🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This study mapped the global human footprint, a composite index of human pressure on land, and tracked its change over time, revealing where pressures intensified and where they eased. The human footp…

Venter, O., Sanderson, E.W., Magrach, A., Allan, J.R., Beher, J., Jones, K.R., et al. · Nature Communications · 2016

Morgan and Tromborg comprehensively reviewed the environmental factors that stress captive animals, cataloguing sound, light, odour, temperature, substrate, restraint, human presence, predictability a…

Morgan KN, Tromborg CT · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 2007

This widely cited review synthesized the theory and practice of species distribution models (SDMs), the statistical tools that relate species occurrence to environmental predictors to map current and…

Elith, J., Leathwick, J.R. · Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics · 2009

This influential review synthesized the global status of the largest carnivores, including big cats such as lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars, documenting widespread range contraction and populatio…

Ripple, W.J., Estes, J.A., Beschta, R.L., Wilmers, C.C., Ritchie, E.G., Hebblewhite, M., et al. · Science · 2014

Mason's review synthesised decades of work on stereotypic behaviour across captive species, defining stereotypies as repetitive, invariant movements with no obvious goal. She argued they arise from fr…

Mason GJ · Animal Behaviour · 1991

The big cats of the genus Panthera proved historically difficult to resolve because of rapid speciation and conflicting gene trees. This study assembled a large multilocus supermatrix and applied both…

Brian W. Davis, Gang Li, William J. Murphy · Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution · 2010

Relationships among the big cats long resisted resolution because of short internal branches and conflicting markers. This study assembled a large multi-gene dataset and applied both concatenated supe…

Davis BW, Li G, Murphy WJ · Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution · 2010

This synthesis introduced the concept of Tiger Conservation Landscapes, mapping where tigers could still be found across Asia and classifying these areas by their potential to support recovery. The au…

Dinerstein E, Loucks C, Wikramanayake E, et al. · BioScience · 2007

This study resolved the long-standing mystery of the white tiger by mapping the trait in a captive pedigree and identifying a single amino-acid change in the pigment transporter gene SLC45A2. The vari…

Xiao Xu, Shu-Jin Luo, et al. · Current Biology · 2013

This study produced the first reference genome of the tiger, sequenced from an Amur tiger, and compared it with newly generated lion and snow leopard genome data. The authors identified genetic signat…

Yun Sung Cho, Jong Bhak, et al. · Nature Communications · 2013

Lyons, Young and Deag surveyed multiple felid species across enclosures differing in size, complexity and feeding routine to identify what most affects behaviour. They found that enclosure usage and a…

Lyons J, Young RJ, Deag JM · Zoo Biology · 1997

Xu and colleagues identified the molecular cause of the white tiger phenotype, mapping it to a single amino-acid change in the pigment gene SLC45A2. Using a captive pedigree and genome analysis, they…

Xu X, Dong GX, Hu XS, Miao L, Zhang XL, Zhang DL, et al · Current Biology · 2013

Why can lions and tigers roar while domestic cats and cheetahs cannot? This comparative anatomical study examined the hyoid apparatus, the chain of bones supporting the larynx and tongue, across felid…

Gerald Weissengruber and colleagues · Journal of Anatomy · 2002

A decade after naming the concept, Laundre, Hernandez and Ripple reviewed how the landscape of fear had matured into a framework for understanding nonconsumptive predator effects. They synthesized evi…

Laundre, J.W., Hernandez, L. & Ripple, W.J. · The Open Ecology Journal · 2010

Based on radio-telemetry of tigers in the lowland forests and grasslands of Chitwan, Nepal, this study described how tigers partition space through a land-tenure system. Resident females held largely…

Sunquist, M. E. · Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology · 1981

Sunquist's radio-telemetry monograph from Nepal was among the first rigorous field studies of tiger spacing, movements and predation. He documented home-range sizes, land-tenure dynamics and how prey…

Sunquist, M.E. · Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology · 1981

This study produced the first reference genome for the tiger and compared it with newly sequenced lion and snow leopard genomes to investigate big cat evolution and adaptation. The authors identified…

Cho YS, Hu L, Hou H, et al. · Nature Communications · 2013

Sherwen and Hemsworth reviewed and reframed the visitor effect, drawing on human-animal interaction science from farm animals to argue that visitors are a salient and often underestimated feature of t…

Sherwen SL, Hemsworth PH · Animals · 2019

Using long-term field data from Indian reserves, this study tested how strongly tiger numbers are governed by the abundance of wild ungulate prey. The authors combined prey density surveys with camera…

Karanth KU, Nichols JD, Kumar NS, Link WA, Hines JE · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2004

Combining camera-trap density estimates with line-transect surveys of prey across multiple Indian reserves, this study demonstrated a strong relationship between the abundance of large ungulate prey a…

Karanth, K. U., Nichols, J. D., Kumar, N. S., Link, W. A., Hines, J. E. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2004

Using camera-trap density estimates of tigers alongside line-transect surveys of ungulate prey across many Asian sites, Karanth and colleagues tested whether predator density is governed by prey avail…

K. Ullas Karanth, James D. Nichols, N. Samba Kumar, William A. Link, James E. Hines · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2004

Karanth and colleagues combined rigorous camera-trap capture-recapture estimates of tiger density with line-transect estimates of ungulate density across Indian reserves to test whether prey biomass p…

Karanth, K.U., Nichols, J.D., Kumar, N.S., Link, W.A. & Hines, J.E. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2004

This study used a multi-scale occupancy framework to examine how Sumatran tigers use natural forest versus plantation and degraded landscapes, finding that tigers strongly depend on forest cover and a…

Sunarto, S., Kelly, M.J., Parakkasi, K., Klenzendorf, S., Septayuda, E., Kurniawan, H. · PLoS ONE · 2012

Sunarto and colleagues used multi-scale occupancy modeling, informed by camera-trap and field detections, to investigate how Sumatran tigers respond to forest cover and human-modified landscapes inclu…

Sunarto, Marcella J. Kelly, Karmila Parakkasi, Sybille Klenzendorf, Erin Septayuda, Harry Kurniawan · PLOS ONE · 2012

Bashaw, Bloomsmith, Maple and Bercovitch tested whether feeding-based enrichment changes behaviour in tigers and lions, comparing a hung carcass-like 'fishing' device and bones against standard feedin…

Bashaw MJ, Bloomsmith MA, Maple TL, Bercovitch FB · Zoo Biology · 2003

Westlund argued that positive-reinforcement training should be viewed as a form of environmental enrichment in its own right, not merely a husbandry convenience. She described how training sessions pr…

Westlund K · Journal of Veterinary Behavior · 2014

This influential synthesis argued that the loss of large apex consumers, including big cats and other top predators, is among humanity's most pervasive impacts on nature. Drawing on examples across ec…

Estes, J. A., Terborgh, J., Brashares, J. S., et al. · Science · 2011

Estes and a large group of coauthors synthesized evidence that the loss of apex consumers, including big cats, is among humanity's most pervasive influences on nature. The review marshaled cases acros…

Estes, J.A., Terborgh, J., Brashares, J.S. et al. · Science · 2011

Barlow and colleagues applied a structured action-selection framework to prioritise interventions for reducing human-tiger conflict in the Bangladesh Sundarbans, where tigers kill people and straying…

Adam C. D. Barlow, et al. · Conservation Biology · 2010

Miller investigated how zoo visitors interpret stereotypic pacing, showing them footage of an animal pacing versus behaving normally and surveying their reactions. Visitors who saw pacing rated the an…

Miller LJ · Zoo Biology · 2012