Utah zoo welcomes deadly African black-footed cat

SALT LAKE CITY — At first look, this cat looks like a harmless tabby. But the African black-footed cat, while standing only 8 to 10 inches tall, is the deadliest wild cat in the world.

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Gaia is the newest resident of the Small Animal Building at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, KTVX reported.

“Weighing in at just under 3 pounds and boasting the biggest eyes you’ve ever seen, she may look adorable, but looks can be deceiving,” the zoo wrote in a Facebook post.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, this species of cat -- known as Felis nigripes -- has a 60% success rate as a hunter.

It weighs 200 times less than a lion, but the black-footed cat is capable of capturing more prey in a single night than a leopard does over a six-month period, the magazine reported.

Zoo officials are touting Gaia’s arrival as an important step in the conservation of her species, KTVX reported. Black-footed cats can be found in the arid eastern areas of Namibia, Central and Southern Botswana, and South Africa.

The nocturnal animal is sometimes handicapped in its ability to survive “due to its shyness and preference for nighttime activity,” according to zoo officials.

The cat’s diet includes rodents, insects and even small birds, KTVX reported. Black-footed cats have also been known to kill adult Cape hares, according to the International Society for Endangered Cats.

“She finds almost anything that moves is a potential meal,” a 2018 PBS documentary noted about the animal.

Gaia will be fed by staffers but will still be allowed to practice her “natural behaviors” with the facility’s animal-care staff, zoo spokesperson Rachael Eames told KTVX.

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