JEDDAH: A Saudi Arabia royal reserve has deployed and retrieved GPS tracking data from collars on six sand cats (Felis margarita), the first time the technology has been used for the species globally.

The Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve in northwestern Saudi Arabia safely captured, collared and sampled six individuals, combining GPS tracking and genomic analysis to produce the most comprehensive scientific dataset assembled for the species to date.

Undertaken in partnership with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s WildGenes laboratory, the work enabled the development of a high-quality reference genome.

This provides new insight into the species’ population structure and evolutionary relationships, strengthening recent publications indicating that the sand cat comprises two subspecies rather than four.

In line with Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee best-practice standards, three male and three female sand cats were safely captured by reserve ecologists, assessed by experienced veterinarians and fitted with custom-designed lightweight GPS collars.

Each collar weighed less than 3 percent of the animal’s body weight and incorporated a timed drop-off mechanism, enabling it to detach after around three months for retrieval and re-use while minimizing disturbance to the animal.

Reserve CEO Andrew Zaloumis told Arab News that “maintaining a low collar weight is important to ensure that normal movement and hunting behavior are not affected.

“Prior to deployment, the team undertook behavioral observations and field assessments to inform both collar design and weight distribution.”

As the species is primarily nocturnal, collars were programmed to record GPS locations at two-hour intervals between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Over a cumulative period of 635 monitoring nights, the program generated more than 3,000 GPS location points, providing unprecedented insight into home ranges, den use, habitat preferences and interactions between individuals.

Josh Smithson, a senior ecologist, said: “Historically, sand cat research has been hindered by the species’ small size and reliance on VHF technology which is both labor-intensive and provides less data than modern systems.

“We worked with global telemetry experts to develop the first GPS collar light enough to be fitted to sand cats without impairing their activity, weighing just 50 grams.

“By pairing detailed movement data with genetic sampling from the same animals, we are significantly advancing global understanding of the species and its conservation needs.”

The sand cat is the second-smallest wild feline globally and the only species that lives exclusively in true desert environments. It is found across the arid deserts of North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

In the reserve, it inhabits a range of ecosystems from rangelands and wadis to granite plains. With a stocky build, short legs and long tail, a sand cat typically weighs between 1.5 and 3.4 kg.

Males are slightly heavier than females, though both are broadly comparable in size to a small domestic cat.

Zaloumis described the function of a broad head and large, widely spaced ears: “These function with remarkable sensitivity, enabling the detection of faint, low-frequency sounds produced by rodents, reptiles and insects beneath the sand surface.

“This enhanced sound sensitivity, due to enlarged ear chambers, lets them detect sounds from nearly a third of a mile further than other cat species.

“Its soft, dense fur ranges from pale sandy brown to light grey, with a lighter underside. The tail is tipped in black and marked with two to six narrow dark rings.”

The sand cat is uniquely adapted to desert life, with a thick layer of fur, about 2 centimeters long, covering its footpads to protect against extreme heat and help it move across sand without leaving tracks.

It meets most of its water needs through its prey, feeding mainly on small rodents such as gerbils and jerboas, as well as reptiles, birds and insects.

With a gestation period of 59 to 67 days, females typically give birth to two to four kittens, though litters can reach eight.

Young become independent at six to eight months and reach sexual maturity at around 14 months. While long-term field data is limited, the species is believed to live up to 13 years.

Major threats include habitat degradation from overgrazing and infrastructure expansion, dune disturbance, trapping and poisoning linked to predator control, as well as competition and disease risks from feral and domestic animals.

Although listed globally as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the sand cat is considered more vulnerable in regions of the Middle East.

In Bedouin folklore, the sand cat is known as the “Ghost of the Desert.”

With distinctive eye-shine avoidance behavior, and crouching low and closing the eyes when exposed to light, they prevent the reflective tapetum lucidum from revealing their position.

“Groundbreaking tracking data on sand cats is giving us something we’ve never had before, a real-time view of how this elusive ghost of the desert truly lives across the landscape,” Zaloumis added.

“In the past, we had to rely on static habitat maps, this has all changed. By tracking where sand cats roam, rest and hunt, we can now see which areas genuinely matter and which only look suitable on paper.

“Landscape ecology shows us the map of the reserve. Movement ecology tells us how wildlife reads that map.”

That distinction becomes more critical under climate change. As temperatures rise, the habitat patches sand cats depend on may shrink, shift or become more fragmented.

A corridor that appears connected on a satellite image may be too exposed or too disturbed to cross.

Movement data reveals functional connectivity, not just the whereabouts of habitats, but whether animals can actually move between them.

“This is critical as if they can’t move, they can’t adapt … the sand cat reads the landscape every night and through science, we are learning to read what it is telling us,” he said.

Sand cats are considered an important indicator species within arid ecosystems. Understanding their movements, habitat use and genetic diversity provides insight into prey availability, habitat connectivity and overall ecosystem function.

Current genetic research indicates that sand cats across the Arabian Peninsula and Central Asia are closely related and are generally considered part of the same subspecies, Felis margarita thinobia.

In contrast, the North African sand cat, Felis margarita margarita, shows clearer genetic distinction from populations found further east.

“This reflects broader phylogeographic work suggesting that sand cats fall into two principal genetic groupings: one in North Africa and one extending across Arabia and into Central Asia.

“The Sinai Peninsula is thought to represent a historical biogeographic barrier between these regions, a pattern that has also been observed in other carnivores such as the cheetah, where African and Asiatic populations show similar separation.”

The reserve’s recent work is contributing to this wider global picture and strengthening understanding of population structure and connectivity across the species’ distribution.