Pallas’s cat  (Otocolobus manul)

Range

Widely distributed but rare, Pallas’s cat is found from the Caspian Sea in the west through Kazakhstan, Pakistan and northern India to parts of China and Mongolia (4). The species is now thought to be most abundant on the cold grasslands of Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and the Tibetan Plateau. Elsewhere it is considered vulnerable to rare and uncommon (5).

View a distribution map for this species at UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Habitat

Pallas’s cat is adapted to cold, arid habitats in upland hilly areas, such as stony alpine desert and steppe grassland with rocky outcrops, but is generally absent from lowland sandy desert basins (1) (2) (7) (5). Pallas’s cat seems to prefer rocky areas and ravines to the open steppe, providing protection from predators in what is otherwise a very open and exposed habitat (6). Although the species has been found up to 4,800 metres above sea level, most records come from much lower elevations, and areas with deep snow cover are generally avoided (1).

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