🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

South Africa's legal export of lion skeletons, drawn largely from its captive lion industry, created a regulated trade in lion bones destined for Asian markets, and with it a controversial conservatio…

The lion's mane is one of the most conspicuous ornaments among mammals, and research has explored what it advertises. This overview synthesizes experimental and observational work suggesting that mane…

Whether any felid experiences a true menopause, with reproduction ceasing well before the end of life, is a subject of comparative interest. This overview surveys the evidence and theory bearing on po…

Before they can win a pride, young male lions endure a nomadic phase after being evicted from their natal range. This overview synthesizes what is known about this risky period: bachelors roam widely,…

Between leaving their natal pride and acquiring a pride of their own, male lions pass through a nomadic phase during which they range widely without a fixed territory. This overview surveys the ecolog…

The roar of a lion or tiger is among the loudest sounds a land mammal makes, and biomechanical research has sought to explain how such low, powerful sound is generated. This overview surveys findings…

Modern lion taxonomy recognizes two subspecies divided by a north-south axis rather than the old African-Asian split. This overview explains the arrangement: Panthera leo leo covers North, West, and C…

Few wild populations have been studied as continuously as the lions of the Serengeti, where decades of records on known individuals have transformed understanding of the species. This overview synthes…

This overview examines the growing emphasis on theory of change, explicit logic linking activities to intended outcomes, and rigorous evaluation in human-carnivore conflict interventions. It synthesis…

Felid species span tropical jungles, deserts and high mountains, so meeting their thermal needs in captivity, often in non-native climates, is a real welfare challenge. This overview surveys thermal w…

As temperatures rise, cats may adjust their activity patterns to avoid heat, shifting toward more nocturnal or crepuscular behavior, with consequences for hunting and human overlap. This overview surv…

Maintaining safe body temperature is a critical concern during felid immobilization, as captured cats can become dangerously hyperthermic from exertion and heat in warm climates or hypothermic during…

Lions and other wild felids host a range of tick-borne blood parasites including Babesia, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia and Hepatozoon, usually carried without obvious harm but capable of contributing to disea…

The combination of the dissociative anesthetic tiletamine with the benzodiazepine zolazepam, marketed as Telazol or Zoletil, is widely used for chemical restraint and anesthesia of felids ranging from…

Newborn cats are born with sealed eyelids and closed ear canals, and the timing of their opening marks early developmental progress used to age young animals. This overview surveys data on when eyes a…

This overview synthesises research on whether wildlife-tourism revenue increases local tolerance for big cats by offsetting conflict costs. It reviews cases from jaguar tourism in the Pantanal, lion t…

Moving cats between institutions for breeding, rescue or management is a recognised acute stressor with welfare implications. This overview surveys the science of felid transport and transfer: the str…

Leopards famously haul their kills into trees, a behavior with clear ecological logic. This overview synthesizes research showing that caching prey in trees protects it from kleptoparasitism by lions,…

An overview of how large cats can structure ecosystems from the top down, with effects rippling through herbivores to vegetation and beyond. By killing and frightening herbivores, apex felids such as…

Trophy hunting of lions is among the most contentious topics in carnivore conservation, and this overview surveys the science behind the debate. Research has examined how hunting older males can be su…

After SARS-CoV-2 reached zoo animals, some facilities vaccinated captive carnivores, including big cats, using animal-specific vaccines to reduce the risk of severe disease. This overview surveys the…

Captive big cats are vaccinated against diseases that threaten felids, including panleukopenia, the respiratory viruses, and rabies, with protocols adapted from domestic-cat guidelines but informed by…

Vaccinating endangered wild felids against canine distemper is fraught with trade-offs. This overview surveys the options: modified-live vaccines, which risk vaccine-induced disease in non-target spec…

Modified-live canine distemper vaccines, while protective in dogs, have caused vaccine-induced disease when given to some nondomestic carnivores, complicating efforts to protect wild felids. This over…

Ticks, fleas, mosquitoes and tsetse flies transmit many of the pathogens that affect wild cats, making vector ecology central to felid disease. This overview surveys the vectors responsible for spread…

Satellite indices of vegetation productivity such as NDVI track the green forage that drives herbivore abundance, offering a remote way to anticipate prey conditions for predators. This overview surve…

A lion roar is astonishingly loud and low, and this overview reviews the vocal-fold anatomy behind it. Studies of big cat larynges found unusually large, robust vocal folds with a thick layer of fat a…

Cats vary in how much they depend on free-standing water versus obtaining moisture from prey, a trait that shapes drought resilience in arid landscapes. This overview surveys what is known about water…

Managers of reserves holding lions, tigers, and other cats sometimes provision artificial water to buffer wildlife against drought, a practice with contested ecological consequences. This overview sur…

Weaning marks the shift from dependence on maternal milk to consuming solid prey, a gradual transition whose timing varies with species and circumstances. This overview surveys weaning ages across the…