From the Salt Flats of Bolivia to the Patagonian Grasslands, roams one of the most versatile predators on the continent. Despite being one of South America's most widespread felines, this voracious hunter is a ghost. Rarely seen, and even less studied, this is South America's best-kept secret, the Geoffroy's Cat.
Geoffroy's Cats preside over a large kingdom, thriving in a wide variety of habitats. Mountains, forests, savannah, shrubs, and grassland. Most of their territory is arid or semi-arid, like Bolivia's Salt Flats, which have given them their nickname, "salt cat", in German, which we're commandeering for this episode.
If you are ever lucky enough to spot a salt cat in the wild, their size and coat will give you a clue as to where they hang their hat at night. Like with most species, the closer to the poles they are, the chunkier they are. Salt cats are no exception, and the warmer the locale, the skinnier their body and vice versa.
Another clue to their home are their coats. In the warmer Northern populations, their coats are an ochre color, while in the South, they are a silvery gray. This reflects the change in topography of their habitat. But the coolest salt cats are the swamp dwellers. Most commonly found in forests and wetland habitats, is the melanistic variety of the salt cat.
These black beauties have an elevated level of melanin, a skin and hair pigment that allows them to camouflage more effectively in their darker habitat. At night they're unspottable. This not only makes them more effective predators, but it really makes you want to boop their snoot. Not that you should.
At first glance, you might mistake a salt cat with a house cat, and you'd be forgiven, as they're about the same size - weighing only four kilograms. And that's not all they share with house cats. They too, seem to forget what they were doing mid-step and start to clean themselves. Cats will be cats.
Grasslands being their primary habitat, salt cats have long legs built for getting around. One reason for their long legs is to potentially help navigate flood plains. One of the most concentrated populations of salt cats are found around rivers in the Pampas region, which are prone to flooding. Having long legs gives the salt cats an advantage over other predators. While they aren't as arboreal as some of their cousins, they are adept in the trees. Whether to escape a predator, to ambush prey, or to communicate with other salt cats. They do this in the most elegant way possible, with feces and urine.
While solitary, they do meet up when it's time to mate and they will travel vast distances, drawn to the scent markings of their potential mate. Breeding happens from mid-spring to early summer and will result in one to three kittens.
Keeping away from predators, salt cats prefer to use trees, hollows, or other animals burrows to have their kittens. Born tiny, blind, and dependent on their mothers. By their third month, they can join their mom on the hunt. An addition that I can't imagine being all that helpful.
Nevertheless, this kitten is doing the best it can to help its mom track down a meal. Salt cats are primarily nocturnal and when the sun goes down, it's time to hunt. Unsurprisingly, for a cat of its size, it specializes in small vertebrates, like mice, birds, and in the Northern part of their range, frogs.
A cat is caught the scent of a frog. She approaches slowly. With excellent night vision and a killer sense of smell, a frog is no match for a salt cat, or so she thought. Within striking range, she pounces, but she loses it in the grass. In this case, the small cat is the goliath and she'll have to look elsewhere to feed her kitten. But the night wasn't a loss for everyone.
This melanistic salt cat swaggers home in the morning with a mouthful of mouse. Those salt cats are vulnerable in some parts of their range. They are considered a species of least concern. While they are incredibly hard to spot in the wild, this one isn't as camera-shy as you might think. Who says cats don't like selfies?
Living primarily in grasslands, these cats haven't suffered much from deforestation. They do struggle with habitat destruction, especially with the construction of roads in their territory and cars are a leading cause of death for Geoffroy's Cats. But often, their territory is converted into farmland, in which they can survive. As where there's farms, there's mice.
Geoffroy's Cats also fall victim to poachers and their pelts are the second most trafficked in the world. That said, like most small cats, Geoffroy's Cats, or salt cats, are incredibly understudied and underfunded. We are still just scratching the surface of what we know about these elusive felides and until we know more, they will remain South America's best-kept secret.
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