This is a small, furry animal. It is a carnivore from the family Felidae. It lives mainly in China and Mongolia, and more generally in Central Asia.
cool things about the manul | |
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 This cat may look big, but in reality it's just fluffy. It's about the size of a house cat and weighs around 10 pounds.
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Recording of manul from Higashiyama Park chittering. The caption says it's likely he spotted a bird. I've found many manuls in captivity to be very vocal. |
| It has the longest and densest fur of any cat.
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| Its winter coat is grey, long and fluffy, while its summer coat is shorter and brown. This helps camoflage in the plains.
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| As part of the Otoclobus genus, they're one of the few cats to have round pupils. The others are Panthera, Puma, Herpailurus, and Acinonyx.
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| It can't run very well due to its short legs, so when it spots danger, it hides in rocks or crevices or presses itself flat to the ground and pretends to be a boulder.
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Its diet mostly consists of pikas (see right  )
|  From Wikimedia |
| While most cats have triangular ears that stand up, the manul has flat ears that allow it to better mimic smooth boulders
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| Its Latin name, "Otocolobus Manul" means "ugly-eared"
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| It can sit still for hours in the snow while camouflaging (see right )
|  From Wildlife Instincts: Pallas's Cat - Master of the Plains |
| It has really long hair that makes it look like a boulder.
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| It camouflages by pretending to be a boulder
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manul links
- Great documentary about the Manul and the Mongolian steppes: Pallas's Cat - Master of the Plain
- Species info, including a recording of vocalizations, from Conservation of the Palla's Cat
- IUCN Red List entry on the manul
Check out my Twitter list of accounts that post manul photos