🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Body size affects how easily an animal gains or loses heat, and this overview reviews its thermoregulatory consequences for big cats. Because surface area grows more slowly than volume with size, larg…

Beyond purrs and roars, cats produce a rich variety of calls, and this overview reviews the laryngeal anatomy and mechanics behind them. The larynx, with its vocal folds, muscles, and cartilages, shap…

Cats handle dietary carbohydrate differently from omnivores, and this overview reviews their specialised glucose metabolism. Adapted to a low-carbohydrate, meat-based diet, cats have reduced activity…

The prominent whiskers on a cat muzzle, the mystacial vibrissae, form a precise tactile array, and this overview reviews their structure and arrangement. Thicker and more deeply rooted than ordinary h…

Black, or melanistic, coats appear repeatedly in wild cats, and this overview reviews this phenomenon and its causes. Melanism, seen famously in black leopards and jaguars, results from genetic varian…

Animals generate water internally when they metabolise food, and this overview reviews the role of metabolic water for desert cats. Oxidising the fat and protein in prey yields water as a by-product,…

Bite-force figures for cats are often estimates rather than direct measurements, and this overview reviews how they are derived and where they can mislead. Researchers reconstruct muscle forces from a…

The cat middle ear transmits airborne sound to the fluid-filled inner ear, and this overview reviews how its three tiny ossicles accomplish this efficiently. The ossicular chain and the area differenc…

The cat's hunting behaviour is organised as a sequence of partly independent modules: searching, stalking, chasing, pouncing, grabbing, killing, and consuming. This overview surveys research on how th…

Cats are exquisitely sensitive to movement, and this overview reviews the visual mechanisms behind this and their predatory significance. The feline visual system emphasises detecting and tracking mot…

Newborn kittens cannot regulate their own temperature well, and this overview reviews how they stay warm. With limited ability to generate and conserve heat, neonatal kittens depend on the warmth of t…

Beyond taurine and arginine, cats depend on several other nutrients in preformed, animal-derived forms, and this overview reviews them. Cats have a limited ability to synthesise niacin from tryptophan…

Cats have whiskers beyond the muzzle, and this overview reviews these often-overlooked vibrissae and their roles. Carpal whiskers on the back of the forelegs may help detect and orient struggling prey…

Cats are strict, or obligate, carnivores, and this overview reviews what that means metabolically and why it sets cats apart. Through evolutionary specialisation on a meat diet, cats have lost or redu…

Cats cool themselves differently from humans, and this overview reviews their reliance on panting and limited sweating. Lacking extensive sweat glands over the body, cats have sweat glands mainly on t…

Blood flow to the skin and extremities is a key thermoregulatory tool, and this overview reviews its role in cats. By adjusting circulation to the paws, ears, and other peripheral areas, cats can shed…

A cat external ears, or pinnae, swivel independently, and this overview reviews how this mobility sharpens sound localisation. Each pinna can rotate widely, funnelling sound and helping pinpoint a sou…

Play is prominent in young big cats and persists in enriched captive settings, where it supports physical development and welfare. This overview surveys research on social and object play in lion, tig…

Cats fuel themselves chiefly with protein and fat, and this overview reviews how they use these substrates in feeding and fasting. With limited reliance on carbohydrate, cats draw energy from dietary…

Cat eyes adjust to enormous changes in light, and this overview reviews the dynamics of pupil constriction and dilation and the optics of a large aperture. A widely dilating pupil gathers abundant lig…

Producing concentrated urine conserves water, and this overview reviews the kidney function that supports desert cats. Like other arid-adapted mammals, desert cats are thought to produce highly concen…

Cat retinas are rich in rod photoreceptors, the cells specialised for dim-light vision, and this overview reviews how this composition shapes feline sight. A high rod-to-cone ratio, combined with conv…

Small cats seem to out-jump big cats relative to their size, and this overview reviews how jumping ability scales across the felid family. Physical principles predict that absolute jump height does no…

Felids span from sub-kilogram wildcats to lions and tigers of well over a hundred kilograms, and body size profoundly shapes how they move. This overview reviews how speed, acceleration, jumping abili…

Solitary and group-living cats alike rely on a network of chemical signals to coordinate behaviour without constant contact. This overview surveys research on the feline scent-communication system, in…

Felids scratch trees and other surfaces and create ground scrapes that combine visual marks with scent from glands in the paws. This overview surveys research on the marking function of scratching acr…

Cat coats change with the seasons, and this overview reviews moulting and seasonal adjustment of the coat. Many cats grow a denser coat for cold months and shed it for a lighter summer coat, with moul…

In several big cats, males have larger, more robust skulls and stouter canines than females, and this overview reviews the patterns and their likely drivers. Such dimorphism is often linked to male-ma…

Infanticide by males is documented or inferred across many felid species, from lions to tigers, leopards, pumas, and others, wherever killing dependent young can hasten a female's next conception. Thi…

The coat and skin together form a protective barrier, and this overview reviews their defensive functions. Fur shields the skin from sun, abrasion, and minor injury, while the skin itself guards again…