A bit larger than the average size of a domestic cat, the Pallas’s Cat (Otocolobus manual) is a threatened wild cat that is native to the grasslands and montane steppes of Central China and Mongolia. Since this region can get extremely cold, Pallas’s Cats (also known as Manuls) have an incredibly thick coat to keep them warm. They get their name from German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas who described them in 1776.
Peering out from its den in this cute video, the Pallas’s Cat cautiously approaches a camera set up to capture its movements. The Pallas Cat’s demeanor is most definitely chary as it takes note of this strange object outside its home.
Chary is an adjective meaning to be cautious, careful, or wary. It has its origins in Old English from from 1000 CE from the word cearig, meaning sorrowful.
After beelining for the camera, the cat disappears from view for a second seconds before a blurry closeup of the manul reappears as it sniffs and checks out the lens. The cat’s eye glance back and forth as it scopes out the lens before, ever so slowly, descending back out of view.
While the setting for this comical cat investigation looks like it was taken in the wild, the video was actually captured at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent, England.