🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This influential comparative study estimated bite forces across a broad range of living and extinct mammalian carnivores using dry-skull dissection methods and lever modelling, then scaled the results…

Wroe, S.; McHenry, C.; Thomason, J. · Proceedings of the Royal Society B · 2005

This study measured or estimated bite forces across many carnivoran species and related them to body size, skull shape, and feeding ecology, building predictive relationships between morphology and pe…

Christiansen, P.; Wroe, S. · Ecology · 2007

A companion to the hindlimb study, this work dissected and quantified the cheetah forelimb musculature, again reporting muscle masses, fascicle lengths, and physiological cross-sectional areas in a co…

Hudson, P.E.; Corr, S.A.; Lee, R.C.; Wilson, A.M. · Journal of Anatomy · 2011

This detailed dissection-based study quantified the muscle architecture of the cheetah hindlimb, recording muscle masses, fascicle lengths, and physiological cross-sectional areas and comparing them w…

Hudson, P.E.; Corr, S.A.; Lee, R.C.; Wilson, A.M. · Journal of Anatomy · 2011

This comparative biomechanics study placed cheetahs and racing greyhounds on a track and recorded spatio-temporal and kinetic characteristics of their galloping gait. Both are elite cursorial sprinter…

Hudson, P.E.; Corr, S.A.; Wilson, A.M. · Journal of Experimental Biology · 2012

This landmark study fitted free-ranging cheetahs in Botswana with custom solar-powered GPS-IMU collars logging position, acceleration, and turning at high frequency during real hunts. Rather than conf…

Wilson, A.M.; Lowe, J.C.; Roskilly, K.; Hudson, P.E.; Golabek, K.A.; McNutt, J.W. · Nature · 2013

Popular accounts fixate on the cheetah maximum speed, but field data suggest acceleration and deceleration matter more for catching prey. This overview weighs the relative importance of burst accelera…

The purr has a characteristic low fundamental frequency, and this overview reviews its acoustic structure and the claims made about specific frequencies. Measured purrs typically centre on low frequen…

A cheetah sprint is brief and metabolically violent. This overview compiles what is known about the energetic cost of the chase, the reliance on anaerobic pathways during the seconds of peak effort, a…

Many cats climb readily, and some are highly arboreal. This overview surveys the biomechanics of climbing: the use of sharp recurved claws for grip, limb and joint mobility for negotiating branches, b…

Cats are exquisitely sensitive to a lack of dietary arginine, and this overview reviews why. Arginine is essential to the urea cycle that disposes of nitrogen waste from protein breakdown, and because…

Cats are renowned for poise on fences, branches, and ledges, and this overview reviews how they maintain dynamic balance on narrow or unstable substrates. The tail acts as a counterbalance and inertia…

How much energy a cat needs at rest and in daily life is fundamental to its biology, and this overview reviews feline basal metabolic rate and energy expenditure. Like other mammals, cat metabolic rat…

Much of feline temperature regulation is behavioural, and this overview reviews how posture and microhabitat choice keep cats comfortable. Cats curl up tightly to conserve heat and reduce exposed surf…

Behaviour is a frontline defence against water loss in the desert, and this overview reviews how desert cats use timing and shelter to stay hydrated. By being active in the cooler night and resting in…

Forward-facing eyes give cats substantial binocular overlap, and this overview reviews how this supports the depth perception needed to judge a leap or pounce. Overlapping fields allow stereopsis, in…

Estimating how large sabertoothed cats were and what they hunted is fundamental to understanding them, and this overview reviews the methods and conclusions. Body-mass estimates from limb-bone dimensi…

Mammals can generate heat without shivering, and this overview reviews the role of brown adipose tissue in feline heat production. Brown fat produces heat directly through specialised metabolism rathe…

Cat coats are often patterned for concealment, and this overview reviews the function and development of spots, stripes, and rosettes. Patterns such as the tiger stripes and leopard rosettes break up…

Growing a pair of enormous canines posed developmental challenges, and this overview reviews what is known about sabertooth canine eruption and the implications for young animals. Studies of Smilodon…

Felids kill primarily with their canine teeth, and this overview reviews how canine form and the killing bite are matched to prey. Many cats deliver a precise nape or throat bite, the slender, sharp c…

Cats possess sharp, blade-like carnassial teeth that shear flesh like scissors, and this overview surveys their structure and function. The carnassial pair, formed by an upper premolar and a lower mol…

The degree of curvature in a claw correlates with how an animal uses it, and this overview reviews that relationship in cats. Strongly recurved claws favour gripping bark and branches and hooking into…

Cheetahs possess only partially retractable claws and hardened, ridged foot pads, features often likened to athletic cleats. This overview surveys how claw exposure and pad texture provide the tractio…

A claw is a keratin sheath grown over the terminal bone of the toe, and this overview surveys its structure, continuous growth, and the way cats shed worn outer layers. Scratching strips off the old h…

Scratching serves several functions at once, and this overview untangles them. Dragging the claws strips worn sheaths to maintain sharpness, stretches the limbs and back, and deposits both visual mark…

Beyond climbing, claws are weapons, and this overview surveys their use in seizing prey and in fights among cats. Extended claws anchor struggling prey while the bite is delivered, and raking strikes…

Coat colour can affect heat balance, and this overview reviews how dark and light fur interact with thermal load in cats. Darker coats absorb more solar radiation and may warm faster in sun, while lig…

A cat coat is layered for function, and this overview reviews its structure. Many cats have coarse outer guard hairs that shed water and resist wear over a softer, denser undercoat that traps air for…

Inside the cat cochlea, different frequencies stimulate different positions along the basilar membrane, and this overview reviews this tonotopic organisation and its high-frequency emphasis. The cochl…