🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Reproductive data, largely from captivity, indicate that the margay has an unusually low reproductive output even among small cats, typically producing a single kitten per litter after a gestation of…

Melanism, the occurrence of all-black individuals, is relatively common in Geoffroys cat, and this overview reviews the phenomenon and its study. Dark color morphs appear at notable frequencies in som…

Many landscapes host several small cats at once, and this overview reviews how they coexist through niche partitioning. Studies of Neotropical and Asian cat assemblages show that sympatric species div…

Dietary studies based on scat analysis and stomach contents describe the ocelot as a generalist hunter that nonetheless concentrates on small terrestrial mammals. Across its range, rodents such as spi…

Radio-telemetry and spatially explicit capture-recapture studies show ocelots maintaining intrasexual territories, with male ranges overlapping several females while excluding rival males. This overvi…

Activity-budget research using camera traps and accelerometer collars characterizes the ocelot as predominantly nocturnal and crepuscular, with peaks near dusk and dawn that overlap the activity of it…

The ocelot holds one of the broadest ranges of any Neotropical cat, reaching from the thornscrub of southern Texas through Mexico and Central America into the Amazon basin and northern Argentina. This…

Reproductive studies from captive colonies and field monitoring describe ocelots as slow-reproducing for a small cat, typically raising a single kitten, occasionally two, after roughly seventy to eigh…

Behavioral observations and field sign surveys describe how ocelots advertise territory and reproductive state through scent. This overview draws together accounts of urine spraying, fecal deposition…

This overview examines the diet and activity of the oncilla, drawn from limited field and scat studies. The species is a hunter of small vertebrates, including small rodents, birds, and reptiles, with…

The oncilla, also called the tigrina or little spotted cat, is a small spotted felid distributed in a fragmented fashion from Central America through the Andes and into Brazil and beyond. This overvie…

Hybridization between the southern oncilla and Geoffroys cat, documented through genetic studies, is a notable feature of the oncilla evolutionary history, and this overview reviews it. In contact zon…

In parts of its range the oncilla occupies high-elevation habitats, including montane cloud forest and paramo-like grasslands, and this overview reviews this aspect of its ecology. Records from the An…

A widely discussed observation suggests that margays may use vocal mimicry while hunting, and this overview reviews the evidence and its interpretation. Field researchers reported a margay imitating t…

Across the range, and acutely in Texas, vehicle collisions are a leading documented cause of ocelot death. This overview gathers studies linking roads to direct mortality and to the subtler barrier ef…

This overview compiles what is known of rusty-spotted cat behavior, much of it from captivity and scattered field observation. The species is solitary, secretive, and reportedly bold and active for it…

This overview examines the diet and activity of the rusty-spotted cat, drawn from limited field and captive observation. The species is largely nocturnal, emerging after dark to hunt small prey includ…

The rusty-spotted cat, among the smallest of all cats, occurs mainly in India and Sri Lanka, with its range now known to extend into Nepal. This overview compiles records describing its occurrence in…

Once thought to require undisturbed forest, the rusty-spotted cat is increasingly recorded in human-modified landscapes, and this overview reviews its habitat use. Camera-trap studies document the spe…

The sand cat is a textbook example of desert specialization, and this overview reviews the suite of adaptations that let it thrive where temperatures swing sharply and water is scarce. Dense fur cover…

Shelter is central to sand cat survival, and this overview compiles what is known about its use of burrows. The cat digs shallow burrows or enlarges those of foxes, porcupines, and rodents, retreating…

Dietary studies describe the sand cat as a hunter of small desert vertebrates, with gerbils and other rodents forming the core of the diet alongside lizards, snakes, birds, and insects. This overview…

The sand cat is the only felid largely confined to true desert, ranging in scattered populations across the Sahara, the Arabian Peninsula, and the deserts of central Asia. This overview compiles recor…

This overview examines how the sand cat schedules activity to survive desert extremes. Telemetry and observation show the species is strongly nocturnal, emerging after dark to hunt and travel long dis…

Camera-trap and telemetry studies describe the serval as primarily crepuscular and nocturnal, with notable bouts of diurnal activity especially in cooler weather or where human disturbance is low. Thi…

The serval ranges widely across sub-Saharan Africa, with relict populations in the far north, and is closely tied to well-watered grasslands, reedbeds, and the margins of wetlands and floodplains. Thi…

The serval possesses proportionally the largest ears of any cat, and research into its sensory ecology emphasizes how acoustic detection underpins its hunting. This overview draws together evidence th…

This overview examines the serval ecological dependence on moist habitats, drawing on studies from East and Southern African wetlands. Floodplains, papyrus swamps, and grassy marsh edges concentrate t…

A growing body of camera-trap work documents servals persisting in agricultural mosaics, irrigated farmland, and even some peri-urban edges where wetlands and rodents remain. This overview synthesizes…

At the northern edge of the range, fewer than a hundred ocelots persist in two small populations in deep south Texas, making them among the most endangered cats in the United States. This overview com…