MY FAVORITE UNCONVENTIONAL ANIMAL
My submission to Grizzly Gazette's Bear Blog Carnival, hosted by Sage
A blog theme about animals? I have been summoned.
This month's carnival theme is your favorite unconventional animal. Our host, Sage, chose a binturong, so we're off to a strong start!
My animal is also friend-shaped. May I present to you:
PALLAS'S CAT/MANUL
ROUMD. (Source)
Pallas's cat (Otocolobus manul), also called manul, is a small wild cat with long and dense light grey fur, and rounded ears set low on the sides of the head. Its head-and-body length ranges from 46 to 65 cm (18 to 26 in) with a 21 to 31 cm (8.3 to 12.2 in) long bushy tail. It is well camouflaged and adapted to the cold continental climate in its native range, which receives little rainfall and experiences a wide range of temperatures.Pallas's cat was first described in 1776 by Peter Simon Pallas, who observed it in the vicinity of Lake Baikal. (Source)
Yeah, I wasn't going to pretend that I knew all of that information.
How I learned about them
Doomscrolling Instagram many years ago! My algorithm is mostly of animals. At first, netizens referred to this cat as manul, which is its Mongolian name. But once it became increasingly popular, its "common name" appeared more frequently.
"Manul" is Pallas's cat's name in the Mongolian language, and it is called "manol" in the Kyrgyz language. The common name 'Pallas's cat' was coined by William Thomas Blanford in honour of Peter Simon Pallas. (Source)
What I love about them
1. THE BODY IS ROUND
This is probably only during the extremely colder months, because I've also seen less chonkier versions.
LMAO the image file name is manuls-the-natural-chonkers-the-body-is-round. (Source)
2. GOOFY-LOOKING
If you do an image search and type in the keywords "pallas cat funny" you're in for a treat. Aside from looking pissed-off all the time (my third favorite thing), they're prone to silly facial expressions.
It was probably mid-yawn. The keywords "pallas cat yawning" produces great results as well. Image credit Tambako the Jaguar
3. ANGY
If there's a cat with a resting-bitch-face, this is the one.
Why is it MAD at me what did I DO? (Source)
4. STANDS ON ITS BUSHY TAIL TO KEEP WARM
I mean,
5. THEY HONK
One of their vocalizations is honking. This YouTube short was the clearest example I could find.
And last but not least...
6. REMINDS ME OF SPYDER
My old cat who was a lorge and in chorge tabby manx!
Spyder, posing with Like Like Zine #2 featuring his face on the back cover.
This was such a fun carnival and took me over an hour to write because I had to do important research (i.e. watch YouTube videos of manuls being cute). In fact I need to do more uh, research now.
EDIT:
Watched this informative video on Pallas's Cat, and they are endangered, due to poaching and humans expanding more into their territories, driving out their prey. I hope their internet fame will bring more awareness to their situation. Apparently—like pandas—their reproductive rate is super low. So hopefully—like pandas—conservation efforts can bring those numbers up*!