🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Embryo transfer, in which embryos are moved to a recipient female to establish pregnancy, was developed in the domestic cat as a foundation for felid conservation applications. This overview surveys h…

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic underscored that felids are susceptible to emerging coronaviruses, prompting renewed attention to the coronavirus host range in cats. This overview surveys the susceptibility o…

Tick-borne diseases are emerging and shifting in wild felids as tick distributions change and molecular tools reveal new pathogens. This overview surveys the changing landscape of tick-borne disease i…

Whether cats catch or respond to the emotions of others is an active research question. This overview surveys studies examining whether cats are affected by their owners' emotional states, respond to…

Beyond discriminating emotional expressions, cats may absorb or respond to their owners' emotional states, a phenomenon related to emotional contagion. This overview surveys research probing whether c…

This overview reviews how incremental growth lines preserved in sabertooth tooth enamel and dentine are used to reconstruct the developmental schedule of the famous canines. Like tree rings, these mic…

The physical environment of an enclosure, including space, complexity, seclusion, and the ability to avoid disturbance, influences the reproductive function of captive cats. This overview surveys how…

Comparative and within-institution studies have probed which enclosure features predict pacing in captive cats. This overview surveys evidence relating stereotypic pacing to enclosure size, complexity…

The domestic cat genome carries endogenous retroviral sequences related to FeLV, remnants of ancient germline infections that are inherited rather than transmitted. These endogenous elements can recom…

Beyond the well-known feline immunodeficiency and leukemia viruses, felid genomes carry endogenous retroviruses and other retroelements that record ancient infections. This overview surveys the spectr…

Feline genomes carry endogenous retroviruses, the genomic remnants of ancient viral infections, and the related infectious feline leukemia virus, which together offer insights into host-virus coevolut…

Living near people imposes hidden energetic costs on felids through interrupted hunting, abandoned kills, vigilance, detours around development and altered activity timing. This overview synthesises a…

Environmental DNA, the genetic material that animals shed into their surroundings, offers a powerful new way to detect elusive cats without observing them directly. This overview surveys how environme…

Beyond basic housing, enrichment can substantially improve shelter cat welfare and adoptability. This overview surveys interventions studied in shelters: hiding boxes and elevated perches, toys and pl…

The apparent emergence and rise of feline hyperthyroidism since around 1980 has prompted investigation of environmental risk factors, including flame-retardant chemicals such as polybrominated dipheny…

Feline panleukopenia virus is exceptionally hardy, surviving in the environment for long periods, which shapes its epidemiology and spillover potential to wild felids. This overview surveys the virus’…

Cats are sensitive to environmental change, and chronic stress manifests in altered behaviour, from hiding and reduced activity to elimination problems and stress-related illness. This overview survey…

Infectious disease can cause sudden, severe declines in lion populations, as shown by canine distemper outbreaks. This overview reviews how a 1990s distemper epidemic killed a large fraction of Sereng…

Epidemiologic studies describe feline hyperthyroidism as a disease of middle-aged and older cats whose recognized prevalence increased markedly through the late twentieth century, making it among the…

Beyond DNA sequence, epigenetic marks and regulatory elements control when and where feline genes are expressed, contributing to traits and potentially to age estimation. This overview surveys emergin…

Accurate drug dosing for field immobilization depends on estimating the body weight of an unweighable free-ranging felid, a source of significant error that can lead to underdosing, with dangerous inc…

Estimating cheetah abundance is challenging because the species occurs at low density, ranges widely, and is not as reliably individually identifiable from camera traps as boldly patterned cats. This…

Like tigers, jaguars are individually identifiable by their rosette patterns, making camera-trap capture-recapture a key tool for estimating their density. This overview synthesizes how researchers ac…

Counting lions reliably is surprisingly difficult, and methodological choices strongly affect the numbers that drive conservation decisions. This overview surveys techniques used to estimate lion abun…

Spatially explicit capture-recapture using camera traps and individual coat patterns has become the standard method for estimating ocelot density across forest, agricultural and peri-urban mosaics. Th…

The interval between successive estrous periods varies considerably among cat species and depends on whether ovulation has occurred. This overview surveys data on follicular phase duration, interestro…

Tigresses come into estrus periodically and advertise receptivity to males through scent marking, vocalizations, and increased movement within their range, leading to brief but intense mating associat…

Female cats in estrus display a recognizable suite of behaviors, including increased vocalization, rolling, treading, lordosis posture, and heightened receptivity to males. This overview describes the…

The management of free-roaming cats raises ethical questions about the welfare of cats, wildlife and the values at stake, and this overview surveys the normative debate surrounding trap-neuter-return.…

Wildlife photographers and researchers sometimes bait or lure cats to cameras to obtain images or detections, a practice that sits at the intersection of effectiveness and ethics. This overview survey…