Research overview: ontogenetic diet shifts in growing felids

An overview of how the prey a cat takes changes as it grows, learns to hunt and gains the size and strength to subdue larger prey. Young felids first depend on prey provided by their mother, then practice on small, easy prey before progressively tackling larger species as their hunting skill and body mass increase, so diet shifts predictably with age and independence. This survey synthesizes evidence on the development of hunting ability, the prey-size progression from juveniles to adults, and how inexperienced subadults, often forced into marginal habitat, may rely on smaller prey or livestock. It connects developmental biology and learning to predation ecology and conflict. The topic illustrates how a felid's predatory niche expands over its lifetime and why young dispersers can show distinctive prey use.