Pallas’s Cat:
The first photographic proof of Pallas’s cat in Himachal Pradesh, India, during a snow leopard survey recently, highlights urgent need for conservation of lesser-known species in the Indian Himalayas.
- The Pallas’s cat, or manul (Otocolobus manul), is a small, long-haired cat(family Felidae).
- It was named Pallas’s cat after Peter Simon Pallas, who first described it in 1776 based on specimens collected near Lake Baikal, Russia.
- It is primarily found in Central Asia, with the range extending to western Iran, Mongolia, China, Russia (on the border of Mongolia and China), Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
- In these regions, it inhabits mountainous plains and semi-desert foothills.
- It is a soft-furred animalabout the size of a house cat and is pale silvery gray or light brown in colour.
- Head and body length ranges from 45 to 60 centimetres (18 to 24 inches) with an additional 23–30 cm for the tail; weight ranges from 2.5 to 3.5 kilograms (5.5 to 7.7 pounds).
- It is distinguished by a broad head with high-set eyes and low-set ears.
- The end of its tail is ringed and tipped with black, and some individuals have vague, dark markings on the body.
- The fur of the underparts is about twice as long as that of the upperparts and possibly represents an adaptation to the cat’s habitual lying and crouching on cold ground.
- Conservation Status:
- IUCN Red List: Least Concern
- CITES: Appendix II
