A Russian farmer went out to his barn one night when he saw something outside – little kittens. He brought them inside and gave them food and a place to stay because he felt that they were not going to make it on their own. Plus, they don’t look exactly like a regular cat tabby.
They had markings that were different from the tabby cats, so the owner couldn’t distinguish their breed. Their ears were also oddly shaped and bigger and wider from a regular cat. They had a wild look, that’s for sure.
The farmer decided to call Daursky Nature Reserve, a local wildlife rehabilitation center. The local wildlife rehabilitation center confirmed that these were not regular tabby cats but Palla’s cats, or manuls, which are rare wild cats that are located in Central Asia. The cats were brought to the Daursky Nature Reserve, where two regular cats adopted the small wild cats as their own since they were still nursing.
The manuls grew up stronger, and they replaced the milk with meat. Soon, the manuls were strong and grown enough to be returned to the wild, where they belong.
Manuls are species of cats that were marked as “near threatened” due to their small population as a result of habitat degradation and hunting. They are small like regular domestic cats, but have thicker and fluffier fur to protect them from the harsh winters that are known in Central Asia.