Pallas' cat (Otocolobus manul) named after German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas is a feline oddity: it has round rather than vertical pupils, it is a very poor runner, and it yelps like a dog. It lives at altitudes above 4000m where its extremely thick fur protects it against the cold. Fur hunters have eliminated the cat from large areas of its original range. It is now protected (although some hunting still goes on) and does a good job of keeping down pika and rodents, which are pests and carriers of disease. It also eats larks, sandgrouse and ptarmigan. It is now further threatened by the drive to eliminate its main prey, pika, from large areas of Russia and China.
