I ran across an intense pair of big yellow eyes in a mammal field guide and introduced myself to the Pallas cat, also known as the manul. Pallas cats are really no bigger than domesticated house cats. They live in the steppes of central Asia, especially in Mongolia, and have long silver-yellow fur and funny little ears. They haven’t been studied to the extent that bigger, more glamorous wild cats have, and we don’t know a whole lot about them (other than that they are officially threatened).

Pallas’ Cat Conservation Project