page_title: Black-footed cat
section_title: Hunting and diet
hierarchical_section_title: Black-footed cat / Behaviour and ecology / Hunting and diet
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Felis nigripes im Zoo Wuppertal
context_page_description: The black-footed cat, also called the small-spotted cat, is the smallest wild cat in Africa, having a head-and-body length of 35–52 cm. Despite its name, only the soles of its feet are black or dark brown. With its bold small spots and stripes on the tawny fur, it is well camouflaged, especially on moonlit nights. It bears black streaks running from the corners of the eyes along the cheeks, and its banded tail has a black tip.
  The first black-footed cat known to science was discovered in the northern Karoo of South Africa and described in 1824. It is endemic to the arid steppes and grassland savannas of Southern Africa. In the late 1960s, it was recorded in southern Botswana, but only few authentic records exist in Namibia, in southern Angola, and in southern Zimbabwe. Due to its restricted distribution, it has been listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2002. The population is suspected to be declining due to poaching of prey species for human consumption as bushmeat, persecution, traffic accidents, and predation by domestic dogs and cats.
  The black-footed cat has been studied using radio telemetry since 1993.
context_section_description: The black-footed cat hunts at night irrespective of the weather, at temperatures from −10 to 35 °C (14 to 95 °F). It attacks its prey from the rear, puts its forepaws on its flanks and grounds the prey using its dewclaws. It employs three different ways of hunting: "fast hunt", "slow hunt", and "sit and wait" hunt. In a fast hunt, the cat moves at a speed of 2 to 3 km/h (1.2 to 1.9 mph) and chases prey out of vegetation cover. A slowly hunting cat stalks the prey at a slower speed of 0.5 to 0.8 km/h (0.31 to 0.50 mph), meandering cautiously through the grass and vigilantly checking its surroundings while turning its head side to side. In a "sit and wait" hunt, it waits for the prey motionlessly in front of a rodent den, sometimes with closed eyes. Its ears keep moving, and as soon as it hears a sound, it opens the eyes.
  Due to its small size, the black-footed cat hunts mainly small prey such as rodents and small birds, but also preys on Cape hare (Lepus capensis), being heavier than itself. Its energy requirement is very high, with about 250 to 300 g (9 to 11 oz) of prey consumed per night, which is about a sixth of its average body weight.
  In 1993, a female and a male black-footed cat were followed for 622 hours and observed hunting. They caught vertebrates every 50 minutes and killed up to 14 small animals in a night. They killed shrews and rodents by a bite in the neck or in the head and consumed them completely. They stalked birds quietly, followed by a quick chase and a jump up to a height of 1.4 m (4.6 ft) and over a distance of 2 m (6.6 ft), also catching some in the air. They pulled them down to the ground and consumed small birds like Cape clapper lark (Mirafra apiata) and spike-heeled lark (Chersomanes albofasciata) without plucking. They plucked large birds like northern black korhaan (Afrotis afraoides), ate for several hours, cached the remains in hollows and covered them with sand. Neonate springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) lambs keep hiding quietly in a hollow or under a bush for the first few days of their lives. A male pounced on a lamb resting in the grass, but abandoned the hunt after the lamb got up on its feet. It later scavenged the carcass of a recently deceased lamb weighing nearly 3 kg (6.6 lb). It consumed around 120 g (0.26 lb) meat in each of several bouts of eating, starting from the thighs, making its way from the lower back through the flanks to the neck; later it opened up the chest and fed on the inner organs. Insects like harvester termites, grasshoppers and moths constituted about 2% of the prey mass consumed.
  Altogether 54 prey species of the black-footed cat were identified, with the gerbil mouse (Malacothrix typica) being among its most important prey. Its average prey weighs 24.1 g (1 oz) with small mammals constituting the most important prey class, followed by larger mammals weighing more than 100 g (4 oz) and small birds.
  It apparently gets all the moisture it needs from its prey, but drinks water when available.
caption: Captive black-footed cat with a mouse
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