🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This study extracted DNA from museum specimens of the extinct Caspian tiger and compared it with living subspecies, revealing that the Caspian and Amur tigers were extremely close genetically, essenti…

Driscoll CA, Yamaguchi N, Bar-Gal GK, et al. · PLoS ONE · 2009

An early molecular study of the big cats that used mitochondrial 12S rRNA and cytochrome b sequences to probe relationships within the Panthera group. This work was among the first to apply DNA sequen…

Janczewski DN, Modi WS, Stephens JC, O'Brien SJ · Molecular Biology and Evolution · 1995

Karanth and colleagues applied occupancy modeling to landscape-scale tiger monitoring, using sign and detection surveys across large areas where camera-based density estimation everywhere would be imp…

K. Ullas Karanth, Arjun M. Gopalaswamy, N. Samba Kumar, Srinivas Vaidyanathan, James D. Nichols, Darryl I. MacKenzie · Journal of Applied Ecology · 2011

This genetic study sampled tigers across their range to clarify how many distinct lineages exist and how they are distributed. By analyzing molecular markers, the authors described population structur…

Luo SJ, Kim JH, Johnson WE, et al. · PLoS Biology · 2004

This study sampled tigers from across their range and used mitochondrial and microsatellite markers to test whether the traditional subspecies are genetically distinct. The authors found support for s…

Shu-Jin Luo, Stephen J. O'Brien, et al. · PLoS Biology · 2004

This study analyzed mitochondrial and microsatellite markers from tigers across their range and provided the first comprehensive molecular framework supporting multiple traditional subspecies. The aut…

Luo SJ, Kim JH, Johnson WE, et al. · PLoS Biology · 2004

This study argued that tigers are best treated as just two subspecies, a continental form and a Sunda-island form, rather than the traditional six or nine. Reanalyzing morphological, ecological, molec…

Wilting A, Courtiol A, Christiansen P, et al. · Science Advances · 2015

Vaz, Narayan and colleagues surveyed tigers and leopards across multiple Indian zoos, combining behavioural observation of pacing with non-invasive faecal cortisol measurement. They found substantial…

Vaz J, Narayan EJ, Dileep Kumar R, Thenmozhi K, Thiyagesan K, Baskaran N · PLoS ONE · 2017

Extending the prey-preference framework to Asia's largest cat, Hayward and colleagues compiled tiger kill records across the species' range and weighted them against prey availability. Tigers showed a…

Hayward, M.W., Jedrzejewski, W. & Jedrzejewska, B. · Journal of Zoology · 2012

A landmark study of intraguild prey partitioning in India's Nagarahole reserve, combining prey censuses with predator kill records to test how three sympatric large carnivores divide a shared ungulate…

Karanth, K.U. & Sunquist, M.E. · Journal of Animal Ecology · 1995

Gopalaswamy and colleagues released SPACECAP, free software implementing Bayesian spatially explicit capture-recapture specifically to make modern density estimation accessible to camera-trap practiti…

Arjun M. Gopalaswamy, J. Andrew Royle, James E. Hines, Pallavi Singh, Devcharan Jathanna, et al. · Methods in Ecology and Evolution · 2012

This overview reviews human-tiger conflict involving Amur (Siberian) tigers in the Russian Far East and northeast China, a low-density, cold-forest population. It synthesises studies of livestock and…

The Amur tiger of the Russian Far East and northeast China recovered from near-extinction in the mid-twentieth century to a stable population spread across vast temperate forests. This overview survey…

This overview synthesizes telemetry research on Amur, or Siberian, tigers in the Russian Far East, where GPS collars have revealed enormous home ranges, long movements through snow-bound boreal forest…

The Amur tiger inhabits the temperate and boreal forests of the Russian Far East and northeast China, a very different climate context from tropical tiger populations. This overview surveys how climat…

Amur tigers inhabit the cold temperate forests of the Russian Far East, where low prey density forces them to range over enormous areas. This overview reviews radio-telemetry and GPS studies showing t…

This overview synthesizes decades of telemetry on Amur tigers in the temperate forests of the Russian Far East, where long-term collaring programs have revealed enormous home ranges, seasonal movement…

This overview examines the science and management history of India's Project Tiger, launched in 1973, and the expanding network of tiger reserves it created. Researchers have studied how core-buffer z…

India conducts one of the world's largest wildlife monitoring exercises, a periodic national tiger assessment that combines landscape-scale occupancy surveys with intensive camera trapping to estimate…

Following the Bronx Zoo tigers, SARS-CoV-2 infections were confirmed in big cats at zoos and sanctuaries across multiple countries, including additional tigers, lions, snow leopards, pumas and others.…

The Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool, known as SMART, is widely deployed in tiger reserves to make ranger patrols data-driven. This overview surveys research evaluating how recording patrol route…

Tiger range across Southeast Asia has collapsed dramatically, with several countries losing breeding populations to deforestation, infrastructure, and hunting. This overview surveys the regional patte…

The mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, shared by India and Bangladesh, support a unique tiger population adapted to a tidal, saline, swimming-intensive environment. This overview surveys research on…

Tigers are largely crepuscular and nocturnal, though their activity shifts with prey, temperature, and human presence. This overview synthesizes camera-trap and telemetry studies showing peaks of move…

Tiger cubs remain with their mother for an extended period, learning to hunt before dispersing to establish their own ranges. This overview surveys data on the age at which young tigers become indepen…

Expanding agricultural frontiers, soy and cattle in South America, oil palm in Southeast Asia, smallholder farming in Africa and Asia, are among the largest drivers of habitat loss for wild cats. This…

A survey of how restoring large cats to systems where they were lost can rekindle anti-predator behavior in prey and reinstate top-down effects. Where prey have lived without predators, they may becom…

As apex predators, big cats can exert top-down control that ripples through ecosystems via trophic cascades. This overview synthesizes evidence that lions, tigers, leopards, pumas, and jaguars influen…

This overview synthesises how buffer-zone management and community forestry mediate human-tiger and human-leopard conflict around protected areas in Nepal and India. It reviews programs that share par…

Camera trapping has revolutionized how tiger populations are counted and studied. This overview synthesizes the methods built on individual stripe identification and capture-recapture statistics, incl…