‘No one believed it’: how a YouTube video accidentally proved Libya’s sand cat really does exist

The Guardian Environment Wednesday 24 June 2026, 11:00 UTC By Amr Fathallah in Tripoli. Photographs by Mohammed Almuntasir 1 min read

Key Points

Wildlife photographer Mohammed Almuntasir had no idea what he had found until scientists started to get in touchWhen wildlife photographer Mohammed Almuntasir uploaded 18 seconds of footage to YouTube, he thought little more about the small, pale cat seen digging a hollow in the sand in the remote dunes of south-west Libya. The video, however, posted in 2017, turned out to be the first material evidence that the sand cat (Felis margarita), the world’s only felid adapted to true desert...

Wildlife photographer Mohammed Almuntasir had no idea what he had found until scientists started to get in touch

When wildlife photographer Mohammed Almuntasir uploaded 18 seconds of footage to YouTube, he thought little more about the small, pale cat seen digging a hollow in the sand in the remote dunes of south-west Libya.

The video, however, posted in 2017, turned out to be the first material evidence that the sand cat (Felis margarita), the world’s only felid adapted to true desert conditions, existed in the country.

YouTube (ORG) Libya (LOCATION) Mohammed Almuntasir (PERSON)

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‘No one believed it’: how a YouTube video accidentally proved Libya’s sand cat really does exist

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