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SALT LAKE CITY — "She is small in size but large in her feisty personality," Hogle Zoo says about its newest resident: a cat named Gaia.
At first glance, Gaia looks like a tabby cat that you could find in your home. She's a petite wisp of cat, weighing only 2.6 pounds at 9 months old. The average weight of a house cat is around 8 to 12 pounds, according to WebMD. So, Gaia is around 1/4 of that size.
Specifically, she's a black-footed cat: a species of endangered cat with black or dark brown spots across their fur. Even though Gaia has big eyes, rounded ears and soft fur, and barely exceeds the size of your average teapot, she's considered the deadliest cat in the world.
If you think that title should belong to a bigger, more menacing cat like a lion or a puma, think again: The black-footed cat has earned that title because they have a 60% success rate when they hunt, according to PBS. They also have earned the honor of being Africa's smallest cat.
By comparison, a lion hunting by itself has a success rate of 17% to 19%. If the lion hunts in pairs or a group, then the rate increases to around 30%, per the African Lion and Environmental Research Trust. In other words, the success rate of a black-footed cat is double that of a lion in a pair or group.
Black-footed cats tend to lurk around at night, per PBS. These cats can leap to capture their prey and prefer to eat a diet of locusts, birds, gerbils and other small rodents.
Due to the small size of these cats, they are adept at camouflaging.
"Unlike big cats, the black-footed cats tend to disappear into the tall grasses of the African savannah, making its exploits difficult to track via camera," Smithsonian magazine reported. Hunting in the brush, these cats can kill up to 10 to 14 rodents or birds every single night.
When black-footed cats are not hunting at night, they are hiding during the day.
Black-footed cats hide out in burrows, caves or dense shrubs to take shelter. They are solitary animals who scientists believe can live up to 13 years in the wild and 15.6 years in captivity, according to the University of Michigan's Animal Diversity website.
Hogle Zoo said black-footed cats can be found in Namibia, central and southern Botswana, and South Africa.
Just because these cats are cute, that doesn't mean they make good pets.
"Whilst small cats like the margay and black-footed cat may — at least on the surface — look not too dissimilar to our domestic moggies, they do not make good pets," PBS reported.
If you want to visit Gaia, you can take a trip over to the Hogle Zoo.
"As Gaia settles into her new home in the Small Animal Building, you might notice curtains or barriers around her space," Hogle Zoo said. "We appreciate your help in keeping noise low while she gets acquainted."
