Caught on camera: Sand cats may have a ‘sizable population’ in Qatar

Researchers led by Qatar University ecologist Muhammad Ali Nawaz set camera traps across four regions of Qatar from 2022 to 2025, recording sand cats more than 100 times, all within the roughly 55-square-kilometer Al-Ureiq Reserve, including a mother with two kittens. Previous evidence of the species in Qatar was anecdotal, and the findings, published in Frontiers in Conservation Science, mark the first systematic confirmation of the elusive felid's presence there.

Sand cats are notoriously hard to study — solitary, nocturnal, wide-ranging, and equipped with fur-soled paws that leave almost no tracks — so researchers cannot say how many individual cats were photographed, though Nawaz believes the population is 'sizable.' Outside experts praised the study but cautioned that Al-Ureiq is a fraction of the size of sand cat ranges studied elsewhere, and that longer-term monitoring is needed to determine whether the population is genuinely viable rather than a handful of cats repeatedly triggering the same cameras.

The researchers recommend expanding camera surveys and managing the reserve's stray dog population, which can prey on, compete with, and transmit disease to sand cats.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.