🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This synthesis reviews the conservation standing of the marbled cat, generally regarded as facing elevated risk owing to its forest dependence and exposure to deforestation across Southeast Asia, thou…

This richly illustrated scholarly book synthesizes decades of research on sabertooth cats and their relatives, written and illustrated by a leading palaeoartist and researcher. It surveys the diversit…

Mauricio Anton · Indiana University Press · 2013

DeVault, Rhodes and Shivik synthesized the neglected ecology of carrion use, arguing that scavenging is far more pervasive and important than traditionally recognized and that most carnivores, includi…

DeVault, T.L., Rhodes, O.E. & Shivik, J.A. · Oikos · 2003

This edited volume brought together early scientific work on environmental enrichment, consolidating it into a coherent field. Chapters covered the history, theory, design and evaluation of enrichment…

Shepherdson DJ, Mellen JD, Hutchins M (eds) · Smithsonian Institution Press · 1998

This study developed and tested protocols for hormonally inducing ovulation and performing laparoscopic artificial insemination in two nondomestic felids. The authors administered exogenous gonadotrop…

Howard JG, Roth TL, Byers AP, Swanson WF, Wildt DE · Biology of Reproduction · 1997

Wells reviewed how stimulating the senses, through olfactory, auditory, visual and tactile inputs, can enrich captive animals. She summarised evidence that scents such as spices and prey odours, sound…

Wells DL · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 2009

This study examined the large domestic dog population living around the Serengeti to test whether dogs sustained the canine distemper virus that spilled into lions and other carnivores. Through serosu…

S. Cleaveland, M. G. J. Appel, W. S. K. Chalmers, et al. · Veterinary Microbiology · 2000

This comprehensive study screened thousands of samples from many felid species plus hyenas for feline immunodeficiency virus and sequenced isolates to map viral diversity. The authors confirmed that F…

J. L. Troyer, J. Pecon-Slattery, M. E. Roelke, et al. · Journal of Virology · 2005

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

Kruuk documented and analyzed cases where carnivores kill far more prey than they can consume, challenging the assumption that predators only take what they need. Drawing on spotted hyena and other ca…

Kruuk, H. · Journal of Zoology · 1972

This experimental study assessed which domesticated species could be infected by SARS-CoV-2. The authors found that cats were highly susceptible: inoculated cats replicated the virus efficiently in th…

J. Shi, Z. Wen, G. Zhong, et al. · Science · 2020

This influential book provides a comprehensive illustrated survey of the cat family and its extinct members, combining scientific synthesis with detailed reconstructions of fossil felids and their sab…

Alan Turner, Mauricio Anton · Columbia University Press · 1997

This comprehensive edited volume brought together leading researchers to synthesize the science of wild cats, spanning felid evolution, behavior, ecology, and the full breadth of conservation challeng…

Macdonald DW, Loveridge AJ (eds) · 2010

This landmark study used molecular genetics to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the cat family, resolving the relationships among all living felids and the timing of their diversification. The…

Warren E. Johnson, Eduardo Eizirik, Jill Pecon-Slattery, William J. Murphy, Agostinho Antunes, Emma Teeling, Stephen J. O'Brien · Science · 2006

This influential study revealed that cheetahs possess strikingly low genetic variation, demonstrated by extreme similarity at protein-coding loci and, in later related work, acceptance of reciprocal s…

O'Brien SJ, Wildt DE, Goldman D, Merril CR, Bush M · Science · 1983

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

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

Shepherdson, Carlstead, Mellen and Seidensticker tested whether changing how food is presented could enrich the behaviour of small captive cats. Instead of single predictable meals, they provided food…

Shepherdson DJ, Carlstead K, Mellen JD, Seidensticker J · Zoo Biology · 1993

This landmark global meta-analysis showed that mammals across the world, including many carnivores, increase their nocturnal activity in response to human disturbance, becoming more active at night ev…

Gaynor KM, Hojnowski CE, Carter NH, Brashares JS · Science · 2018

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

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 demonstrated efficient airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between domestic cats under experimental conditions. Cats inoculated with the virus passed it to co-housed naive cats without dire…

P. J. Halfmann, M. Hatta, S. Chiba, et al. · New England Journal of Medicine · 2020

This synthesis used southern sea otters as sentinels to trace how the cat-derived parasite Toxoplasma gondii moves from land into the sea. The authors integrated parasitology, oceanography and epidemi…

P. A. Conrad, M. A. Miller, C. Kreuder, et al. · International Journal for Parasitology · 2005

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

Wilmers and colleagues showed that reintroduced wolves in Yellowstone act as ecosystem benefactors by providing a steady, more evenly distributed supply of carrion to scavengers, buffering them agains…

Wilmers, C.C., Crabtree, R.L., Smith, D.W., Murphy, K.M. & Getz, W.M. · Journal of Animal Ecology · 2003

This study established a quantitative baseline for cheetah reproductive physiology by electroejaculating wild-caught males and comparing their semen to that of domestic cats. The cheetahs produced eja…

Wildt DE, Bush M, Howard JG, O'Brien SJ, Meltzer D, van Dyk A, Ebedes H, Brand DJ · Biology of Reproduction · 1983

This edited volume assembled the foundational synthesis of urban carnivore biology, bringing together chapters on species from coyotes and foxes to felids, and on cross-cutting themes of disease, conf…

Gehrt SD, Riley SPD, Cypher BL · Johns Hopkins University Press · 2010

Negroes and colleagues estimated puma density in the central Brazilian Cerrado using camera traps, confronting the difficulty of individually identifying pumas from their relatively unmarked coats by…

Nuno Negroes, Peter Sarmento, Joao Cruz, Catarina Eira, Erica Revilla, et al. · Journal of Wildlife Management · 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

Davey reviewed the evidence on how the presence, number and behaviour of visitors affect captive zoo animals. He found that visitors can act as a source of stress, enrichment or both depending on spec…

Davey G · Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science · 2007