🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Cats need more dietary protein than many mammals, and this overview reviews the metabolic basis. Feline liver enzymes that break down amino acids for energy operate at a relatively high, less adjustab…

The power for a jump comes largely from the hindlimb extensors, and this overview reviews how their architecture supports explosive movement. Large muscles crossing the hip, knee, and ankle, with fibr…

Cats can cover impressive horizontal distances in a single bound, and this overview reviews the biomechanics of the broad jump. Achieving distance requires a takeoff that balances upward and forward v…

Purring is a distinctive feline vocalisation produced continuously through inhalation and exhalation, and this overview reviews how it is generated. The leading view holds that rapid, rhythmic contrac…

The long, blade-like canines of sabertoothed cats were powerful weapons but also potentially fragile, and this overview reviews how they may have been protected from fracture. The favoured solution is…

The force of a cat bite comes from its jaw-closing muscles, chiefly the temporalis and masseter, and this overview reviews their arrangement and relative emphasis. In cats the temporalis is strongly d…

A short, powerful jaw bites hard but opens less widely, and this overview reviews the gape-versus-force trade-off in cats and its consequences. Wide gape helps clear large canines and seize big prey,…

Kittens are not born able to leap accurately, and this overview reviews how jumping ability develops through growth and play. As kittens grow, their muscles strengthen, limb proportions change, and ne…

Coming down safely is as important as getting up, and this overview reviews how cats absorb the impact of landing. On touchdown the limbs flex to lengthen the deceleration and spread the force over ti…

Body size affects how easily an animal gains or loses heat, and this overview reviews its thermoregulatory consequences for big cats. Because surface area grows more slowly than volume with size, larg…

Beyond purrs and roars, cats produce a rich variety of calls, and this overview reviews the laryngeal anatomy and mechanics behind them. The larynx, with its vocal folds, muscles, and cartilages, shap…

Running near the limits of land-mammal speed places enormous loads on slender limb bones. This overview gathers what is understood about peak ground reaction forces, bone stresses, and the safety fact…

Cats handle dietary carbohydrate differently from omnivores, and this overview reviews their specialised glucose metabolism. Adapted to a low-carbohydrate, meat-based diet, cats have reduced activity…

The prominent whiskers on a cat muzzle, the mystacial vibrissae, form a precise tactile array, and this overview reviews their structure and arrangement. Thicker and more deeply rooted than ordinary h…

Black, or melanistic, coats appear repeatedly in wild cats, and this overview reviews this phenomenon and its causes. Melanism, seen famously in black leopards and jaguars, results from genetic varian…

Animals generate water internally when they metabolise food, and this overview reviews the role of metabolic water for desert cats. Oxidising the fat and protein in prey yields water as a by-product,…

Bite-force figures for cats are often estimates rather than direct measurements, and this overview reviews how they are derived and where they can mislead. Researchers reconstruct muscle forces from a…

The cat middle ear transmits airborne sound to the fluid-filled inner ear, and this overview reviews how its three tiny ossicles accomplish this efficiently. The ossicular chain and the area differenc…

Cats are exquisitely sensitive to movement, and this overview reviews the visual mechanisms behind this and their predatory significance. The feline visual system emphasises detecting and tracking mot…

Driving long canines into prey is thought to have required powerful neck muscles in sabertoothed cats, and this overview reviews the evidence for enhanced head-depression musculature. Enlarged attachm…

Newborn kittens cannot regulate their own temperature well, and this overview reviews how they stay warm. With limited ability to generate and conserve heat, neonatal kittens depend on the warmth of t…

Beyond taurine and arginine, cats depend on several other nutrients in preformed, animal-derived forms, and this overview reviews them. Cats have a limited ability to synthesise niacin from tryptophan…

Cats have whiskers beyond the muzzle, and this overview reviews these often-overlooked vibrissae and their roles. Carpal whiskers on the back of the forelegs may help detect and orient struggling prey…

Cats are strict, or obligate, carnivores, and this overview reviews what that means metabolically and why it sets cats apart. Through evolutionary specialisation on a meat diet, cats have lost or redu…

Adult cheetah sprinting is well characterised, but how do cubs develop the coordination, muscle architecture, and skeletal proportions required for high-speed pursuit? This overview gathers what is kn…

Cats cool themselves differently from humans, and this overview reviews their reliance on panting and limited sweating. Lacking extensive sweat glands over the body, cats have sweat glands mainly on t…

Blood flow to the skin and extremities is a key thermoregulatory tool, and this overview reviews its role in cats. By adjusting circulation to the paws, ears, and other peripheral areas, cats can shed…

A cat external ears, or pinnae, swivel independently, and this overview reviews how this mobility sharpens sound localisation. Each pinna can rotate widely, funnelling sound and helping pinpoint a sou…

Cats fuel themselves chiefly with protein and fat, and this overview reviews how they use these substrates in feeding and fasting. With limited reliance on carbohydrate, cats draw energy from dietary…

Cat eyes adjust to enormous changes in light, and this overview reviews the dynamics of pupil constriction and dilation and the optics of a large aperture. A widely dilating pupil gathers abundant lig…