Meet the true Forever Kitten
There’s been a big development in our ongoing love affair with kittens here at HelloGiggles. We’ve found a magical cat breed that looks like a kitten for its entire life. A true forever kitten.
Okay, so maybe it’s not technically magical (that we know of), and we didn’t exactly discover it. They’ve actually been around for hundreds of years. (Seriously, where have we been?)
But this special Peter Pan of the kitty world does exist, so our animal-loving hearts are all aflutter. Prepare to melt…
I know. Adorbs, right? These little fuzzballs are Sand Cats, a species of wild cat that lives in the deserts of Pakistan, Central Asia, Arabia and North Africa. It’s a little hard to imagine them surviving out there in the big, bad wild, isn’t it?
But survive, they do. They may look like the marshmallows of the wild cat kingdom, but they’re actually pretty hardcore. Sand Cats can survive in temperature extremes ranging from 23-126 degrees Fahrenheit. Yowza. That’s a pretty gigantic range. They can also go months at a time without water, getting all the hydration they need from their food. (Take that, camels!)
Sand cats are actually so incredibly good at surviving in the desert that they don’t do well at all in captivity. Dang. There goes my plan of becoming a Sand Cat Lady. (All the sad face emojis!)
But that’s okay. It makes our hearts happy just knowing these insanely cute creatures exist. Although, sadly, they’re currently classified as Near Threatened on the endangered species list. (Nooo. Now we’re crying!) Fortunately, organizations like the Sahara Conservation Fund are working to protect them from dangers such as the illegal pet trade, hunting and trapping. Good. We need to protect these cuties. They really, truly do look like kittens forever.
Need proof? Here’s a pic of a baby and a fully-grown Sand Cat side-by-side:
We might be saying AWWWWW forever.
And ever.
And EVER.
Stop being so adorable, Sand Cat.
Just kidding. Never stop. K? K.
(Images via here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.)
