🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This influential analysis of long-term Serengeti and Ngorongoro data examined how female lions respond to the takeover of their pride by new males, an event that typically triggers infanticide of depe…

Packer C, Pusey AE · The American Naturalist · 1983

This study applied multilocus DNA fingerprinting to wild Serengeti and Ngorongoro lions to resolve parentage and quantify relatedness within prides and male coalitions. By matching cubs to candidate s…

Gilbert DA, Packer C, Pusey AE, Stephens JC, O'Brien SJ · Journal of Heredity · 1991

This review examined how artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, embryo transfer, and gamete cryopreservation can support the genetic and demographic management of captive felid populations.…

Swanson WF · Theriogenology · 2006

This review summarized the reproductive physiology of the domestic cat, which serves as the principal model for understanding felid reproduction. The authors described the follicular phase and estrous…

Tsutsui T, Stabenfeldt GH · Journal of Reproduction and Fertility. Supplement · 1993

This study reported the successful cloning of an endangered small felid by somatic cell nuclear transfer using domestic cats as oocyte donors and surrogate mothers. Researchers transferred nuclei from…

Gomez MC, Pope CE, Giraldo A, Lyons LA, Harris RF, King AL, Cole A, Godke RA, Dresser BL · Cloning and Stem Cells · 2004

This book reports a long-term behavioral study of free-ranging cheetahs, with extensive coverage of reproduction and development. The author documented female ranging and mating, the formation of male…

Caro TM · University of Chicago Press · 1994

This study validated and applied fecal steroid hormone assays to track ovarian activity in multiple felid species without restraint or blood sampling. The authors characterized how estrogen and proges…

Brown JL, Wasser SK, Wildt DE, Graham LH · Biology of Reproduction · 1994

This review compiled what was known about reproductive hormone patterns across the cat family, drawing heavily on noninvasive fecal and urinary steroid monitoring developed for zoo animals. The author…

Brown JL · Theriogenology · 2006

This review synthesized progress in applying in vitro fertilization, embryo culture, embryo transfer, and cryopreservation to nondomestic cats, using the domestic cat as a research model. The author s…

Pope CE · Theriogenology · 2000

Building on earlier allozyme work, this study combined skin-graft acceptance experiments, semen analysis, and assays of genetic markers to argue that the cheetah's extreme genetic uniformity underlies…

O'Brien SJ, Roelke ME, Marker L, Newman A, Winkler CA, Meltzer D, Colly L, Evermann JF, Bush M, Wildt DE · Science · 1985

This study quantified cub survival in free-ranging Serengeti cheetahs and analyzed how the threat of predation shapes maternal behavior. By following known mothers and litters, the author found that t…

Laurenson MK · Journal of Zoology · 1994

This study used fecal glucocorticoid monitoring to investigate why captive clouded leopards often breed poorly and show high rates of mate aggression. The authors related adrenal hormone output to hou…

Wielebnowski NC, Fletchall N, Carlstead K, Busso JM, Brown JL · Zoo Biology · 2002

This study compared the outbred Serengeti lion population with the small, geographically isolated Ngorongoro Crater population, which descended from few founders and experienced inbreeding. The author…

Wildt DE, Bush M, Goodrowe KL, Packer C, Pusey AE, Brown JL, Joslin P, O'Brien SJ · Nature · 1987

Using decades of individual life-history records from wild lions and baboons, this study tested whether females experience a true post-reproductive lifespan analogous to human menopause. The authors f…

Packer C, Tatar M, Collins A · Nature · 1998

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist implants offer a reversible method of suppressing reproduction in cats by downregulating the reproductive axis after an initial stimulation. This overview survey…

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone and its agonists are used to induce ovulation in cats by stimulating the pituitary to release luteinizing hormone, substituting for the natural mating stimulus. This ove…

Tiger cubs remain with their mother for an extended period, learning to hunt before dispersing to establish their own ranges. This overview surveys data on the age at which young tigers become indepen…

As cats age, their reproductive output typically declines through reduced fertility, smaller litters, and lower offspring survival. This overview surveys patterns of age-related fertility decline acro…

Artificial insemination offers a way to move cheetah genetics between institutions and to breed animals that will not pair naturally, but it remains technically challenging in this species. This overv…

Pregnancy rates from artificial insemination in wild cats remain modest and variable, reflecting the biological and technical challenges of the procedure. This overview surveys reported success rates…

The ocelot has served as a focus for applying assisted-reproduction techniques to a small spotted cat of conservation concern. This overview surveys reproductive research on ocelots, including reprodu…

The critically endangered Iberian lynx has been the focus of an intensive conservation breeding program supported by reproductive science. This overview surveys assisted-reproduction efforts for the s…

When some individuals in a group reproduce while others are suppressed, the resulting asymmetry reflects social and physiological mechanisms regulating reproduction. This overview surveys asymmetric r…

Managing captive felid populations requires balancing genetic goals, such as retaining diversity, against demographic goals, such as maintaining stable numbers and age structure. This overview surveys…

Successful reproduction in captivity depends not only on physiology but on appropriate behavior, including mate recognition, courtship, and competent maternal care. This overview surveys how behaviora…

The critically endangered Amur leopard is supported by a coordinated captive breeding program intended to safeguard the subspecies and potentially supply animals for reinforcement. This overview surve…

Lionesses that give birth around the same time pool their cubs into a communal creche, nursing and defending young cooperatively. This overview surveys how creches form following synchronized births,…

Managing the size and genetics of captive felid populations sometimes requires preventing reproduction in animals that are genetically overrepresented or surplus to program needs. This overview survey…

Captive tigers are managed cooperatively across institutions to maintain genetically healthy, self-sustaining populations as insurance against wild declines. This overview surveys how tiger breeding p…

In induced-ovulating felids the chance that mating triggers ovulation rises with the number and spacing of copulations, suggesting a threshold of cumulative stimulation that the female's neuroendocrin…