One of the world’s smallest cats, the black-footed cat, Felis nigripes, is named for the dark soles of its feet.

A rare species, it is found only in the southern African countries of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. It lives in dry, open habitats such as desert, savanna and scrubland. Like the sand cat, the black-footed cat satisfies its need for moisture simply from eating its prey.
During the day, the black-footed cat rests under bushes or in an aardvark or porcupine’s old burrow. It emerges at night to stealthily stalk prey including mice, insects, spiders, lizards and birds under the cover of darkness. Three main hunting styles have been described for the black-footed cat. The first involves flushing prey out from cover as it swiftly courses through the grasses or bush. The second is the familiar sit-and-wait ambush style, alert for any approaching prey. Lastly, spotting a potential prey item, the cat flattens its body against the ground and creeps in closer. Once within striking range it leaps—up to 4.5 feet high and 6.5 feet across—to capture it.

Due to its extremely shy and evasive nature, little is known regarding the black-footed cat’s status in the wild, though it is considered to be the rarest cat in Africa. Habitat loss due to over-grazing by livestock is likely the major threat it faces. Feeding on poisoned foods such as locusts and carcasses set out to target “pesky” jackals could also affect black-footed cat populations.

To Catch a Black-Footed Cat
In the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, recent field studies have found fairly high densities of black-footed cats in some areas - with up to five cats per square kilometer of land. Given such relative abundance and the open terrain typical of the thornveld, catching wild black-footed cats for scientific studies would appear to be a simple proposition. But, as we found during our recent field survey, black-footed cats may have other ideas. In a CREW project conducted in collaboration with the McGregor Museum and the San Diego Zoo, our goal was to live-trap wild black-footed cats to collect blood for disease and dietary analysis and semen for sperm banking before releasing the cats back into the wild. The first night in the field resulted in the capture of one adult male, the cryopreservation of 15 straws of semen and the subsequent release of one feisty little cat. Three more weeks of trapping, however, yielded only foxes, mongooses and other small mammals. No one ever said that field research was easy. We’re already exploring new strategies (increasing trap numbers, adding scent lures, etc.) to improve our capture success and plan to be back out on the
African savanna next summer on the trail of the elusive black-footed cat.

Research in Zoos
With the help of a two-year grant from the Morris Animal Foundation, CREW scientists have begun to study the reproductive biology of the black-footed cat. Since virtually nothing is known about reproduction in these species, we started from scratch using techniques that have proven useful in other cat species. We are measuring hormone levels in fecal samples to determine how long the female’s reproductive cycle is, how these cats ovulate, if there is any difference in cyclcity between seasons, and how long is gestation. In addition, we are collecting sperm samples from males in captivity to characterize reproductive traits in this species and make sure males that are paired with females are fertile. The sperm samples are also used to test different methods for sperm freezing or cryopreservation, and for the development of in vitro fertilization. These methods will help us use sperm collected and frozen in South Africa to produce offspring back here in the U.S. This way, valuable genetics from the wild population are introduced into the captive population without removing a male from the wild!