The Weekly Anthropocene, April 12 2023
Sand cats in Morocco, the demographic transition in Africa, offshore wind progress in America, an ancient sea goddess in the Netherlands, and more!
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Morocco
A new study from renowned NGO Panthera offers the most in-depth information ever about the ecology of the sand cat (Felis margarita), a tough desert survivor known to hunt poisonous snakes. After radio-collaring 22 sand cats in the deserts of southwestern Morocco, the researchers were shocked to find that they had extremely large home ranges, comparable to those of big cats like leopards and tigers. The average home range size of sand cat males was found to be over 300 square kilometers (an area larger than the Bronx and Manhattan combined!) compared to under 10 square kilometers for the similarly sized and closely related African wildcats. The researchers speculate that this may be an adaptation to the harsh desert environment and perhaps even to climate change, as resources are sparse and thinly spread across the landscape. They also found very few scars, broken teeth, fresh wou…
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