🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This analysis compared the performance and economics of fenced versus unfenced lion reserves across Africa. The authors found that fenced reserves maintained lion populations much closer to their pote…

Packer C, Loveridge A, Canney S, et al. · Ecology Letters · 2013

Male lions hold tenure over prides in coalitions, and this study used genetic and behavioural data to show how coalition size and kinship shape reproductive sharing. Small coalitions were composed of…

Jon Grinnell, Craig Packer, Anne Pusey · Animal Behaviour · 1995

Yeakel and colleagues applied stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to bone collagen and hair keratin from the two 1898 Tsavo man-eating lions held at the Field Museum. By comparing isotopic sig…

Justin D. Yeakel, Bruce D. Patterson, et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2009

This study examined how male lions in coalitions share access to receptive females and defend their prides. By combining behavioral observation with knowledge of relatedness, the authors found that co…

Grinnell, J., Packer, C., Pusey, A. E. · Animal Behaviour · 1995

Observing lions hunting in Etosha, this study showed that lionesses occupy consistent stalking positions, with some individuals reliably acting as left or right wings that circle prey while others wai…

Stander, P. E. · Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 1992

Stander's study in Namibia's Etosha provided rare evidence of role differentiation in lion cooperative hunting. By watching repeated hunts, he showed that individual lionesses consistently occupied pa…

Stander, P.E. · Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 1992

Donadio and Buskirk tested what predicts the intensity of interactions among carnivores, including both killing and avoidance. Analyzing a broad dataset, they found that intraguild predation and aggre…

Donadio, E. & Buskirk, S.W. · The American Naturalist · 2006

Lesilau and colleagues conducted a field experiment around Nairobi National Park, Kenya, testing whether installing flashing LED lights on bomas reduced lion attacks on livestock. Comparing depredatio…

Francis Lesilau, et al. · PLOS ONE · 2018

Hazzah and colleagues evaluated whether a Maasai-warrior employment scheme (Lion Guardians) and a livestock compensation program reduced lion killing in southern Kenya. Using long-term lion-mortality…

Leela Hazzah, Stephanie Dolrenry, et al. · Conservation Biology · 2014

This influential review synthesized how emerging infectious diseases threaten wildlife, including charismatic carnivores, and intersect with human and domestic-animal health. The authors framed diseas…

P. Daszak, A. A. Cunningham, A. D. Hyatt · Science · 2000

Legge and colleagues tackled a foundational question for cat management by estimating the total feral cat population across Australia. They compiled density estimates from dozens of sites and modelled…

Sarah Legge, Brett P. Murphy, Hugh McGregor, et al. · Biological Conservation · 2017

Blancher estimated the annual mortality of birds caused by cats in Canada, applying methods similar to large-scale predation assessments elsewhere. By combining figures on the numbers of pet and feral…

Peter Blancher · Avian Conservation and Ecology · 2013

Anderson and Lindzey pioneered the use of GPS location clusters to detect cougar kills, exploiting the fact that a lion lingers at a carcass to feed over one or more days, producing a tight cluster of…

Charles R. Anderson Jr., Frederick G. Lindzey · The Journal of Wildlife Management · 2003

This study recovered mitochondrial genomes from the extinct scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium using ancient DNA, including a specimen from the permafrost, to place the sabertooths relative to living ca…

Johanna L. A. Paijmans, Michael Hofreiter, Ross Barnett, et al. · Current Biology · 2017

This study recovered complete mitochondrial genomes from the dirk-toothed Smilodon and the scimitar-toothed Homotherium, allowing a genetic test of how these iconic sabertooths relate to one another a…

Johanna L. A. Paijmans, Ross Barnett, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, et al. · Current Biology · 2017

This study examined lion population history using both the lions' own genetic markers and the genetic signatures of their viruses, an innovative dual approach. By analyzing host DNA alongside feline i…

Antunes A, Troyer JL, Roelke ME, et al. · PLoS Genetics · 2008

Suraci and colleagues extended the ecology-of-fear framework to whole communities, using playbacks of human voices across the Santa Cruz Mountains to test how fear of humans cascades through a food we…

Justin P. Suraci, Michael Clinchy, Liana Y. Zanette, Christopher C. Wilmers · Ecology Letters · 2019

When new males take over a pride they often kill dependent cubs to bring females back into estrus, and this study analysed how females resist. Lionesses defend cubs collectively, sometimes at injury r…

Craig Packer, Anne Pusey · The American Naturalist · 1983

Van Orsdol provided detailed measurements of lion hunting success in Uganda, relating capture rates to prey species, group size, habitat cover and time of day. He found that success was higher at nigh…

Van Orsdol, K.G. · African Journal of Ecology · 1984

This study documented the first confirmed natural SARS-CoV-2 infections in big cats, occurring in tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo early in the COVID-19 pandemic. After several cats developed respira…

D. McAloose, M. Laverack, L. Wang, et al. · mBio · 2020

This study focused on the poorly sampled lions of West and Central Africa and found them genetically distinct from East and Southern African lions, instead allied with the Asiatic lion. By analyzing m…

Bertola LD, van Hooft WF, Vrieling K, et al. · Journal of Biogeography · 2011

This study analyzed genomes across the genus Panthera and found pervasive evidence of ancient gene flow among the big-cat lineages, demonstrating that their evolution was reticulate rather than strict…

Henrique V. Figueiro, Eduardo Eizirik, et al. · Science Advances · 2017

This genomic study sequenced multiple Panthera species and found pervasive evidence that gene flow between lineages, not just simple branching, shaped big cat evolution. The authors detected introgres…

Figueiro HV, Li G, Trindade FJ, et al. · Science Advances · 2017

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

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

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

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