🧬 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

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Some cats endure cold climates, and this overview reviews how they tolerate low temperatures. Cold-climate cats rely on dense, insulating fur, including seasonal thickening, on conserving core heat th…

Cats and dogs differ in how they handle water, and this overview reviews the comparison and its roots in feline biology. Cats, descended from desert-adapted ancestors, tend to have a lower thirst driv…

Before springing, a cat crouches and gathers itself, and this overview reviews the role of this countermovement in jump performance. The preparatory crouch loads the hindlimb muscles and tendons and a…

A cat digestive tract reflects its meat diet, and this overview reviews how carnivore gut anatomy suits processing animal tissue. Cats have a relatively short, simple intestine compared with herbivore…

Cats walk on their toes, a digitigrade posture that lengthens the effective limb and changes the geometry of force transmission. This overview reviews how toe-walking affects stride length, speed pote…

Recent research suggests some mammals, possibly including cats, transmit ultraviolet light to the retina, and this overview reviews the evidence and its uncertainty for felids. Studies of ocular media…

How cats drink became a notable physics question, and this overview reviews the mechanics of feline lapping and its place in water balance. Research showed that cats lap by darting the tongue tip onto…

Cooling and water conservation can conflict, and this overview reviews how desert cats navigate evaporative water loss. Cats cool partly by evaporation, through panting and through saliva spread by gr…

Vocal abilities are distributed across the felid family tree in informative ways, and this overview reviews the evolution of cat vocal anatomy. Mapping hyoid structure and laryngeal features onto feli…