🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Producing concentrated urine conserves water, and this overview reviews the kidney function that supports desert cats. Like other arid-adapted mammals, desert cats are thought to produce highly concen…

Sustaining a sprint demands rapid oxygen delivery and gas exchange. This overview surveys what is known about the cheetah heart, lungs, blood, and airways in the context of brief, maximal exercise. Fe…

Cat retinas are rich in rod photoreceptors, the cells specialised for dim-light vision, and this overview reviews how this composition shapes feline sight. A high rod-to-cone ratio, combined with conv…

Small cats seem to out-jump big cats relative to their size, and this overview reviews how jumping ability scales across the felid family. Physical principles predict that absolute jump height does no…

Felids span from sub-kilogram wildcats to lions and tigers of well over a hundred kilograms, and body size profoundly shapes how they move. This overview reviews how speed, acceleration, jumping abili…

Cat coats change with the seasons, and this overview reviews moulting and seasonal adjustment of the coat. Many cats grow a denser coat for cold months and shed it for a lighter summer coat, with moul…

In several big cats, males have larger, more robust skulls and stouter canines than females, and this overview reviews the patterns and their likely drivers. Such dimorphism is often linked to male-ma…

The coat and skin together form a protective barrier, and this overview reviews their defensive functions. Fur shields the skin from sun, abrasion, and minor injury, while the skin itself guards again…

Cat skulls vary in robustness and proportion, and this overview surveys how that variation tracks the size of prey a species typically takes. Cats that tackle relatively large prey tend to have more r…

The vertical slit pupil of small cats is a striking feature, and this overview reviews why such pupils evolved. Comparative work links vertical slit pupils to small ambush predators active across a wi…

Whether sabertoothed cats lived socially is debated, and this overview reviews the lines of evidence, including healed injuries and the abundance of Smilodon in deposits such as tar seeps. Some argue…

The felid spine is notably flexible, and this overview surveys how that flexibility serves functions from grooming and squeezing through gaps to extending stride during a gallop. Dorsoventral flexion…

The cheetah uses a rotary gallop with two airborne suspension phases per stride, one with limbs gathered and one with them extended. This overview examines how dorsoventral flexion and extension of th…

A stalking cat moves with a deliberate, low, near-silent gait that minimises noise and visibility. This overview examines the biomechanics of this slow, controlled locomotion: careful weight transfer,…

How does the cheetah reach gallop speeds that outpace other land mammals? This overview synthesises what is known about the interplay of stride length and stride frequency as cheetahs accelerate. Unli…

Cheetah sprint mechanics are usually described on flat, open ground, but real hunts cross uneven, sloped, and variably firm terrain. This overview examines how substrate hardness, surface friction, sl…

Although many cats avoid water, some are capable swimmers, and a few hunt in it. This overview surveys aquatic locomotion in felids, focusing on the fishing cat, whose partially webbed paws and water-…

Fur is not only insulation but also a sensory surface, and this overview reviews the tactile roles of body hair beyond the specialised whiskers. Ordinary hairs are associated with nerve endings that d…

The cheetah long, heavy, flattened tail is widely described as a rudder or counterbalance, but how exactly does it contribute to turning? This overview reviews the biomechanical reasoning and observat…

A successful jump requires aiming as much as power, and this overview reviews how cats control takeoff angle and trajectory to land accurately. By adjusting the direction and force of push-off, a cat…

Cats require dietary taurine, and this overview reviews this classic example of feline nutritional specialisation. Unlike many mammals, cats cannot make enough taurine themselves and must get it from…

Veterinary reports of cats surviving falls from great heights inspired the idea that, past a certain height, injuries may not simply keep worsening. This overview surveys the biomechanics: after right…

Cats hear across an exceptionally wide frequency range, and this overview reviews its extent and predatory value. Feline hearing extends well into ultrasonic frequencies, higher than humans and even m…

Sabertoothed cats are thought to have killed very differently from living felids, and this overview reviews the leading canine-shear hypothesis in that comparative light. Where modern big cats use a p…

A falling cat can turn to land feet-down without any external push, a feat that puzzled physicists for over a century. This overview explains the modern understanding: the cat rotates its front and ba…

The cheetah is famous for sounding unlike other big cats, and this overview reviews its distinctive vocalisations. Rather than roaring, cheetahs produce bird-like chirps, churrs, and a range of high-p…

Claw deployment is powered by the deep digital flexor muscle, whose tendons run down each toe to the claw-bearing bone. This overview reviews the tendon-and-pulley arrangement that protracts the claws…

The kitten visual system became a foundational model in neuroscience, and this overview reviews what studies of feline visual development revealed. Classic experiments on visual deprivation in kittens…

The cat first digit, carried high on the inner foreleg as the dewclaw, does not touch the ground in walking but plays a role in grasping. This overview reviews its anatomy and function: a mobile, claw…

Cats purr not only when content but sometimes when injured, frightened, or near death, and this overview reviews the puzzle of purring varied contexts. Because purring occurs in both positive and stre…