Research overview: thermal physiology and the realized niche of wild cats

Whether a cat's distribution is limited directly by temperature or indirectly through prey, vegetation, and competitors shapes how it will respond to warming. This overview surveys what is known about felid thermal tolerance and physiology, why most cats are limited more by habitat and prey than by heat per se, and how that distinction affects the interpretation of climate-driven range projections. It reviews the gap between the fundamental thermal niche and the realized niche shaped by ecology. The synthesis frames physiology as the often-missing biological grounding for distribution models, explaining why a projected loss of suitable climate space may reflect prey and vegetation change rather than cats hitting a physiological heat limit.