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Rare Wild Cats Found Living on Mount Everest Have the Expressions of a Cartoon Character

By Margherita Cole on February 8, 2023

Photo: galsavi.ya.ru/Depositphotos

It's hard to imagine living on Mount Everest, but there are a couple of species that have been found traversing the challenging terrain. Among them is a small species of a wild cat called Pallas's cat, sometimes known as the manul. Though it shares many similarities with the domestic housecat, this hardy feline is capable of living at high elevations and weathering extreme temperatures. And not only is the manul incredibly tenacious, but it is also extremely cute, too.

With large eyes and rounded pupils—an uncommon trait for felines—it has been photographed making an array of cartoony faces. And its expressiveness is certainly enhanced by the fluffy gray coat of fur which protects it from the cold and makes its head look twice its size. However, in spite of its adorable face, the manul is a fierce hunter that is more than capable of holding its own in the wild, climbing up rocky cliffsides with the aid of its short and powerful legs.

Although the manul is not a new discovery, scientists were unaware that it inhabited parts of Mount Everest until 2019. “It is phenomenal to discover proof of this rare and remarkable species at the top of the world,” Dr. Tracie Seimon of Wildlife Conservation Society’s Zoological Health Program, says. “The nearly four-week journey was extremely rewarding not just for our team but for the larger scientific community. The discovery of Pallas’s cat on Everest illuminates the rich biodiversity of this remote high-alpine ecosystem and extends the known range of this species to eastern Nepal.” As scientists continue to study this rare feline, they hope that their research will help protect the manul and their environment.