🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This study investigated the mechanism by which domestic cats and some other felids produce the continuous purr during both inhalation and exhalation. Measurements indicated that purring arises from ra…

Dawn Sissom, Donald Rice, Gustav Peters · Journal of Zoology · 1991

Allonursing, the nursing of non-offspring, is best documented in lions but reported in other group-living or colonial felid contexts, including domestic cat colonies. This overview surveys research on…

Even as predators, cats must avoid being killed, and anti-predator behaviour shapes their activity and space use. This overview surveys research on vigilance, refuge use, and avoidance in domestic and…

Beyond the mechanics of the flehmen response, felids use vomeronasal sampling to extract social information from scent marks. This overview surveys research on how cats assess reproductive status, ind…

Cooperation is rare among felids, concentrated in the social lion and in cheetah and feral-cat male coalitions, making the family a useful contrast for theories of cooperation. This overview surveys r…

Captive big cats have become subjects of cognitive testing that reveals their learning abilities and informs enrichment. This overview surveys research using touchscreen and apparatus-based discrimina…

Felids scratch trees and other surfaces and create ground scrapes that combine visual marks with scent from glands in the paws. This overview surveys research on the marking function of scratching acr…

Infanticide by males is documented or inferred across many felid species, from lions to tigers, leopards, pumas, and others, wherever killing dependent young can hasten a female's next conception. Thi…

Pumas, also called cougars or mountain lions, are solitary felids whose social lives revolve around spatial organisation maintained largely through scent communication. This overview surveys GPS and f…

Cats sometimes kill more prey than they consume, a phenomenon called surplus killing that appears when vulnerable prey is abundant and the killing response is repeatedly triggered. This overview surve…

In endangered cats, individual temperament can determine reproductive success and welfare in managed-care programs. This overview surveys research extending the cheetah findings to other species, exam…

Roughly two-thirds of domestic cats display a stereotyped response to catnip, sniffing, licking, rolling, and rubbing, triggered by the compound nepetalactone acting through the olfactory and vomerona…

Play is energetically costly and potentially risky, yet pervasive in young cats, prompting debate over its functions. This overview surveys the major hypotheses, including play as practice for predati…

Despite being a large cat, the cheetah cannot roar and instead produces a distinctive repertoire including bird-like chirps, stutter-bark calls, churrs, and purring. This overview surveys descriptions…

True tool use is essentially absent in cats, but felids display tool-adjacent behaviours that involve manipulating objects and environments to achieve goals. This overview surveys examples such as usi…

Why can lions and tigers roar while domestic cats and cheetahs cannot? This comparative anatomical study examined the hyoid apparatus, the chain of bones supporting the larynx and tongue, across felid…

Gerald Weissengruber and colleagues · Journal of Anatomy · 2002