🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Cheetah social and spatial organization is unusual among cats: males often form lifelong coalitions, frequently of brothers, while females range solitarily over large areas, and this overview examines…

This overview synthesises human-cheetah conflict across East African rangelands, where cheetahs overlap with pastoralist livestock outside protected areas. It reviews patterns of depredation, mostly o…

Cheetah cubs suffer extremely high mortality in the wild, and understanding its causes has been central to assessing the species' resilience. This overview surveys research, much of it from long-term…

Cheetah cubs suffer extremely high mortality, much of it inflicted by lions and spotted hyenas. This overview synthesizes research documenting that on the open plains the majority of cheetah cubs die…

A survey of the heavy toll that lions and spotted hyenas take on cheetah cubs, a key demographic constraint on cheetah populations. Studies in the Serengeti and elsewhere have recorded that a large fr…

The illegal trade in live cheetah cubs for the exotic pet market follows established routes from the Horn of Africa across to the Arabian Peninsula, and this overview surveys research mapping and quan…

An overview of the extreme anatomical and physiological specializations that make the cheetah the fastest land predator and how they shape its predation ecology. Adaptations including a flexible spine…

The cheetah's celebrated speed is the centerpiece of a hunting strategy built on daytime pursuit of fleet prey. This overview synthesizes research on how cheetahs stalk to within range before launchin…

Cheetahs are notoriously difficult to keep and breed well in captivity, and their welfare has been intensively studied. This overview surveys the cheetah's particular vulnerabilities: evidence of chro…

One of the most striking early demonstrations of the cheetah's genetic depletion was that skin grafts exchanged between unrelated cheetahs were accepted rather than rejected, indicating near-identical…

Cheetahs specialize on small to medium antelope, with gazelles forming the dietary core across much of their range. This overview synthesizes kill and scat studies showing that cheetahs favor prey the…

Cheetahs range over very large areas at low density, a trait central to understanding why they are so hard to conserve. This overview surveys telemetry and movement research documenting cheetah home r…

Namibia holds one of the largest cheetah populations, much of it on commercial and communal farmland outside protected areas, and this overview synthesizes telemetry research on how cheetahs range acr…

Efforts to restore cheetahs to parts of their former range, including the introduction of African cheetahs to India, have raised ecological questions about translocation. This overview synthesizes the…

India, which lost its native Asiatic cheetahs to extinction in the mid-twentieth century, has undertaken a project to reintroduce cheetahs using animals sourced from Africa, released at Kuno National…

Namibia holds one of the world's largest cheetah populations, the majority living on commercial and communal farmland where conflict with livestock and game farmers is a primary threat. This overview…

Because cheetahs occur at naturally low densities and avoid areas with high lion and hyena numbers, most cheetahs live outside formal protected areas on farmland and communal rangelands. This overview…

Much of the world's remaining cheetah population lives outside protected areas on farmland, particularly in Namibia, where the ecology differs from the famous plains populations. This overview synthes…

This overview surveys human-cheetah conflict in Namibia, home to a large share of the world's cheetahs living largely outside protected areas on commercial and communal farmland. It reviews patterns o…

Captive cheetahs are notably prone to a severe chronic gastritis associated with Helicobacter infection, a condition far more debilitating in captive than in wild cheetahs, suggesting that stress, imm…

Chronic activation of the stress axis can suppress immunity, impair reproduction and contribute to disease, and several captive cat species show evidence of such chronic stress. This overview surveys…

Cheetahs possess only partially retractable claws and hardened, ridged foot pads, features often likened to athletic cleats. This overview surveys how claw exposure and pad texture provide the tractio…

The sequencing of cat genomes, beginning with the domestic cat and extending to tiger, lion, snow leopard, cheetah, and others, transformed felid systematics. This overview surveys how whole-genome da…

Understanding why some felids tolerate pathogens that sicken others requires comparing immune function across wild and domestic cats. This overview surveys comparative felid immunology, examining diff…

Cheetah mothers and cubs use distinctive vocal contact to maintain cohesion as they move across open landscapes. This overview surveys research on the bird-like chirp and other calls that reunite sepa…

This overview examines the evolutionary relationships of Miracinonyx and the now well-supported conclusion that its cheetah-like form arose through convergence rather than common ancestry with the tru…

The cheetah and the extinct American cheetah independently evolved a slender, long-limbed body built for high-speed pursuit, a striking case of convergence given their separate ancestries within the p…

Cooperation is rare among felids, concentrated in the social lion and in cheetah and feral-cat male coalitions, making the family a useful contrast for theories of cooperation. This overview surveys r…

This overview surveys the postcranial anatomy of Miracinonyx and the adaptations for high-speed running that earned it the cheetah-like label. Especially in Miracinonyx trumani, the limbs are elongate…

Female cats select sheltered den sites to give birth and protect altricial young during their most vulnerable weeks. This overview surveys how felid mothers choose dens that provide concealment and th…