Modern young people like to “catch cats” very much when they are relaxing and getting rid of boredom. The cute and docile kittens can’t escape the caress of the shit shovel officer.
However, not all cats can be licked obediently, and there are some cats who are not tame at all. Among them, the typical one is the black-footed cat, which is even banned all over the world because it is too fierce.
cat as its name suggests
Common domestic pet cats, such as the soft and sticky British Shorthair cat, the lively Siamese cat, the “facade” cat among cats, the cute and lazy cat, are all characters. A docile and low-aggressive cat.
And if you don’t understand the temperament of the black-footed cat, just look at its appearance, it is not surprising to put it among these domestic cats.
The black-footed cat is a wild cat living in Africa. The cat lives up to its name. The hair and pads on the four paws of the black-footed cat are all black, while the main coat color of the body is mainly white and brown, with some The black-brown spots and stripes are laid out on the top, which looks soft and cute without losing wildness, and looks very easy to touch.
Black-footed cats are very miniature, generally about 40-50 cm in length. An adult male cat weighs about 2 kg, and a female cat is lighter, only about 1 kg. It is the smallest cat in Africa.
Interestingly, although the black-footed cat is petite, its tail is very long, about 15cm or so, accounting for nearly half the length of its body, making it more cute.
However, although petite in size, soft and cute in appearance like a domestic cat, the black-footed cat is far less docile than the domestic cat, and must not be easily approached.
In fact, the black-footed cat can be described as “the best among cats”, it has a powerful and unusual attack.
According to statistics, among cats, the hunting efficiency of lions and tigers is 20%, and the hunting efficiency of black-footed cats is indeed 60%, which is three times that of famous hunters such as lions and tigers. Cats are very efficient at hunting. It is precisely because of this that the black-footed cat is also known as the “killing machine”.
killing machine
The petite and cute black-footed cat can make a name for itself on the hunting grounds, but also because of its two natures.
Speed beyond the naked eye
“The world’s martial arts, only fast is not broken”, this is also applicable in the desperate struggle between animals.
Due to body size restrictions, the food of black-footed cats is mainly rodents, small mammals and smaller birds. Sometimes they will also prey on insects and spiders when they are very hungry, but insects account for less than % of their food. one.
But where is a cat who doesn’t like to catch mice? The black-footed cat is no exception, and mice are also its main food source. At the same time, some animals that are much larger than it, such as Cape hares, springbok cubs, etc., will also become the prey of the black-footed cat.
So the question is, how can the petite black-footed cat swallow these large prey?
The size is destined that the black-footed cat cannot rely on brute force to win. To successfully prey, it must find another way and rely on outsmarting. As it happens, black-footed cats are very fast.
The black-footed cat has a very strong jumping ability. It can jump to a height of 1.5 meters with one jump, and jump out to a distance of 2 meters with one jump. The speed is so fast that it is difficult to catch with the naked eye. It is precisely because of this incredible speed that the black-footed cat is hard to miss.
Another aspect of outwitness is hunting skills. Black-footed cats prefer a “waiting for the rabbit” way of hunting.
The black-footed cat is extremely calm, it will quietly hide in the hole of the prey, not in a hurry, and quietly wait for the prey to come out of the hole by itself.
Until the prey relaxes its vigilance and exits the cave by itself, the black-footed cat seizes the opportunity. With the amazing speed that even the camera can’t capture, it swoops up at lightning speed, bites the throat of the prey, wins with one move, and eats a meal. pause.
- good night visionFor natural hunters like cats, night vision is extremely important, and for black-footed cats living in Africa, night vision is an indispensable basic ability for survival.
As a result, the daytime is bright, and the black-footed cat, who is stubbornly waiting for the rabbit, cannot hide its figure, cannot catch its prey by surprise, and its foraging efficiency is greatly reduced, even exposing itself to natural enemies. Other people’s dishes. Therefore, the day is really not a good time to hunt.
Second, during the day, the temperature in Africa is extremely high, the ground is hot, and water resources are scarce. In order to avoid excessive water consumption, black-footed cats can only choose to go out at night, rest during the day, and hunt food at night.
Therefore, in order to ensure that they do not have to go hungry during the day, the black-footed cat can only hunt enough food at night, and store the food in advance for consumption during the day.
At this time, the night vision ability of the black-footed cat played a crucial role. Like other cats, the black-footed cat’s two amber-like eyes have excellent night vision, about six times that of humans, which allows it to prey at night.
As mentioned earlier, black-footed cats like to wait for rabbits. In fact, there are two common hunting methods for black-footed cats.
First, beat the grass and startle the snake. The black-footed cat is very intelligent and will run around in the grass first, making small prey hidden in the grass feel afraid to run around. It deliberately showed its feet, letting the prey go into chaos first, and then took advantage of the chaos to quickly subdue the prey.
With its super night vision ability, the black-footed cat can see the prey very clearly in the dark, so there is no need to worry about missing the prey because it cannot be seen.
Second, follow silently. In the face of some prey that are relatively large and cannot attack from the front, the black-footed cat will carefully follow the prey, and once the right moment is found, it will make a surprise shot.
How does the prey know that there is a hunter behind it, and it will only panic in the face of a sudden attack, but the black-footed cat is very calm, and has long seen the location of the killing move, and when the prey is in a panic, it slams and hits it immediately. .
With these two natures, under normal circumstances, a night of hunting by black-footed cats can be said to be quite fruitful.
According to data, black-footed cats are unusually active at night, launching a prey every 30 minutes, and can even kill 10 to 14 prey in a night, with an average of 50 minutes to catch a prey.
And an ordinary leopard can hardly reach the predation amount of a black-footed cat in one night even if it spends the first half of the year. Therefore, the black-footed cat deserves the name of “killing machine”.
Epilogue
Although black-footed cats are banned all over the world because they are too fierce, there are still many people who want to keep black-footed cats as pets. They hunt black-footed cats in various ways, which directly leads to a decrease in the number of black-footed cats. Now, black-footed cats have become a vulnerable species, and racial continuity has become a problem.
As the king of slaughter, the black-footed cat should return to his own world, and should not be confined to a small and unconscious state. If so, how is the black-footed cat different from other domestic cats?