Just a moggie?

Stayed overnight in the Sabana Beach Resort, Lake Langano, Ethiopia in early Feb 2020 and saw this cat in the grounds at dusk.   It didn’t occur to me that it was anything other than a domestic moggie, but it looked not-quite-right enough that I took this snap, whereupon it stood up and walked off (before I had the chance/gumption to take another photo), whereupon She Who Must Be Obeyed voiced my own thought — “Blimey, that cat’s got really long legs!”

Just wishful thinking,  or is it conceivable that this could be an African Wild Cat?   It was certainly wary, but didn’t flee in panic (and, after all, it was in the middle of a tourist lodge).

7 Comments

  • john wright

    Hi Ian, it looks very much like a moggie to me – but of course it may well have some wildcat blood in its veins! For information see the end piece of my 2014 Ethiopia trip report – there’s a photo I took of an interesting ‘wildcat’ which I believe to be not quite right for a true African Wildcat.

  • Chris Roche

    Hi Ian H
    I’d say this one is too spotted (and grey) to be considered an African wild cat.
    I do know of a female African wild cat (or first generation hybrid) that took up in a lodge in Namibia and reared kittens there.

  • Stephen Babbs

    I agree it doesn’t look right for wild cat.

  • Charles Foley

    I agree its just a moggie. The ears are wrong for a Wild cat, and most pure Wild cats have an orange tint behind the ears. It was definitely worth a second look though.

  • Stephen Babbs

    I agree it doesn’t look right for wildcat

  • ian_h

    Thanks, all. You know how it is, the eye of faith sees more than is there….

    • Jon Hall

      Ha ha Ian. If it wasn’t for people on this forum correcting me I am sure I would have squeezed an extra hundred species onto my life list!

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