🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Prugh and colleagues synthesized global evidence that the worldwide decline of apex predators has triggered widespread increases in mid-sized carnivores, with far-reaching ecological and economic cons…

Prugh, L.R., Stoner, C.J., Epps, C.W., Bean, W.T. et al. · BioScience · 2009

Kerbis Peterhans and Gnoske compiled historical, ecological, and anatomical evidence to reconstruct the natural history of man-eating in lions, focusing on the Tsavo case. They reviewed records of lio…

Julian C. Kerbis Peterhans, Thomas P. Gnoske · Journal of East African Natural History · 2001

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

Hunter, Durant and Caro examined the decisions cheetahs make at carcasses when dominant competitors threaten, quantifying how the presence of lions and hyenas governs whether and when cheetahs abandon…

Hunter, J.S., Durant, S.M. & Caro, T.M. · Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 2007

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

This study examined the long-standing hypothesis that dental injury drives big cats to hunt humans and livestock, using the Tsavo and Mfuwe man-eating lion specimens. The authors documented severe too…

Bruce D. Patterson, Ellis J. Neiburger, Samuel M. Kasiki · Journal of Mammalogy · 2003

This influential study quantified broken teeth among large carnivores from the Rancho La Brea asphalt deposits, including Smilodon fatalis, dire wolves, American lions, and coyotes. Tooth breakage rat…

Blaire Van Valkenburgh, Fritz Hertel · Science · 1993

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

Drawing on long-term study of individually known Serengeti and Ngorongoro lions, this paper characterized exposure to a suite of pathogens including canine distemper virus, feline immunodeficiency vir…

C. Packer, S. Altizer, M. Appel, et al. · Journal of Animal Ecology · 1999

This influential analysis asked what selective pressures favour group living in lions, testing whether shared hunting and prey capture alone could explain sociality. Long-term Serengeti and Ngorongoro…

Craig Packer, David Scheel, Anne Pusey · The American Naturalist · 1990

Testing the long-held idea that lions live in groups to hunt large prey more efficiently, this study compared the per-capita food intake of females in groups of different sizes. The data showed that s…

Packer, C., Scheel, D., Pusey, A. E. · The American Naturalist · 1990

This comprehensive reference compiled the biology, ecology, and conservation status of all the world's wild cat species, from the great roaring cats to the smallest felids. Drawing together field stud…

Sunquist, M. E., Sunquist, F. C. · University of Chicago Press · 2002

This broad serosurvey screened many nondomestic felid species across the world for antibodies to feline immunodeficiency virus-like lentiviruses. The authors found widespread seroprevalence in free-ra…

J. D. Olmsted, A. Barr, R. A. Hess, et al. · Journal of Virology · 1992