Black-footed cat

The **black-footed cat** (***Felis nigripes***), also called the **small-spotted cat**, is the smallest wild cat species in Africa. Its body is about  long. Only the bottoms of its feet are black or dark brown. Its yellow-brown fur has small dark spots and stripes that help it stay hidden at night. It has black lines running from its eyes to its cheeks, and its tail has dark bands with a black tip. It has been seen in southern Botswana, and is rarely found in Namibia, southern Angola, and southern Zimbabwe. This research showed how it lives in the wild: it rests in burrows during the day and hunts at night. It usually travels  each night to search for small rodents and birds. It can jump up to  high to catch birds in the air,

Later, British zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock confirmed that the black-footed cat belongs to the genus *Felis*.

The idea that the black-footed cat has subspecies was later questioned because there are no clear natural barriers, like a mountain, river, or desert, between its populations.

### Evolution 
Studies of DNA show that cats (Felidae) first spread across Asia during the Miocene, about . It lives in South Africa and southern Botswana, where it was first recorded in the 1960s.

It is not a good climber because of its short, strong body and short tail, although one was once seen resting in a camelthorn tree.

Females usually live in areas of , while males range over larger areas of . A male’s range often overlaps with those of several females. They mark their territories using scent, such as spraying urine, rubbing, claw marks, and leaving faeces in easy-to-see places.

Because it is shy and moves fast without using roads, the black-footed cat is difficult to study. In South Africa, its population density was estimated at  near Kimberley in 1998–1999, but this dropped to  between 2005 and 2014. In Nuwejaarsfontein, densities from 2009 to 2014 were about . In poorer habitats, numbers may be as low as . She can give birth to one or two litters each year between October and March. Litters usually have one or two kittens, but can have up to four. They become independent at 3–4 months old but usually stay close to their mother’s area. In captivity, they can live for up to 15 years. Wild cats are also at risk from diseases spread by domestic dogs and cats.

## Threats
Threats include accidental killing during predator control, such as poison bait and steel traps, habitat destruction caused by overgrazing, fewer springhares, attacks by other carnivores, diseases, and poor farming methods. Some cats are killed by herding dogs. Many protected areas are too small to support healthy populations. In 2012, the study expanded to Biesiesfontein Farm near Victoria West. Between 1992 and 2018, 65 cats were fitted with radio collars to study their social behaviour, home ranges, hunting, and diet. Camera traps are also used to study their behaviour and interactions with aardwolfs.

### In captivity 
The Wuppertal Zoo in Germany obtained black-footed cats in 1957 and successfully bred them in 1963. In 1993, the European Endangered Species Programme was set up to manage breeding and reduce inbreeding. The *International Studbook for the Black-footed Cat* was maintained at Wuppertal Zoo. , records showed that 726 black-footed cats had been kept in captivity since 1964. At that time, 74 cats were living in 23 institutions in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, the US, the UK, and South Africa.

Several zoos have reported successful breeding, including Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, and Philadelphia Zoo.

The Audubon Nature Institute’s Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans has carried out advanced genetic research on cats. In February 2011, a female there gave birth to two male kittens. These were the first black-footed cats born using fertilization with frozen sperm and embryos. The sperm was collected in 2003, used to fertilize an egg in 2005, and the embryos were frozen. In 2010, the embryos were thawed and placed into a surrogate female, who carried the pregnancy and gave birth to the kittens.

On 6 February 2012, the same center reported another success. A female kitten named Crystal was born to a domestic cat surrogate after interspecies embryo transfer.

## References 
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