A wish of yours just came true.
Even if you don’t remember wishing for it, you subconsciously wanted to see little baby sand cats in the wild.
The small felines live in the deserts of North Africa and Central Asia, coming out at night to swiftly paw across the cool sand and snatch up prey. Because of these behaviors, the cats are considered quite elusive, so elusive that no one has been able to catch sand kittens on camera … until now.
After four years of research, conservationists were able to film a group of 6-to-8-week-old sand cats in Morocco’s portion of the Sahara Desert, reports The Independent. Big cat protection organization Panthera was the group to accomplish the feat.
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And thank goodness they did, because this might be some of the cutest wildlife footage we’ve ever seen. It is packed with big-eared, wide-eye, precious-pawed sweetness and should bring a smile to the coldest, most cynical hearts.
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The video shows the kittens camouflaged against a patch of undergrowth, where they were left by their mother. Researchers filmed and photographed the littles ones for an hour, until they spotted Mama Sand Cat returning for her kitties.
It’s hard to guess when researchers will get an opportunity like this again, so make sure to savor this clip by watching it at least five times and then bookmarking it for later cheer-up sessions.