Research overview: the genetic plight of the Scottish wildcat

The Scottish wildcat, the last wild felid native to Britain, is threatened less by direct persecution than by hybridization with domestic and feral cats that has blurred its genetic distinctiveness. This overview surveys studies using molecular markers and pelage scoring to assess how much pure wildcat ancestry remains, the conclusion that the wild population is heavily introgressed, and the conservation response of captive breeding from the most wildcat-like individuals combined with feral cat control. It discusses the difficulty of defining genetic purity amid ongoing gene flow and how the Scottish wildcat illustrates extinction by hybridization as a conservation threat.