The page cannot be found

There are a number of reasons why animals can have one eye of one color and the second of another, but the term for the most likely cause is heterochromia.  It is more often than not to do with melanin. This is a pigment that is found almost everywhere in nature (spiders being a notable exception) and it dictates such things are skin and eye color.

Don’t be fooled by the off the scale cuteness quotient. This is the Sand Cat – or Felis margarita, a little known species of desert cat. In the wild it lives in areas that are too hot and dry for any other cat- the deserts of Africa and Asia, including the Sahara. It is the only desert species of cat known to us. As such, this cat is one tough cookie.

It also lives in the Arabian desert and those of Iran and Pakistan, yet despite being so widespread it was not described by a European until 1858. That happened to be one Victor Loche, a French soldier and naturalist who explored the Northern Sahara and found the sand cat waiting patiently there for his descriptive skills.

These fours little guys were in a cat shelter and didn’t know quite know what to expect when they received some human visitors. What they did know, of course, is how to look endearing!  It seems that the one with the red collar had already found a home.  Let’s hope that the rest of this cute quartet found somewhere to go too!

Image Credit Flickr User Old Skool Kora

Cats. If you are owned by one or more of them you will already have discovered that if someone is having their photograph taken, then it just isn’t a photograph without the cat being in it as well. After all, if you are going to own humans you may as well share with the world. Yet even when it is simply a picture of your lounge, garden or bedroom (or someone or something getting more attention than it deserves) it just isn’t the same without the cat being in it too. At least that’s what they seem to think! This isn’t simple photobombing – this is ownership.



That which is best eaten cold...
So, how do you go about getting your revenge? Easy. Simply turn the tables and capture kitty when he or she is least expecting it. Don't worry - there will be no love lost, but watch your back in the future!

The Snow Leopard is known for its elusive nature and wildlife groups have been concerned for decades about their dwindling numbers.  Yet there is some good news – the species is, it seems, flourishing in one remote part of Afghanistan.

The war torn country is home to a vigorous population of snow leopards.  The World Conservation Society recently laid a number of camera traps in the Wakhan Corridor.  This mountainous area is a long panhandle in the north east of the country and the camera traps captured snow leopards on film in sixteen places.

This is a remarkable turn out of events as it has been estimated that there are only around seven thousand snow leopards in the world, scattered across a dozen countries in Central Asia.  Their habitat is usually over 10,000 feet above sea level but even at these heights snow leopards are often killed by shepherds for harrying their flocks.

That isn’t the last of their worries either.  Many of these fuzzy-tailed felines are caught and sold by the illegal pet trade.  Then there is the Chinese problem.  Their bones and penises are in high demand by the bourgeoning middle classes of China.  It is believed that ingestion of their body parts increase sexual performance in humans.


Panthera uncial is considered one of the most endangered of the big cats.  Their numbers have fallen by twenty percent over the last twenty years.  You do not need to be Einstein to calculate that the species does not have long unless something is done.

The goal of the World Conservation Society is to make sure that these wonderful beasts have are protected and have a future in Afghanistan.  A reservation has been proposed by the society so that the snow leopards of the Wakhan Corridor, which has borders on Tajikistan, Pakistan and – oh dear – China, can be legally and forcefully protected.

Although it has always been known that snow leopards inhabit this remote part of Afghanistan there was concern that the population had been severely depleted.  As the wars of the last thirty years have impoverished the population it was thought that their patience with a predatory big cat, however endangered, would precipitate wider hunting. 

This it seems has not been the case. Fortunately the Wakhan Corridor is one of the few places in Afghanistan which has been troubled by insurgency and civil unrest.

Yet there is a lot of work to be done. At the moment the society is doing its best to train rangers and provide education around conservation.  Other help has been to provide locals with corrals which are predator-proof and to start up a compensation scheme to reimburse farmers whose stock is predated by the leopards.

The society has not put an exact number on the amount of snow leopards in the corridor but maintain that their status still remains highly endangered.  After all, a world population which only numbers in the thousands cannot be considered safe if a new enclave of the species is discovered.

It would be a shame if the dramatic peaks of the wild and desolate Wakhan Corridor, this thin strip of land just over two hundred miles in length, turned out to be the last refuge of one of the planet’s animal marvels.

The Ark in Space would like to point out that the pictures used in this article were not taken in Afghanistan.  We don’t want to pull any wool over your eyes! The Afghanistan pictures are copyright the World Conservation Society and cannot be reproduced here.  However, we do hope that you have enjoyed the ones featured!

Meet Dusty. He is becoming known as Klepto Cat and is a 5-year-old male Siamese who has stolen in the region of 600 bits and pieces over the last three years, according to guardian Jean Chu of San Mateo, California.

Among the many items the 15-pound cat has stolen from his neighbors include shoes, towels, leg warmers, a mask, gloves, a stuffed animal, bathing suits, a bra, and men's briefs.

Dusty makes his heists in the dead of night. His unusual exploits have earned him fame with spots on Animal Planet, Late Night With David Letterman, and ABC-TV news in the Bay Area.

On June 25, 2011, Dusty, Jean Chu and Chu's daughter Kayla met a crowd of Dusty's fans at an animal adopt-a-thon sponsored by the Peninsula Humane Society (PHS) in San Mateo. Dusty was adopted from PHS as a kitten.

With a donation to the shelter, visitors got to take home their very own Dusty souvenir — one of the more than 100 towels he's stolen throughout the years. Chu embroidered DUSTY Klepto Kitty on each, along with a pawprint.