🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This study used molecular markers to assess genetic variation across the puma's enormous range from Canada to Patagonia and found surprisingly low diversity in North America. The authors concluded tha…

Culver M, Johnson WE, Pecon-Slattery J, O'Brien SJ · Journal of Heredity · 2000

This genomic study examined the enigmatic Chinese mountain cat of the Tibetan Plateau and clarified its relationship to other wildcats and to domestic cats in China. Using genome-wide data, the author…

Yu H, Xing YT, Meng H, et al. · Science Advances · 2021

This study sequenced the cheetah genome and documented its extreme genetic uniformity, a legacy of severe historical bottlenecks. The authors found very low genome-wide diversity, including in immune-…

Dobrynin P, Liu S, Tamazian G, et al. · Genome Biology · 2015

This morphological companion to the molecular split examined pelage and skull characters across clouded leopards and found that Sunda island animals differ consistently from mainland ones. The authors…

Kitchener AC, Beaumont MA, Richardson D · Current Biology · 2006

Scheel and Packer analyzed Serengeti lion hunts to test whether group hunting reflects true cooperation or individuals each maximizing their own success. They found that hunting success increased with…

Scheel, D. & Packer, C. · Animal Behaviour · 1991

Drawing on decades of Serengeti tracking, this study mapped how pride size and territory location determine reproductive success. Larger prides won contests over prime real estate, particularly river…

Anna Mosser, Craig Packer · Animal Behaviour · 2009

Drawing on decades of Serengeti pride records and GPS data, this study quantified how the number of adult females in a pride affects its ability to win contested ground and raise cubs. Larger prides d…

Mosser, A., Packer, C. · Animal Behaviour · 2009

Working at the southern edge of the Canada lynx range, this study disentangled whether the amount of suitable habitat or its spatial fragmentation better explains where lynx persist. Using occurrence…

Hornseth, M.L., Walpole, A.A., Walton, L.R., Bowman, J., Ray, J.C., Fortin, M.-J., Murray, D.L. · PLoS ONE · 2014

This influential study measured the audible frequency range of the domestic cat using behavioral methods, establishing that cats hear across an exceptionally broad span of frequencies. The work docume…

Rickye S. Heffner, Henry E. Heffner · Hearing Research · 1985

Gardner, Royle, and Wegan developed spatially explicit hierarchical models for estimating density when individuals are identified by DNA from non-invasive samples such as hair or scat, conceptually pa…

Beth Gardner, J. Andrew Royle, Michael T. Wegan · Ecology · 2009

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

Cecchetti and colleagues tested practical, non-restrictive ways to cut the number of wild animals pet cats bring home. In a controlled trial, households trialled interventions including feeding a high…

Martina Cecchetti, Sarah L. Crowley, Cecily E. D. Goodwin, Robbie A. McDonald · Current Biology · 2021

This landmark study produced the first globally consistent, high-resolution maps of forest loss and gain in the 21st century using satellite imagery, quantifying deforestation at fine scale across the…

Hansen, M.C., Potapov, P.V., Moore, R., Hancher, M., Turubanova, S.A., Tyukavina, A., et al. · Science · 2013

This comparative biomechanics study placed cheetahs and racing greyhounds on a track and recorded spatio-temporal and kinetic characteristics of their galloping gait. Both are elite cursorial sprinter…

Hudson, P.E.; Corr, S.A.; Wilson, A.M. · Journal of Experimental Biology · 2012

This study described Panthera blytheae, a newly recognized fossil cat from the Tibetan Himalaya that represents the oldest known member of the pantherine lineage, the group containing all living big c…

Z. Jack Tseng, Xiaoming Wang, Graham J. Slater, Gary T. Takeuchi, Qiang Li, Juan Liu, Guangpu Xie · Proceedings of the Royal Society B · 2014

This study used radio-telemetry to characterise the movements of owned and un-owned free-roaming domestic cats in an urbanising landscape, revealing that un-owned cats ranged over far larger areas tha…

