🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Cats are indifferent to sweetness, and this overview reviews the genetic basis. A defect in a gene encoding part of the sweet taste receptor leaves cats unable to taste sugars, consistent with a carni…

The familiar tabby and the wild rosette share developmental roots, and this overview reviews the genetics behind cat coat patterns. Research has identified genes and developmental processes that estab…

The classic division between cats that roar and cats that purr was long tied to the hyoid apparatus, and this overview reviews this anatomy and the nuance behind it. The roaring big cats of the genus…

The feline jaw joint is configured to permit a strong hinge-like open-and-close motion while limiting the sideways grinding seen in herbivores and omnivores. This overview reviews how the shape of the…

The pounce is a hallmark of feline hunting, and this overview reviews it as a specialised short-range jump. After a stealthy approach, a cat launches a controlled leap onto nearby prey, combining a me…

Cat claws are often called retractable, but they are more accurately protrusible: at rest they are held back by elastic ligaments, and muscles actively pull them forward into action. This overview exp…

The sand cat is the only cat truly living in deserts, and this overview reviews its suite of adaptations as a model of arid-zone survival. Beyond drawing water from prey, the sand cat copes with extre…

Compared with dogs and bears, cats have notably short, deep snouts, and this overview explains the biomechanical payoff. Shortening the rostrum moves the canine teeth and carnassials closer to the jaw…

The snow leopard belongs to the roaring lineage yet does not roar, and this overview reviews this exception and what it reveals. Although a member of Panthera, the snow leopard lacks the fully develop…

Cats can modify their purr to make it more compelling, and this overview reviews the solicitation purr. Research found that when seeking food or attention, some cats embed a higher-pitched, infant-cry…

The eerie eyeshine of cats comes from the tapetum lucidum, a reflective layer behind the retina, and this overview reviews how it boosts vision in dim light. By bouncing light that has passed through…

Cats possess a third eyelid, the nictitating membrane, and this overview reviews its anatomy and function. This translucent fold sweeps across the eye from the inner corner, helping spread tears, clea…

Many cats rock or wiggle their hindquarters just before pouncing, and this overview reviews proposed explanations for this behaviour. Suggestions include priming the leg muscles for an explosive launc…

Cats maintain a stable body temperature across varied conditions, and this overview reviews their thermoregulatory strategies. Cats balance heat production and loss through behaviour, circulation, and…

A predator teeth are subjected to repeated high loads, and this overview surveys patterns of tooth fracture and wear in wild felids and what they reveal. Broken canines and worn carnassials accumulate…

Cats are remarkable jumpers, clearing many times their own height, and this overview reviews the biomechanics of their vertical leaps. A jump is powered by rapid, coordinated extension of the hindlimb…

The righting reflex begins with sensing which way is down. This overview reviews how the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear detects head orientation and triggers the cascade of head, spine, and lim…

Cats see the world less sharply than humans do, and this overview reviews how feline visual acuity is measured and what limits it. Behavioural and electrophysiological tests indicate that cats resolve…

A cat total visual field combines a frontal binocular zone with peripheral monocular vision, and this overview reviews its extent and use. The arrangement gives cats good depth perception ahead while…

Cats cannot make vitamin A from the plant pigment beta-carotene the way many animals do, and this overview reviews this dependence on preformed vitamin A. Lacking sufficient enzyme activity to convert…

A lion roar is astonishingly loud and low, and this overview reviews the vocal-fold anatomy behind it. Studies of big cat larynges found unusually large, robust vocal folds with a thick layer of fat a…

Several small cats thrive in deserts, and this overview reviews how they manage water balance where free water is scarce. Desert cats such as the sand cat obtain much of their water from the bodies of…

Each whisker is a passive shaft, and the real sensing happens at its base, a point this overview reviews. The follicle housing a vibrissa is packed with mechanoreceptors that detect how the whisker be…

Some animals sweep their whiskers rhythmically to explore, and this overview reviews the extent and nature of active whisker movement in cats. While cats do not whisk as continuously as rats, they can…

The brain devotes substantial tissue to processing whisker input, and this overview reviews how vibrissal touch is represented in the feline somatosensory cortex. The orderly array of muzzle whiskers…

A long-standing idea holds that a cat uses its whiskers to gauge whether it can fit through a gap, and this overview reviews the spatial-sensing functions of vibrissae. Because the mystacial whiskers…

Whiskers play a direct role in the final moments of a hunt, and this overview reviews their function in prey capture. At close range, especially in darkness, cats sweep the mystacial whiskers forward…

The roaring big cats and the purring small cats appear to form complementary groups, and this overview reviews the basis and limits of this divide. The flexible, incompletely ossified hyoid and specia…

The cheetah is the classic exception to feline claw retraction: its claws remain largely exposed, blunt, and dog-like. This overview reviews the functional reasoning that this trades the sharp, sheath…

This study built a high-resolution finite-element model of the skull of the sabertoothed cat Smilodon fatalis and compared its mechanical behaviour with that of a modern lion. The simulations indicate…

McHenry, C.R.; Wroe, S.; Clausen, P.D.; Moreno, K.; Cunningham, E. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2007