🧬 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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Tracking how lion cubs gain mass and size over time provides growth curves that inform age estimation, nutritional assessment, and survival analysis. This overview surveys data on lion cub growth from…

Female cats select sheltered den sites to give birth and protect altricial young during their most vulnerable weeks. This overview surveys how felid mothers choose dens that provide concealment and th…

The dispersal phase is among the most dangerous periods in a young cat's life, as subadults move through unfamiliar and often occupied or human-dominated terrain. This overview surveys evidence that d…

In felids housed or living in groups, social rank can influence which individuals reproduce and how successfully. This overview surveys how dominance hierarchies relate to reproduction in cats, includ…

Collecting semen from nondomestic cats usually requires electroejaculation under anesthesia, a standardized technique that allows evaluation and banking of sperm. This overview surveys how electroejac…

Female lions usually remain in their natal pride for life, producing prides composed of closely related females that cooperate in hunting and cub rearing. This overview surveys the pattern of female p…

Gestation in felids scales broadly with body size, ranging from roughly two months in small cats to around three and a half months in the largest species. This overview compiles comparative data on pr…

Sex-biased dispersal is widely interpreted as a mechanism that reduces the chance of mating with close relatives, helping felids avoid the fitness costs of inbreeding. This overview surveys evidence t…

Inbreeding in small captive populations can reduce fertility, increase juvenile mortality, and cause physical and reproductive abnormalities, collectively termed inbreeding depression. This overview s…

Cooperation among male lions in coalitions is shaped by how closely the members are related, with kin selection favoring tolerance of shared reproduction among relatives. This overview surveys the rel…

Lionesses in a pride often conceive and give birth at similar times, producing synchronized litters that are reared communally in a creche. This overview surveys the determinants of lion litter size a…

Young male lions leave their natal pride and enter a nomadic phase, often forming coalitions with brothers or peers before attempting to take over a pride. This overview surveys the process of male di…

When a lioness is in estrus she may mate hundreds of times over several days with one or more resident males, an extraordinarily high copulation frequency for a mammal. This overview examines why lion…

Microsatellite genetic markers have made it possible to assign parentage in wild and captive cats, resolving questions about mating systems that behavior alone cannot answer. This overview surveys the…

The composition of cat milk supports the rapid early growth of altricial young and changes over the course of lactation. This overview surveys what is known about the fat, protein, and energy content…

Within a lion pride, resident males form coalitions that collectively defend breeding access, raising the question of how paternity is shared among them. This overview surveys genetic and behavioral s…

Young cats engage in object and social play that is widely thought to help develop the motor patterns and coordination underlying predatory behavior. This overview surveys studies of play in kittens a…

Progestin-based contraceptives have been used to suppress reproduction in captive cats, but concerns about side effects have shaped their use. This overview surveys the application of progestin contra…

Diseases of the reproductive tract, such as the uterine infection pyometra, affect fertility and welfare in domestic and nondomestic cats. This overview surveys reproductive tract pathology in felids,…

The kin structure of lion prides, with related females and coalitions of often-related males, underlies the cooperative behaviors that define the species. This overview surveys genetic studies of rela…