🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Establishing that an animal sees color requires showing it can discriminate hues independent of brightness, a demanding behavioral test. This overview surveys studies that trained cats to choose color…

The jaguar is the largest American cat and a powerful solitary predator whose behaviour is studied through camera traps, telemetry, and acoustic monitoring. This overview surveys research on jaguar sp…

Cat domestication followed an unusual, largely commensal path, and this overview surveys research on the behavioural traits associated with it. It covers reduced fear and aggression toward humans, inc…

Kittens are altricial and pass through a rapid, well-characterised sequence of behavioural milestones. This overview surveys research on kitten development, from the early reliance on thermal and olfa…

The first months of a kitten's life involve rapid behavioural change, and this overview surveys research charting that development. It examines the emergence and maturation of sensory abilities, locom…

Comparing the domestic cat with its wild ancestor illuminates how domestication has reshaped behaviour. This overview surveys research contrasting African and European wildcats with domestic cats in t…

Across the felid family, the capacity to flexibly adjust activity timing, space use, diet and risk responses largely determines which species can live near people. This overview synthesises evidence t…

A central question in urban ecology is whether animals cope with cities through flexible behaviour within a generation or through heritable evolutionary change over generations. This overview synthesi…

Big cats arriving at sanctuaries from circuses, roadside zoos, private ownership or the pet trade often carry physical and psychological scars, including declawing, malnutrition, obesity, dental disea…

Pumas living near urban areas adjust where, when and how they move, feed and rest in response to human presence and the built environment. This overview synthesises telemetry and GPS-cluster research,…

Practical, validated tools let staff assess feline welfare without specialist equipment. This overview surveys behavioural scoring instruments used for cats, foremost the seven-point Cat-Stress-Score…

Much of feline temperature regulation is behavioural, and this overview reviews how posture and microhabitat choice keep cats comfortable. Cats curl up tightly to conserve heat and reduce exposed surf…

Leopard cats occur not only in deep farmland but at the fringes of towns and suburbs across parts of Asia, suggesting considerable tolerance of human activity. This overview synthesises camera-trap an…

Behaviour is a frontline defence against water loss in the desert, and this overview reviews how desert cats use timing and shelter to stay hydrated. By being active in the cooler night and resting in…

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…

Big cats are often used as umbrella species, whose large area requirements mean that protecting them also protects many co-occurring species, and as flagship species, whose charisma mobilizes public s…

This overview surveys the disappearance of numerous large cats, including Smilodon, Homotherium, the American lion, the cave lion, and Miracinonyx, as part of the broader late Quaternary megafaunal ex…

Localizing sound in the horizontal plane depends on comparing the signals reaching the two ears, and cats exploit these binaural cues effectively. This overview surveys interaural time and level diffe…

Forward-facing eyes give cats substantial binocular overlap, and this overview reviews how this supports the depth perception needed to judge a leap or pounce. Overlapping fields allow stereopsis, in…

The caracal ranges widely across Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and into India, and this broad distribution has produced named subspecies and biogeographic questions. This overview surveys car…

This overview examines the evolutionary geography of the cheetah lineage and its New World relatives. Molecular and fossil evidence indicate that the cheetah-puma group has a complex transatlantic his…

Climate change can shift the balance between grassland, savanna, shrubland, and forest, transforming the habitat templates that different cats require. This overview surveys how projected biome shifts…

The physics of how a falling cat rights itself without any initial rotation has fascinated scientists for over a century. This overview surveys the biomechanics of the maneuver, in which the cat bends…

A common interpretation of bitter taste is that it warns animals away from toxic or harmful compounds, and this protective role likely applies to cats. This overview surveys how feline bitter sensitiv…

Cats retain the ability to taste bitter compounds, supported by a family of bitter taste receptor genes. This overview surveys what is known about the feline bitter receptor repertoire and its likely…

The black-footed cat is endemic to the arid heart of southern Africa, occurring in South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia within Karoo scrub, grassland, and semi-desert. This overview compiles records de…

As one of the smallest cats in the world, the black-footed cat faces severe energetic constraints, and this overview reviews how those shape its biology. A tiny body loses heat rapidly and demands fre…

Captive populations of the black-footed cat have proven valuable for research and conservation breeding but are notably affected by AA amyloidosis, a disease in which protein deposits damage organs an…

Field studies of the black-footed cat have revealed an extraordinarily intense hunting lifestyle, and this overview synthesizes those findings. Tracking individuals through the night shows the cat hun…

This overview examines the strictly nocturnal lifestyle of the black-footed cat, drawn from radio-telemetry in the Karoo. Individuals emerge after dusk to hunt and patrol, covering substantial distanc…