🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Many structurally intact Asian forests now hold few or no tigers because their prey has been hunted out, a phenomenon known as the empty forest syndrome. This overview synthesizes evidence that unsust…

Across Africa lions take a wide spectrum of prey but show local specialization driven by abundance and profitability. This overview examines how some prides become buffalo specialists, particularly wh…

Pumas are mainly crepuscular and nocturnal, and they intensify their avoidance of humans in space and time where people are present. This overview synthesizes research showing that cougars concentrate…

Puma home ranges vary widely with prey density, terrain, and sex, among the largest of any solitary cat in prey-poor environments. This overview synthesizes telemetry studies showing that male pumas o…

Pumas typically kill prey larger than they can eat at once and cache carcasses to feed over several days. This overview synthesizes GPS-cluster and field studies showing how cougars drag and cover the…

Pumas are major predators of deer across the Americas, and their effect on prey populations has been long studied and debated. This overview synthesizes research on how cougars select vulnerable indiv…

At the southern end of their range, pumas in Patagonia prey heavily on guanacos, the region's native wild camelid, in open steppe and mountain landscapes. This overview synthesizes research on how Pat…

By killing large prey and leaving partly eaten carcasses, pumas subsidize a wide community of scavengers and influence nutrient cycling. This overview synthesizes research showing that puma kills supp…

Pumas increasingly live near cities in parts of their range, navigating fragmented habitat threaded with roads and development. This overview synthesizes research, notably from California, on how coug…

As apex or near-apex predators, pumas can influence ecosystems through cascading effects on prey and smaller predators. This overview synthesizes research suggesting that the loss or decline of pumas…

The jaguar's continuous historical range once stretched from the southwestern United States to Argentina, and maintaining connectivity across this expanse is a central conservation goal. This overview…

Snow leopard reproduction is shaped by the brief alpine summer and the harshness of the high-mountain environment. This overview synthesizes what is known about their breeding season, the use of shelt…

Lions are both hunters and scavengers, and their relationship with spotted hyenas is a central feature of African large-carnivore communities. This overview reviews how lions appropriate hyena kills a…

Solitary tigers coordinate spacing and reproduction largely through scent. This overview synthesizes research on how tigers spray scent on trees, scrape the ground, rub cheeks, and deposit feces and u…

Solitary snow leopards communicate across their vast ranges through scent marks placed at conspicuous sites. This overview synthesizes research on how snow leopards spray scent on overhanging rocks, m…

Lions advertise and defend territory through a combination of roaring, scent marking, and scrapes. This overview reviews how the long-range roar communicates presence and group identity, allowing prid…

Leopards maintain their land-tenure system through scent marking, scrapes, and vocalizations that let solitary individuals space themselves and find mates. This overview synthesizes research on how le…

Snow leopards shift their use of the mountains seasonally, often following the movements of their prey up and down the slopes. This overview synthesizes tracking studies showing how snow leopards desc…

Across the high mountains of Asia, snow leopards and pastoralists overlap, and depredation on livestock drives conflict central to the cat's conservation. This overview synthesizes studies on the patt…

Snow leopards inhabit the high mountains of Central and South Asia, selecting steep, broken terrain that aids stalking and escape. This overview synthesizes telemetry and survey studies showing that s…

GPS collaring has transformed understanding of snow leopard spatial ecology, revealing far larger home ranges than earlier studies suggested. This overview synthesizes tracking work, notably from Mong…

Snow leopards depend heavily on mountain ungulates, especially blue sheep and ibex, across their range. This overview synthesizes diet studies showing that these wild caprids form the core of the snow…

Female cheetahs lead solitary lives and, unlike territorial males, range over very large areas that track the movements of their prey. This overview synthesizes research, especially from the Serengeti…

Tiger persistence across Asia increasingly depends on networks of reserves connected by corridors. This overview synthesizes the source-sink framework, in which well-protected core reserves with abund…

Unlike most cats, tigers are strong swimmers and readily enter water, a trait with ecological significance in wet habitats. This overview synthesizes observations of tigers swimming between islands in…

Cheetahs are famous for their exceptionally low genetic diversity, the legacy of one or more ancient population bottlenecks. This overview synthesizes research documenting the species' remarkable gene…

Snow leopards are among the hardest big cats to count, and their global population remains poorly known. This overview synthesizes the methodological challenges of surveying a cryptic, low-density cat…

Attacks on humans by tigers, though rare relative to encounters, have a long and consequential history. This overview synthesizes what ecological research suggests about the circumstances that lead a…

In floodplain strongholds such as the Pantanal, the annual flood pulse governs jaguar ecology. This overview synthesizes how rising and falling waters concentrate prey on shrinking patches of dry land…

Tigers are solitary and territorial, and their spacing follows a land-tenure system in which residents hold and defend areas against same-sex rivals. This overview synthesizes how female territories a…