🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

An overview of the ecological mechanism by which warming pushes the alpine treeline upslope and squeezes the open, rocky terrain snow leopards use. As shrubs and forest advance into former alpine mead…

Field immobilization of leopards and snow leopards presents distinctive challenges, including the elusive, often nocturnal behavior of these cats, rugged or high-altitude terrain, and extreme cold in…

Reprogramming felid somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells offers a future route to generating gametes and preserving genetic diversity. This overview surveys early research on deriving ind…

This overview synthesises studies identifying which landscape and management variables predict where big cats kill livestock, a recurring quantitative question across conflict research. It reviews con…

Detecting how cats respond to climate and habitat change requires monitoring at scales that camera-trap networks increasingly provide. This overview surveys how coordinated camera-trap arrays generate…

This overview synthesises evidence that competition between domestic livestock and wild ungulates, blue sheep, ibex, argali, depresses natural prey and increases snow leopard reliance on livestock. It…

Most felid distribution models are correlative, fitting statistical relationships between occurrence and environment, but mechanistic models built from physiology and energetics offer a complementary…

Projecting a species into the future requires transferring a model into climate conditions that may not exist anywhere today, raising the risk of unreliable extrapolation. This overview surveys the pr…

Climate-adaptation strategies, refugia protection, corridors, assisted colonization, need monitoring to know whether they work over the long timescales of climate change. This overview surveys the ind…

This overview synthesises research on the social and ecological factors influencing herder attitudes toward snow leopards and wolves across the trans-Himalaya, emphasising that tolerance is shaped at…

Whether species can evolve or behaviorally adjust their climate niche fast enough to keep pace with change is central to predicting their fate. This overview surveys the concept of niche conservatism,…

Snow leopards inhabit remote, rugged mountains where direct observation is nearly impossible, making noninvasive genetics essential for studying them. This overview surveys how scat-based DNA analysis…

The Panthera lineage contains the roaring cats and their relatives and represents the earliest branch of the modern felid radiation. This overview surveys genetic and fossil evidence for an Asian orig…

This overview reviews how payments-for-ecosystem-services (PES) frameworks have been adapted to compensate communities for hosting large carnivores, treating predator presence as a service worth rewar…

Pedigree analysis uses recorded ancestry to estimate relatedness, inbreeding coefficients, and founder contributions that guide breeding decisions. This overview surveys how felid studbook pedigrees a…

Climate change is shifting the timing of biological events, and while phenology is best studied in plants and birds, it bears on cats through their prey and reproductive timing. This overview surveys…

Snow leopards are exquisitely adapted to life at high altitude in bitter cold. This overview synthesizes what is known about their dense fur, long thick tail used for balance and warmth, enlarged nasa…

Although the snow leopard was traditionally treated as a single undivided species, genetic studies using noninvasive samples have proposed dividing it into several geographic subspecies or management…

This overview examines how poverty and social vulnerability concentrate the costs of big-cat conflict on those least able to bear them. It synthesises evidence that the poorest, most forest- or rangel…

Reducing livestock losses is central to securing snow leopards, and predator-proof corrals are among the most effective tools. This overview synthesizes research and program experience showing that re…

This overview reviews efforts to reinforce nighttime livestock corrals across snow leopard range to prevent the catastrophic multiple-kill events that occur when a cat enters an open pen and kills man…

The number of snow leopards a mountain landscape can hold is set largely by the abundance of wild ungulate prey. This overview synthesizes research linking the density of blue sheep, ibex, and argali…

A survey of the minimum prey abundance large cats need to maintain viable populations and why prey depletion is a leading cause of felid decline. Because predator density scales with prey biomass, the…

As suitable habitat contracts to higher, cooler refugia, the corridors linking snow leopard populations become critical for gene flow and recolonization. This overview surveys the methods researchers…

Protecting continuous elevation gradients lets species shift upslope as climate warms while staying within protected habitat, a recurring strategy for montane regions. This overview surveys the ration…

Snow leopard reproduction is shaped by the brief alpine summer and the harshness of the high-mountain environment. This overview synthesizes what is known about their breeding season, the use of shelt…

This overview examines efforts to revive the traditional Mongolian Bankhar livestock-guarding dog as a tool for reducing depredation by snow leopards, wolves, and other predators on the steppe and in…

Wildlife occurrence data for cats are often opportunistically collected, biased toward roads, reserves, and accessible terrain, which can distort distribution models if uncorrected. This overview surv…

GPS satellite collars have transformed understanding of snow leopard ecology, revealing that these cats range over far larger areas than once assumed. This overview surveys telemetry research showing…

Solitary snow leopards communicate across their vast ranges through scent marks placed at conspicuous sites. This overview synthesizes research on how snow leopards spray scent on overhanging rocks, m…