In 2017, Mohammed Almuntasir uploaded an 18-second YouTube video that appeared to show nothing more than a small sand cat sheltering beneath a desert shrub in Libya. The clip would later become the first documented evidence of the species in the country, prompting an eight-year effort to establish where the elusive animals were living. Almuntasir was already familiar with sand cats, having seen them at night while photographing wildlife across Libya. But he had never managed to capture one clearly. “As soon as I saw the animal, I knew it was a sand cat because I had seen the species before at night,” Almuntasir told CNN via email. He added: “However, I had never been able to photograph it because I did not have a camera suitable for night photography, or camera traps.” When zoologist Firas Hayder later saw the footage, he realised its significance: Libya’s sand cats had finally been documented. The discovery gave researchers a rare clue to investigate an animal that is notoriously difficult to observe in the wild. It also raised questions about the species’ range, habitat and population across Libya’s vast and largely unexplored desert regions today.
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