Horn JA, Mateus-Pinilla N, Warner RE, Heske EJ · Journal of Wildlife Management · 2011

Sissom, Rice and Peters investigated the long-debated mechanism of purring by recording the sound and associated body vibrations in domestic cats. They documented that purring is produced continuously…

D. E. Frazer Sissom, D. A. Rice, G. Peters · Journal of Zoology · 1991

This study investigated the mechanism by which domestic cats and some other felids produce the continuous purr during both inhalation and exhalation. Measurements indicated that purring arises from ra…

Dawn Sissom, Donald Rice, Gustav Peters · Journal of Zoology · 1991

Sollmann, Gardner, and Belant used simulation to investigate how the configuration of camera arrays affects the accuracy and precision of spatially explicit capture-recapture density estimates. They v…

Rahel Sollmann, Beth Gardner, Jerrold L. Belant · PLOS ONE · 2012

Woinarski and colleagues estimated the toll that cats take on Australian birds, combining data on cat density, distribution and diet across the continent. They calculated that feral cats in natural en…

John C. Z. Woinarski, Brett P. Murphy, Sarah M. Legge, et al. · Biological Conservation · 2017

Extending their continental analysis of cat predation, Woinarski and colleagues estimated the number of reptiles killed by cats in Australia. Using data on cat density, dietary frequency of reptiles a…

John C. Z. Woinarski, Brett P. Murphy, Russell Palmer, et al. · Wildlife Research · 2018

This study extended earlier work on feline melanism by surveying agouti signaling protein and melanocortin-1 receptor variation across wild cat species, including the leopard. The authors characterize…

Alexsandra Schneider, Eduardo Eizirik, et al. · PLoS ONE · 2012

Treves and Karanth reviewed human-carnivore conflict and management approaches across continents, synthesising how societies have responded to large predators from persecution to protection. They exam…

Adrian Treves, K. Ullas Karanth · Conservation Biology · 2003

Inskip and Zimmermann produced a comprehensive global review of conflict between people and wild cats, synthesising the geography, drivers, and severity of conflict across all felid species. They iden…

Chloe Inskip, Alexandra Zimmermann · Oryx · 2009

Inskip and colleagues used household surveys across villages bordering the Bangladesh Sundarbans to document the full burden of human-tiger conflict, encompassing fatal and nonfatal attacks on people,…

Chloe Inskip, et al. · Human Ecology · 2013

Goodrich reviewed the global state of human-tiger conflict, spanning attacks on people, livestock depredation, and the killing of tigers in retaliation or fear across the species' range. The review sy…

John M. Goodrich · Integrative Zoology · 2010

Funston, Mills and Biggs challenged the stereotype that male lions are merely scavengers reliant on females' kills. Working in Kruger National Park, they showed that male lions hunt effectively, parti…

Funston, P.J., Mills, M.G.L. & Biggs, H.C. · Journal of Zoology · 2001

Willi and colleagues combined deep learning with citizen-science labeling to build and refine species-classification models across several camera-trap projects. They showed that crowdsourced annotatio…

Marco Willi, Ross T. Pitman, Anabelle W. Cardoso, Christina Locke, Alexandra Swanson, et al. · Methods in Ecology and Evolution · 2019

This large-scale Kluane field experiment in the Yukon manipulated food (supplemental feeding) and predation (predator exclusion fencing) across replicated one-square-kilometre blocks to dissect what d…

Krebs, C.J., Boutin, S., Boonstra, R., Sinclair, A.R.E. et al. · Science · 1995

Sollmann and colleagues demonstrated that ignoring sex differences in movement and detectability biases carnivore density estimates, using jaguar camera-trap data from central Brazil. Because male jag…

Rahel Sollmann, Mariana M. Furtado, Beth Gardner, Heribert Hofer, Anah T. A. Jacomo, et al. · Biological Conservation · 2011