Classroom lesson · Wildlife · 🇯🇴 Jordan

Sand Cat

The world's only true desert cat — cool, cute, and incredibly tough

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The sand cat is a small wild cat that lives in the deserts of Jordan and other parts of the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. It looks a lot like a fluffy domestic cat — sandy brown, with big wide ears and a round face — but it is a skilled desert hunter that can survive in temperatures ranging from icy cold nights to baking-hot days.

Tell me more

The sand cat is the only wild cat species that lives primarily in true deserts. Its paws are covered with thick fur on the bottom, which protects them from scorching hot sand (a bit like wearing oven gloves on your feet) and helps it walk across soft sand without sinking. It also muffles the sound of its footsteps so it can sneak up on prey in total silence.

Sand cats have very large ears compared to their head size. Those big ears work like satellite dishes, picking up the faintest sounds of a mouse or lizard moving underground or under the sand. A sand cat can then dig quickly with its front paws and catch prey buried beneath the surface — a very useful skill in a place with very few large animals to hunt.

One of the cleverest things about sand cats is how they deal with extreme heat. During the day, when the desert can reach over 40°C, sand cats rest in cool burrows dug into the sand. They come out to hunt mostly at night or in the early morning. They can also survive without drinking any water for weeks at a time, getting all the moisture they need from the animals they eat.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

01The sand cat's furry paws protect it from heat and help it move silently. Can you think of another animal that has feet or paws specially designed for the environment it lives in?
02Sand cats hunt at night when the desert is cooler. What senses would be most useful for hunting in the dark?
03The sand cat looks very similar to a pet cat but lives a completely wild desert life. What are three things that would be different about a sand cat's day compared to a pet cat's day?

Try this

Classroom activity

Create a 'desert survival fact file' for the sand cat. Use A5 card and write or draw: what it eats, when it is active, how it keeps cool, how its body is specially adapted, and one surprising fact. Make it look like a wildlife field guide entry.

Sand Cat

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Discussion prompts

Classroom activity

Other things that make Jordan special

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