Rare Sand Cat Kittens Born In Israel

The rare sand cats have been extinct in Israel since the 1990s, but the zoo is working with a European breeding program to improve their numbers.Rotem, a rare sand cat, with her three kittens, produced in an Israeli zoo despite her tepid reaction to her new mate from Sweden.

Sand cats are extremely endangered. Indigenous to Israel and Jordan, they are extinct in the region, though another sub-species may still exist in the desert wastes of North Africa. Of the local sand cat species, Felis margarita (also known as "dune cats") only 200 remain – all in Europe's zoos. The cats are small, weighing between 1.5 to 3 kilos, large-eared, sand-colored and thrive in extreme desert conditions. They are also high on the list of animals that zoos around the world are cooperating to try to preserve. The hope is to be able to restore them to nature one day.