The
Pallas's cat (Felis manul), named after the German
zoologist and explorer, Professor Peter Pallas, looks rather
like a wary, crouching Persian Cat with an Abyssinian coat.
Its legs are short, its typical posture is always rather flattened,
and its fur is very thick, the thickest in the entire cat family.
The Pallas's Cat prefers open terrain and has been observed
living at elevations of up to 4,000 metres (13,000 feet). It
is equally at home in deserts, steppe country, or on the rocky
slopes of mountains. It stays close to the ground, but is a
deft climber on steep rocky surfaces. Because of the generally
open country in which it lives, it is essentially an ambush
hunter, lying in wait, ready to pounce on small mammals or birds.
Its flattened shape may help it to remain concealed
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