It's International Pallas's Cat Day!
Read to the end for a very cool art print to help support these iconic cats.
You all know how much I love the Pallas's cat (more properly known as the manul). So there's no way I could let today, International Pallas's Cat Day, pass without marking the occasion.
But rather than wax poetic about these ancient, weird cats myself (Pazi did an excellent job on his Substack on Monday), I thought I'd turn the floor over to Vadim Kirilyuk, one of the world's foremost experts on these remarkable creatures.
He's turned in a really thoughtful piece of writing, nuanced by his 30+ years working to help these creatures survive in some of Earth's most inhospitable places. While many will celebrate zoo animals around the world today, Vadim's piece takes a moment to honor the wild populations, struggling to survive in a world that grows ever more challenging.
Read his piece and then scroll down to get your own copy of a very special art print I commissioned to help support his work in the field.
Three decades of tracking the steppe’s most mysterious cat
By Vadim Kirilyuk
The unblinking stare of a Pallas’s cat, locking eyes with you — that’s what struck me during our first encounter. It happened 31 years ago, in the frozen steppe of Mongolia. A beautiful animal? Maybe — but do you really notice that when you're amped up on adrenaline and all you see are those piercing yellow eyes, surrounded by a ball of fur? When the close distance and that intense stare make you uneasy, and you’re fumbling to focus a clunky old camera? No — I don’t remember any particular beauty from those early encounters. Much later, when I had the time to really look, I started to see: yes, the animal is beautiful. But that first infatuation with its striking appearance and mysterious aura — it’s long gone. Now, what I feel is rooted in something deeper: understanding and respect.
Over the years, I’ve seen all kinds of Pallas’s cats — mangy, shedding, sick, wet, limping, one-eyed, mauled by dogs to the point of broken bones, starved to skin and bones, dead… In photos, they look like runway models. In real life, they’re usually just trying to survive another hard day. Sometimes I’d think, “What’s so beautiful about that?” And then I’d answer myself, “You’re living creatures, fighting to carry on your kind. And a few of you — just a few — manage to charm and entertain countless people. Maybe your popularity will do some good for your whole species…”
Of all the stories — some short, others long, like the one about Dasha — one always comes to mind. The parting of Fluffy and her kittens. Thanks to camera traps, I witnessed for the first time how a Pallas’s cat mother leads her kittens from place to place, teaching them the art of survival. She brought them to a new temporary shelter — a small rocky outcrop. The kittens were already growing up — strong, but still clumsy and completely dependent on their mom. A month passed. They grew faster, became agile, learned to hunt and respond to danger. Life was good. The mother was tender and caring. The family seemed at peace, and there was still plenty of time before fall.
But then, Fluffy — exhausted and emaciated after nursing five kittens — decided it was time to leave them. On video, you can see her hiss sharply at a kitten that approached her, shocked and confused — then she walks away. For good. Within a day or two, the kittens dispersed. But one little female stayed at the rocky den for another week, sometimes crying out in what sounded like a heartbreaking call. That sudden leap from a safe, joyful life with family to a scary, unknown life alone — it’s the most critical turning point for so many wild animals.
These days, I see photos of Pallas’s cats differently than most people do. I instantly imagine the circumstances of the shot: how much it might’ve stressed the cat, how it looks and feels physically, what kind of shelter it has, and finally — what could be done to help it live longer than fate or humans might allow.
Happy Pallas’s Cat Day to everyone who cares — and everyone who cheers them on!
A very special fundraiser for today
I asked Buttercat Paradox, one of my absolute favorite animal artists, to depict a manul in front of one of the rock forts Vadim is researching as means to protect them from people, dogs and eagles in Mongolia. She turned around an incredible painting, in her distinctive style, which I’m releasing prints of to help support Vadim and the Manul Working Group.
The Manul Working Group is a team of scientists working together to protect the manul (also known as the Pallas's cat) across its entire habitat range. This range spans from near Turkey in the west all the way to eastern Siberia in Russia. Manuls face three big pressures in Mongolia that Vadim is working to mitigate:
Human development is breaking up their habitat into smaller, disconnected areas and climate change is reducing their range
Domesticated dogs are hunting and killing them
Marmots (which manuls depend on for shelter) are disappearing, eliminating important refuge places
Get your print at the FUZZ shop here. Or if you want to donate directly to the Manul Working Group, you can do so via the Eurasian Wildlife and Peoples Fund (that way, it’s tax-deductible if you’re in the U.S.). Just e-mail me proof of your donation at dan@fuzz.net along with your address and I’ll send a print your way.
What an amazing and heartbreaking story! Really shows just how harsh and unforgiving the lives of wild animals are, but especially the manul.. Happy Pallas’s Cat Day!