Diet and hunting
Captive black-footed cat with a mouse
Due to their small size, black-footed cats hunt mainly small prey species, such as rodents and small birds, but may also take the white-quilled bustard and the Cape hare, the latter heavier than itself. Insects and spiders provide less than 1% of the prey mass consumed. They are known to occasionally scavenge the lambs of springboks. They are unusually active hunters, killing up to 14 small animals in a night. Their energy requirements are very high, with about 250 g (9 oz) of prey per night consumed, which is about a sixth of its average body weight.
Black-footed cats hunt mainly by stalking, rather than ambush, using the cover of darkness and all available traces of cover to approach their prey before the final pounce. They have been observed to hunt by moving swiftly to flush prey from cover, but also to slowly stalk through tufts of vegetation. Less commonly, they wait outside rodent burrows, often with their eyes closed, but remaining alert for the slightest sound. In common with the big cats, but unlike most other small species, black-footed cats have been observed to hide some of their captured prey for later feeding, rather than consuming it immediately.
Survival Adaptations:
Although the Black Footed Cat has many prey, they do have some predators, especially for how small they are. Some of their predators are, pythons, large owls, leopards, and others. These animals look at the Black Footed Cat at its size and think that it is an easy prey for them, even though this little animal is vicious it is no match for these larger predators. This little mammal can go without water for a while, so they can go off and not have to worry about having something to drink, just catching something to eat. They are not able to go without eating though. They save their water so that they don't need to drink water as often as they have to eat. Their main reason for becoming endangered, is because people take their habitats away and used them for selfish needs. People take away their homes to make buildings, use materials for our not needs, but 'wants', and other 'reasons'. Another way is that they can also catch fire in their grassland homes. The grasslands are extremely dry and can catch fire easily whether a small one has already started or it overheats by their homes. Either way the poor animals have nothing to do with their homes disappearing from them and their families. They have adjusted to not having water for a while not only because they live in such dry places, but because their homes have been taken away a lot, so they have to leave a lot and they tend to get used to it.
Sleeping Behavior:
Black-footed cats are nocturnal and primarily terrestrial. Due to a high metabolic rate, these cats can consume a third of their body weight every night, and rarely sleep more than 14 hours a day. If a meal is too large they often hide leftovers in aardvark digs or termite mounds. As an adaptation for hunting in areas with little or no cover, black-footed cats will flatten their low set ears in an aggressive posture and crouch low to the ground. They often sleep in unused aardvark and springhare burrows, rock crevices, or termite mounds during the day. Black-footed cats frequently move great distances in the wild to hunt. Females can have a home range of up to 8 square miles and the males range can be more than double that of females. Their ranges are maintained through scent marking (urine spraying, rubbing on objects, claw raking and leaving feces uncovered). Females can spray up to 100 times a night when staking out their territories against other females. Males on the other hand can mark up to a record 600 times a night when advertising to females. These cats are very vocal; they emit a loud and deep throaty "rraaouuh," which they frequently repeat during breeding season. The females also use a soft call with kittens.
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