There are two new residents to meet at the Lake Superior Zoo. Tony and Pumpkin are sand cats who came to Duluth from San Diego. The now live in the Griggs Learning Center.

While they look like domestic cats, they are true wild cats are native to Africa’s Sahara desert, the Arabian peninsula and parts of central Asia.

“They’re a really good education tool,” Zookeeper Kelli Carroll points out. “They’re used pretty commonly in the exotic pet trade. For pretty obvious reasons, they look like domestic cats.”

 Sand cats primarily eat small rodents and are known snake hunter. They can also survive weeks without water.