Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Black-footed cats are found in the sa­van­nas and grass­lands of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, as well as small parts of An­gola, Zim­babwe, and pos­si­ble Lesotho. (IUCN Cat Spe­cial­ist Group, 1996; Nowak, 1999; Silwa, 2008)

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian
  • native

Habi­tat

Black-footed cats in­habit dry grass­lands, sa­van­nas, and deserts of south­ern Africa. The ter­rain they in­habit av­er­ages 100 to 500 mm of rain­fall each year. They cre­ate dens in bur­rows or aban­doned ter­mite mounds and also shel­ter tem­porar­ily in dense thick­ets. (Nowak, 1999; Silwa, 2008)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• desert or dune
• savanna or grassland
• scrub forest

• Range elevation

  0 to 2000 m

  0.00 to 6561.68 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Black-footed cats are the small­est of African Felis species. The body is cov­ered with light brown hair with black to dark brown spots cov­er­ing the back, sides, and stom­ach. Dark brown stripes sim­i­lar to the spots ap­pear on the cheeks, front legs, haunches, and tail. In ad­di­tion, the tip of the tail is solid black (about twice the thick­ness as the stripes around the tail). The tail av­er­ages 150 to 200 mm, about half the body length. The bot­tom of the feet, which are often vis­i­ble due to their dig­it­i­grade style of walk­ing, are black, giv­ing this species its com­mon name. Males are slightly larger than fe­males, av­er­ag­ing 1.93 kg, com­pared to 1.3 kg for fe­males. (Molteno, et al., 1998; Nowak, 1999; Silwa, 2008)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  1 to 2.75 kg

  2.20 to 6.06 lb

• Range length

  337 to 500 mm

  13.27 to 19.69 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Black-footed cats are likely polyg­y­nous, as male ter­ri­to­ries over­lap with up to 5 fe­male ranges, while fe­male ranges usu­ally only over­lap with one male home range. Prior to mat­ing, fe­male urine-spray­ing in­creases to ad­ver­tise her readi­ness to the local male. Breed­ing is the only time that black-footed cats are found as­so­ci­at­ing with each other, ex­cept for fe­males and their kit­tens. Males and fe­males only as­so­ci­ate for 5 to 10 hours for mat­ing. (Molteno, et al., 1998; Silwa, 2004; Silwa, 2008)

• Mating System
• polygynous

Black-footed cats mate in the fall, in Au­gust and Sep­tem­ber, giv­ing birth to young in No­vem­ber to De­cem­ber in an un­der­ground den. Fe­males may have mul­ti­ple lit­ters in a year and young have been recorded in dens as late as Feb­ru­ary. Fe­males av­er­age 1 to 3 off­spring in each lit­ter (1 to 2 is more typ­i­cal). Ges­ta­tion takes 59 to 68 days and fe­males give birth to young from 60 to 88 grams in weight. Young begin to ven­ture out of their den at 3 weeks old and are fully weaned at about 6 weeks old, when they can begin to catch their own prey. Fe­males be­come ma­ture at 14 to 21 months old. (de Ma­g­a­l­haes and Costa, 2009; IUCN Cat Spe­cial­ist Group, 1996; Molteno, et al., 1998; Nowak, 1999)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Black-footed cats can breed up to 4 times yearly, although fewer litters are more common.

• Breeding season

  Black-footed cats can breed from the spring to the fall. Mating is most common in the spring.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 3

• Average number of offspring

  1.71

• Average number of offspring

  2

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  59 to 68 days

• Average gestation period

  66 days

• Range weaning age

  30 to 35 days

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  14 to 21 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  14.8 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  14.5 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  434 days

  AnAge

Fe­male black-footed cats pro­vide all post-cop­u­la­tion in­vest­ment in off­spring. Through­out ges­ta­tion and lac­ta­tion, fe­males in­vest heav­ily in their young. Start­ing at about 3 weeks old, fe­males begin to bring back live prey for their off­spring to prac­tice catch­ing prey with. Dur­ing this time fe­males bring back as much as 50% of their catches in a night. Young may in­herit ter­ri­tory from their mother. (IUCN Cat Spe­cial­ist Group, 1996; Nowak, 1999; Silwa, 1999; Silwa, 2008)

• Parental Investment
• precocial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• inherits maternal/paternal territory

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Lit­tle is known about life ex­pectancy in black-Footed cats, but they are thought to live up to 13 years, up to 15.6 years in cap­tiv­ity. (de Ma­g­a­l­haes and Costa, 2009; IUCN Cat Spe­cial­ist Group, 1996)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  13 (high) years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  15.6 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  12.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Black-footed cats are soli­tary, only found with other in­di­vid­u­als dur­ing breed­ing or as a mother with de­pen­dent off­spring. A pre­dom­i­nantly noc­tur­nal species, they are rarely en­coun­tered and take shel­ter dur­ing the day in the bur­rows of other an­i­mals, in dense thick­ets, or in caves or crevices. (IUCN Cat Spe­cial­ist Group, 1996; Molteno, et al., 1998; Nowak, 1999; Silwa, 1999; Silwa, 2004; Silwa, 2008)

• Key Behaviors
• cursorial
• terricolous
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary
• territorial

