Colours of Wildlife: Small Spotted Cat, or Anthill Tiger
Created | Updated Jun 4, 2017
Small Spotted Cat, or Anthill Tiger
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
Oh noes! Yet another kitteh! This one is indeed a counterpart to last week's. In many ways, the Small Spotted Cat, Felis nigripes, is the southern equivalent of the sand cat. It lives a similar life in a similar environment – the semi-desert regions of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. It is Africa's smallest wild cat species, with a body weight of around 1.5 kg/3.3 lbs on average.
A Confusion of Names
Regular readers of this column will know that the names we give to wild things are often not very appropriate. In the case of the Small Spotted Cat, its various names have actually confused much of the scientific information we have about it. This species' scientific name, Felis nigripes, means 'black-footed cat', and indeed that was once its accepted name. But it doesn't have black feet … at least not all black. Its soles on both the front and hind feet are black. But so are those of another species, the African Wildcat (which I'll be featuring here soon). So the feet actually tell us nothing. But calling this cat a black-footed cat, has led to at least some early collectors mistakenly attribute specimens of the African wildcat to it, causing a confusion about just where it occurred. So, we have records of this species from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and eastern South Africa, where it is very unlikely for it to ever have occurred … those records are thus much more likely to have been just the regular old African wildcat.
Thus the new proposed name for the species, the Small Spotted Cat. That distinguishes it from the larger spotted cats – the leopard and the Serval. It also distinguishes it from the African wildcat, which is also small, but not particularly spotted … though it may have faint dark spots and a few stripes. But the Small Spotted Cat has bold spots all over its body, and some speckles on its head. It also has stripes down its back, and bars on its tail and limbs. There are two forms, sometimes considered different races or sub-species: the southern form, illustrated here, is darker with bold black markings, while the northern form is lighter, with its markings more brownish, or reddish-brown. Neither of the forms have the bright reddish-brown backs to the ears which the African wildcat has.
Finally, there's the nickname 'anthill tiger' which this species is called in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Obviously, this disregards this little cat's size, instead referring to its ferocity – as well as its often making its den in holes in termite hills (which holes are usually made by aardvarks).
Small Body, Big Attitude
This is indeed one of the most aggressive of all of Africa's predators. It is almost impossible to tame this little cat. Even tiny kittens raised by hand often soon turn on their foster parents, hissing, spitting and attacking, or fleeing and withdrawing into the dark corners of their cages. Many photos of captive small spotted cats show them with ears drawn back and snarling. They're just very difficult to tame, or even to keep in a regular zoo … but there are indeed a few represented in zoos.
In the wild, this is an extremely shy and elusive cat. They typically wait into the second hour of darkness before they start to hunt, and are very alert; any sign of something big being close will send them scampering for shelter. Even seeking them by night using powerful torches will alert them and send them rushing off … if you're lucky you'll catch a brief glimpse of their big eyes shining in the torchlight before disappearing. Their sense of sight is outstanding, as is their hearing, their ears being large and set widely apart. They will always stay close to shelter like dense bushes or the abandoned burrows of, for instance, spring hares or aardvarks.
These cats are specialized rodent eaters, especially favouring gerbils, rats and mice. On occasion they'll catch lizards or snakes, or ground-dwelling birds like coursers. They'll also catch ground-living invertebrates like insects, spiders and sun- or camel-spiders (solifugids). They're not at all dependent on drinking water, being able to derive all the moisture they need from the body fluids of their prey.
But small-spotted cats are sometimes innocently accused. Farmers sometimes say that they will kill lambs, by biting their throats and puncturing their neck arteries. This is extremely unlikely, given their size, and the normal hunting method of small cats, biting their prey at the back of the neck to sever the spinal cord. Indeed, even a full-grown chicken is likely too big a prey item for this small predator. Seeing as they feed on wild rodents, they should actually be considered a useful critter to have on the farm.
At the moment, this species is rare, but probably not endangered. It occurs over a fairly large region, where not many humans live on account of the harsh, dry climate. Because of its rarity and elusiveness, we still know very little about this pretty little cat species. There are indeed studies underway to determine more about their lifestyle and reproduction.
