They have a charming and innocent appearance, but in fact, black-footed cats are the most dangerous cold-blooded predators on the planet.

What is the most dangerous animal on our blue planet? Of course, other than humans, what animal deserves this title?

Sure, people might think it’s a lion, tiger, bear, leopard, but in reality these species are nothing, the most dangerous animal on the planet actually has a much smaller body. Karoo Desert, South Africa, they are Africa’s smallest cat – the black-footed cat.

The American television station PBS recently shot a documentary called “Super Cat” on black-legged cats.

Black-legged cats are fairly modest in size, measuring only 36 to 52 cm in length and weighing 1 to 3 kg. He has a round face and a nice black polka dot suit.

But don’t be quick to judge them by their pretty little appearance, they possess enormous damage and scare off birds and rodents living around their area.

Locals even claim it can kill giraffes, but maybe that’s just an exaggeration.

Because black-legged cats are so small and often hunt at night, the film crew had to use a special light-sensitive camera to record their hunting behavior.

Biologists say that black-legged cats and small carnivores often have very fast metabolisms, so they have to constantly hunt to stay alive. Every night, black-legged cats hunt and eat meat equivalent to one-sixth of their body weight.

For the imagination, if humans have the metabolic rate of black-legged cats, a person weighing 60 kg per day must eat 10 kg of meat in order to survive and thrive.

Like domestic cats, black-legged cats also have small bodies and round faces. However, behind this deceptive appearance, they are a famous hunter in the wild.

During the day, black-footed cats often roost in burrows under bushes in the desert. As night falls, they begin to take off their pretty innocent masks to become predators in cold blood. Their prey are usually rodents, birds and sometimes too scarce food, they also eat scorpions.

The black-legged cat, known to scientists as the Gyra, is one of the smallest cats in the world and is native to southern Africa.

Black-legged cats have three different hunting methods that use speed to chase birds or mice to catch them. The second method is probably the most common method of the cat family, they will silently observe their prey and slowly approach silently until there is a suitable distance, they will rush to finish off the prey .

The third method, they will remain silently still at the mouth of the cave to wait for the prey to pass and scurry, sometimes they can stand still for more than 2 hours just to wait for the prey to pass.

The lower part of their paws and paws have a black coat, which is why they are called black-legged cats.

During the day, black-legged cats roost in termite burrows or nests.

When attacking birds, black-legged cats can even jump up to 1.5m high and span 2m, they are only 36-52cm long and weigh 1-3kg, imagine if humans could jump; and away from the body proportions of black-legged cats, humanity is guaranteed to be inundated with Superman.

The success rate of each blacklegged cat hunt can reach 60%, the highest among feral cats.

Every night black-legged cats run about 32 km for food, they hunt and kill 10-14 preys, the average speed is 50 minutes for each hunt.

Another study found that a black-legged cat would eat around 3,000 birds and rodents each year.

Unlike domestic cats, black-legged cats are solitary animals and are nocturnal animals, so they are rarely seen. The climbing ability of the black-legged cat is also quite low compared to other species in the cat family.

But it’s still nothing, because their level of hunting success is amazing, the success rate each time is 60%, which means less than half of the prey can protect your life when they fall in. their line of sight.

Meanwhile, the success rate of hunting African lions and leopards is only 20-25%, polar bears – the largest existing carnivores on our planet also possess The success rate of each hunt is 5%.

Currently, this species is only found in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

Although black-legged cats are very dangerous, but today their habitat is invaded and destroyed by humans, their life is seriously threatened.

They are now classified as vulnerable wild species. However, cats are animals with a very high capacity for adaptation and survival, it takes thousands of years for humans to tame them, but just a few months in the wild they will become animals in the wild. extreme wild instinct.

Luke Hunter, Panthera’s conservation director, told Weisberger that black-footed cats kill an average of 10-14 rodent or small bird individuals every night because the body’s metabolism tells it to go hunting non-stop. .

So it is very possible that one day, in a scenario where humans have taken away all their homes, it is very likely that they will adapt to live in human areas and obviously in this case pets. humans and poultry will be included in their menu.