• Range territory size

  10 to 20 km^2

Home Range

Male home ranges av­er­age 13 to 20 sq km, while fe­male home ranges av­er­age 10 to 12 sq km. While over­lap be­tween sexes is com­mon, and may make up as much as 50% of a home range, in­di­vid­u­als rarely spend sig­nif­i­cant time to­gether (usu­ally only for breed­ing). A male's range may over­lap with up to 5 sep­a­rate fe­male ranges. Ter­ri­tory is marked via urine spray­ing in both sexes, not just at bor­ders, but also at areas com­monly used by the in­di­vid­ual. One study es­ti­mated pop­u­la­tion den­sity at 0.17 per square kilo­me­ter. (IUCN Cat Spe­cial­ist Group, 1996; Molteno, et al., 1998; Nowak, 1999; Silwa, 1999; Silwa, 2004; Silwa, 2008)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Be­cause they are soli­tary, black-footed cats mostly com­mu­ni­cate via scent mark­ing, mainly urine-spray­ing. Urine-spray­ing has two main uses; both as ad­ver­tise­ment for fe­males to males pre-mat­ing and for ter­ri­tory de­lin­eation. Mother and their young com­mu­ni­cate vo­cally. Fe­males scent mark most dur­ing times when they are sex­u­ally re­cep­tive, so it is thought to be mainly to at­tract male mates. (IUCN Cat Spe­cial­ist Group, 1996; Molteno, et al., 1998; Silwa, 1999; Silwa, 2004; Silwa, 2008)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Black-footed cats eat a wide va­ri­ety of small an­i­mals, 98% of which are mam­mals and birds, mam­mals mak­ing up 72% and birds 26% of the diet. An­i­mals weigh­ing less than 40 g made up more than half of their prey base. Larger an­i­mals were mainly caught dur­ing win­ter, when smaller prey was un­avail­able. These larger an­i­mals may be cached for later use. The re­main­ing 2% of prey items are made up of small am­phib­ians, rep­tiles, and in­ver­te­brates. (Nowak, 1999; Silwa, 2008)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • eats terrestrial vertebrates

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• amphibians
• reptiles

• Foraging Behavior
• stores or caches food

Pre­da­tion

Lit­tle is known about pre­da­tion on this species. Un­like many fe­lids, human pre­da­tion on these cats is rel­a­tively rare. Their noc­tur­nal habits, se­cre­tive be­hav­ior, and spot­ted coats make it dif­fi­cult to ob­serve them. ("Utah's Hogle Zoo", 2008)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

Ecosys­tem Roles

Black-footed cats are dom­i­nant preda­tors of small mam­mals and birds in areas they in­habit. (Silwa, 1999; Silwa, 2008)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Black-footed cats are im­por­tant preda­tors of small ro­dents, which can be crop or house­hold pests or carry dis­eases.

• Positive Impacts
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no ad­verse ef­fects of black-footed cats on hu­mans, al­though they may bite in self-de­fense, such as when ha­rassed. Their prey are small and do not in­clude human live­stock.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Black-footed cat pop­u­la­tions are de­creas­ing due to habi­tat degra­da­tion, threats from hunters, and poi­so­nous baits set for other preda­tors. It is il­le­gal to hunt black-footed cats in Botswana and South Africa. Their range in­cludes sev­eral na­tional parks and other wilder­ness areas, in­clud­ing Addo Ele­phant Na­tional Park, Karoo Na­tional Park, Mak­gadik­gadi Pans, and Moun­tain Zebra Na­tional Park. Black-footed cats seem to be more rare than other small, African fe­lids and pop­u­la­tions seem to be frag­mented. There is lit­tle known about their nat­ural his­tory. (IUCN Cat Spe­cial­ist Group, 1996; Nowak, 1999; Silwa, 2008)

• IUCN Red List

  Vulnerable
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Vulnerable
  More information

• US Federal List

  Endangered

• CITES

  Appendix I

Con­trib­u­tors

Ian Cheesman (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Chris Yahnke (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Ref­er­ences

2008. "Utah's Hogle Zoo" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 17, 2009 at https://​www.​hoglezoo.​org/​meet_​our_​animals/​animal_​finder/​Black_​footed_​Cat.

IUCN Cat Spe­cial­ist Group, 1996. "Felis ni­gripes" (On-line). IUCN Cat Spe­cial­ist Group. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 15, 2009 at http://​www.​catsg.​org/​catsgportal/​cat-website/​catfolk/​nigripe1.​htm.

Molteno, A., A. Silwa, P. Richard­son. 1998. The role of scent mark­ing in free-rang­ing, fe­male Black-Footed Cat (Felis ni­gripes). Jour­nal of Zo­ol­ogy, 245: 35-41.

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mam­mals of the World, sixth edi­tion. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

Silwa, A. 2004. Home range size and so­cial or­ga­ni­za­tion of Black-Footed Cats. Mam­malian Bi­ol­ogy - Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde, Vol. 69 Issue 2: 96-107.

Silwa, A. 1999. Stalk­ing the Black-Footed Cat. In­ter­na­tional Wildlife, Vol. 29 Issue 3: 38-43.

Silwa, A. 2008. "The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species" (On-line). Felis ni­gripes. Ac­cessed Au­gust 07, 2009 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​details/​8542/​0.

de Ma­g­a­l­haes, J., J. Costa. 2009. A data­base of ver­te­brate longevity records and their re­la­tion to other life-his­tory traits. Jour­nal of Evo­lu­tion­ary Bi­ol­ogy, 22 (8): 1770-1774.