Why is it difficult for manul cats to survive in captivity?

In recent years, the number of manul cats has decreased sharply and is in danger of extinction. To discover the cause of its death, we must delve into the conflict between environmental adaptation and natural selection.

Adaptation to the environment is an essential part of biological evolution. As a unique species, the manul cat forms a complex interactive relationship with its environment. Changes in habitat, climate change and resource scarcity will all directly impact the manul cat's ability to survive.

However, natural selection has placed certain limits on the manul cat's ability to adapt. Adaptation means that an organism takes a long time to change to suit its environment. However, when the environment changes too quickly or becomes too harsh, natural selection may not take effect in time.

Competition for resources is also a conflict between environmental adaptation and natural selection. As human activities increase, deforestation and agricultural expansion have led to a reduction in manul cat habitat and food sources. Even in their remaining habitat, manul cats still face competition from other species. Therefore, resource scarcity puts manul cats in a dilemma between environmental adaptation and natural selection.

Find out why manul cats are difficult to keep in captivity

A common problem is that keeping manul cats in captivity is very difficult. When understanding its cause, we need to comprehensively consider both biological and environmental factors.

From the perspective of biological factors, manul cats are wild animals, with their own physiological and behavioral characteristics, these characteristics are often the key to the success of raising manul cats in groups. Manul cats have flexible limbs and agile movements, adapted to jumping and climbing at heights in the natural environment.

In captivity, due to space limitations, manul cats cannot express their instinct to move freely, which can lead to emotional instability and abnormal behavior. Additionally, manul cats are also social to a certain extent and enjoy doing group life activities and interacting with their littermates. The lack of a social environment will make the manul feel lonely and unstable, which will affect its living habits and behavior.

Manul cats have strict requirements for breeding environments, requiring large areas of natural habitat and suitable climatic conditions. Captive environments are often unable to provide such conditions, leading to reduced reproduction rates of manul cats and even failure to breed successfully.

Manul cats in captivity often have to rely on artificial food to meet their nutritional needs; this artificial food cannot fully satisfy their natural eating habits and can lead to problems. health for manul cats.

In addition, breeders often do not have enough knowledge and professional experience when raising Manul cats and cannot arrange a scientific and reasonable diet, which further affects the process of growth, development and health. Fertility of manul cats.

In captivity, manul cats often lack stimulation compared to their natural environment, which negatively impacts their mental state. There may be problems such as noise, insufficient lighting, and cramped space in the captive environment, which are not suitable for the survival and living needs of manul cats, causing them to develop stress and anxiety. These psychological stresses will further affect the manul's immune system function, making it more susceptible to disease.

In order for manul cats to survive better in captivity, we need to take a series of measures. Breeders need to improve their professional knowledge and technology, understand the special needs of manul cats and be able to provide appropriate food and living environment. It is necessary to strengthen cooperation and exchange, establish professional manul cat breeding organizations, and find suitable manul cat breeding models through research and practice.

At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen supervision to prohibit illegal trade and indiscriminate hunting and killing, and maintain the habitat of manul cats. We should pay attention to education and propaganda, raise public awareness and pay attention to the protection of manul cats, and support people's reasonable use and protection of natural resources.