Sand cat (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

6 July 2026

There is an elusive desert wild cat that is so similar in size and shape to a domestic cat that it could be mistaken for one. The sand cat (Felis margarita) lives in disjoint areas in deserts from North Africa to the Middle East to Turkmenistan and is so well camouflaged that it is almost impossible to see in the wild. They are always in remote desert areas and possibly extinct in some of their range.

Distribution of sand cat as of 2016 (map from Wikimedia Commons)

Sand cats were not found in Libya, until Mohammed Almuntasir posted this video on YouTube in 2017.

Almuntasir often received inquiries about the video but it led nowhere until Firas Hayder at Sol Plaatje University in South Africa proposed searching for and mapping sand cat locations using GPS, still shots and video.

It was a dangerous effort for humans because of armed smugglers in the region. However, the 8-year collaboration placed the sand cat on the map in Libya. I’ve hand drawn the approximate location in blue.

Distribution of sand cat marked (approximately) with location in Libya, 2026 (map from Wikimedia Commons in 2019)

If you’ve seen a sand cat in a zoo I’m sure you’ve been surprised by how much it looks like the cats at home. These are the zoo-bred descendants of sand cats caught in southwestern Pakistan in the early 1970s and exported to zoos worldwide. Sand cats are gone from Pakistan in the current map. It is encouraging to hear they are in Libya.

Sand cat in a zoo (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Read more about the research project and sand cats in Libya at ‘No one believed it’: how a YouTube video accidentally proved Libya’s sand cat really does exist.