Their skulls are broad and eye pupils contract slits. Black-footed cats inhibit part of Botswana including the Kalahari Desert and the interior of South Africa. Their diet consists mostly of mice and other small rodents, and perhaps small reptiles which they unearth by digging with powerful forepaws. The black-footed cat is also know to feed on beetles and spiders. Black-footed cats are nocturnal, hiding during the day in holes made by springhaas, or in hollows that have formed in abandoned termite mounds.
Gestation period is slightly more than two months, producing a litter of one to two kittens.
Born with their eyes closed, kittens weight 60 to 80 grams at birth. Their eyes open after six to eight days. Young black-footed cats mature rapidly and are strong hunters, even during the first few weeks spent with their mother. Black-footed cats are an endangered species.