It's a quiet and cold night in the Moroccan Sahara, with temperatures dipping into the 40s. This isn't the romantic image of the desert you might imagine — no mile-high dunes, soft sands or dromedaries traversing the landscape.
Here, the desert is stony and flat with hard-packed gravel, dotted with periodic dry bushes and the occasional sheep herder. Far from any water sources, this part of the world may not see rain for several years.
Surviving in these harsh environments is a small, unassuming feline. While resilient and able to travel extreme distances, this cat may also distract you with its cuteness.
(Credit:Grégory Breton/Panthera)
Meet the Saharan sand cat. It looks like a permanent kitten at about half the size of a domesticated cat with pale grey fur meant to camouflage it in the desert. It has a "soft disposition," never aggressive or hissing as other small cats might. It's ...
