskaya19 December 2012

Concern is growing over poaching of the 'secretive' manul wild cat - also known as Pallas's Cat.

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Manul's fur in the most fluffy and thick among the cat family with about 9,000 hairs per square cm.

Related millions of years ago to the leopard, this majestic cat is a native of Siberia though suffers from being less famous than some of its cousins.

'The measures that are applied to poachers now are not strict enough' warned Vladimir Krever, WWF coordinator on biological development.

'We don't have exact statistics on manual poaching but we know that it takes place.

'The exact number of the species is unknown because of the secretive behaviour of manul and the patchiness of its distribution.

'Daurovsky Reservation (in Chita region) is the only one in Russia that is located in the area of the manul's habitat - and where the animal is studied.'

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Related millions of years ago to the leopard, this majestic cat is a native of Siberia.

The rare cat is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature where it has the status of 'near threatened'. The cat is known for its awesome look.

Among poachers, though, it is famous for other qualities, notably its thick and warm fur.

The Pallas's cat's fur in the most fluffy and thick among the cat family with about 9,000 hairs per square centimetre, which can reach a length of 7 cm.

The negative impact of hunting and the decline of numbers of the wild cat led to an expression of concern by IUCN.

Manul hunting is forbidden in Russia - but sadly this does not stop hunters for this rare fur.

According to WWF Russia and the TRAFFIC programme, the sale of fur mittens made from manul fur is not unknown in Vladivostok.

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Still on offer: mittens made from manul's fur.

In 2009 a store owner was fined 15,000 roubles ($500). This is one of the rare cases when manul poaching got to the court and a fine was imposed.

It is hoped the manul will be more protected by proposed new legislation. The wild cat has a broad but patchy distribution in the grasslands and steppes of Central Asia and southern Siberia.

http://siberiantimes.com/ecology/casestudy/features/save-the-worlds-fluffiest-cat/
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SETA222
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Cool animal.
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