🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This study used DNA markers to measure relatedness within and between lion coalitions and prides, testing whether cooperation tracks genetic kinship. It confirmed that companion females within a pride…

Packer, C., Gilbert, D. A., Pusey, A. E., O'Brien, S. J. · Nature · 1991

This pioneering study in the Idaho Primitive Area provided the first rigorous picture of mountain lion predation on wild ungulates, based on years of tracking pumas in snow and examining kills. It doc…

Hornocker, M. G. · Wildlife Monographs · 1970

This long-term study of cheetahs on the Serengeti plains provided the definitive account of cheetah social organization, combining years of observation of known individuals. It documented the species'…

Caro, T. M. · University of Chicago Press · 1994

Using playback experiments that simulated intruding roars, this study revealed that female lions vary in how readily they approach a threat, with consistent leaders and laggards within a pride. Some i…

Heinsohn, R., Packer, C. · Science · 1995

This study examined how male lions in coalitions share access to receptive females and defend their prides. By combining behavioral observation with knowledge of relatedness, the authors found that co…

Grinnell, J., Packer, C., Pusey, A. E. · Animal Behaviour · 1995

Observing lions hunting in Etosha, this study showed that lionesses occupy consistent stalking positions, with some individuals reliably acting as left or right wings that circle prey while others wai…

Stander, P. E. · Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 1992

Drawing on decades of Serengeti pride records and GPS data, this study quantified how the number of adult females in a pride affects its ability to win contested ground and raise cubs. Larger prides d…

Mosser, A., Packer, C. · Animal Behaviour · 2009

This landmark analysis showed that the size of a male lion coalition strongly predicts its tenure over prides and its lifetime reproductive output. Larger coalitions, often formed by littermates or co…

Bygott, J. D., Bertram, B. C. R., Hanby, J. P. · Nature · 1979

Building on long-term tracking of marked mountain lions, this study described how pumas organize their use of space through a land-tenure system maintained largely by mutual avoidance. Resident adults…

Seidensticker, J. C., Hornocker, M. G., Wiles, W. V., Messick, J. P. · Wildlife Monographs · 1973

As apex predators, big cats can exert top-down control that ripples through ecosystems via trophic cascades. This overview synthesizes evidence that lions, tigers, leopards, pumas, and jaguars influen…

Cheetah cubs suffer extremely high mortality, much of it inflicted by lions and spotted hyenas. This overview synthesizes research documenting that on the open plains the majority of cheetah cubs die…

The cheetah's celebrated speed is the centerpiece of a hunting strategy built on daytime pursuit of fleet prey. This overview synthesizes research on how cheetahs stalk to within range before launchin…

Cheetahs specialize on small to medium antelope, with gazelles forming the dietary core across much of their range. This overview synthesizes kill and scat studies showing that cheetahs favor prey the…

Much of the world's remaining cheetah population lives outside protected areas on farmland, particularly in Namibia, where the ecology differs from the famous plains populations. This overview synthes…

Cub survival is the demographic linchpin of lion populations and is highly variable. This overview synthesizes long-term studies showing that the majority of cubs die before independence from causes i…

Lions in the Kalahari and Namib regions survive in arid environments with sparse, dispersed prey and little surface water. This overview synthesizes studies showing how these lions range over enormous…

Leopards have perhaps the broadest diet of any large cat, recorded eating a vast array of species from large antelope to rodents, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates. This overview synthesizes scat and…

Cheetahs are largely diurnal, hunting in the cooler parts of the day, a pattern shaped partly by the need to avoid dominant nocturnal competitors. This overview synthesizes research showing that cheet…

The last wild Asiatic lions persist in and around the Gir forest of Gujarat, India, where their ecology differs notably from African populations. This overview reviews how Gir lions live in smaller gr…

Conserving big cats in a human-dominated world depends on applying their ecology to the challenge of coexistence. This overview synthesizes how understanding prey requirements, ranging, dispersal, and…

Many lion populations now persist in protected areas surrounded by human land use, and the reserve edge is a zone of elevated risk. This overview synthesizes studies showing how lions that range near…

Infectious disease can cause sudden, severe declines in lion populations, as shown by canine distemper outbreaks. This overview reviews how a 1990s distemper epidemic killed a large fraction of Sereng…

Lion prides are built on female philopatry, with daughters typically remaining in their natal range while subadult males are forced out to become nomads. This overview examines how this sex-biased dis…

Although a pride is a stable membership group, its members are rarely all together at once. This overview reviews how lionesses split into subgroups that hunt, rest, and travel independently before re…

Most big cats organize their use of space through a land-tenure system in which residents hold home ranges advertised by scent and maintained partly through avoidance. This overview synthesizes the ge…

Leopards coexist with larger, dominant carnivores by avoiding them in space, time, and behavior. This overview synthesizes research showing how leopards select denser cover, shift activity to avoid pe…

Lions live in a world structured by sound, and research has probed how they recognize one another and assess threats vocally. This overview reviews evidence that lions distinguish the roars of pride m…

As in lions, the takeover of a tigress's range by a new male can lead to the killing of her dependent cubs, after which she returns to breeding condition. This overview synthesizes field evidence for…

When a new coalition of males takes over a pride they commonly kill unweaned cubs, which brings females back into breeding condition sooner. This research overview surveys how lionesses respond by giv…

Big cats not only compete for prey but kill one another, and intraguild predation shapes the structure of carnivore communities. This overview synthesizes research on how dominant cats such as lions a…