QUICK FACTS
Name: Pallas's cat (Otocolobus manul)
Where it lives: Steppes and high-elevation grasslands in Central Asia, particularly Mongolia and China
What it eats: Small rodents, including gerbils, hamsters and pikas, small lizards and birds
Pallas's cat, also known as a manul, is a feline from Central Asia that yelps like a small dog and has such short legs that it sometimes struggles to run after prey. Researchers think it is one of the oldest living cat species in the world, having diverged 5.2 million years ago from a leopard ancestor.
