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.
About Pallas’s Cat:
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.
Distribution:
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.
Features:
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 abroad 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.
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