🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Edited by O'Connell, Nichols, and Karanth, this book was the first comprehensive volume devoted to camera-trap methodology, bringing together leading practitioners to cover study design, individual id…

Allan F. O'Connell, James D. Nichols, K. Ullas Karanth (editors) · Springer · 2011

Rovero and Marshall tested whether the rate at which animals are photographed can serve as a reliable index of their density, a crucial question because many studies use detection rates as abundance p…

Francesco Rovero, Andrew R. Marshall · Journal of Applied Ecology · 2009

Wang and Macdonald applied camera-trap capture-recapture to tigers and leopards in the high-altitude mountains of Bhutan, documenting the surprising presence of tigers at unusually high elevations and…

Sherub Wang, David W. Macdonald · Biological Conservation · 2009

Glover-Kapfer, Soto-Navarro, and Wearn surveyed the state of camera-trap technology and practice, identifying the constraints that limit the method and the innovations needed to overcome them. They re…

Paul Glover-Kapfer, Carolina A. Soto-Navarro, Oliver R. Wearn · Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation · 2019

Mason and Latham examined whether stereotypic behaviour is a trustworthy welfare marker. Reviewing many studies, they showed that while stereotypies often correlate with poor conditions at the group l…

Mason GJ, Latham NR · Animal Welfare · 2004

In this classic functional study, Akersten proposed the canine shear-bite model for Smilodon, addressing how an animal could use such elongated, blade-like upper canines without snapping them. He argu…

William A. Akersten · Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County · 1985

Clubb and Mason analysed comparative data across 35 carnivore species to ask why some thrive in zoos while others pace and breed poorly. They found that wide-ranging species with large natural home ra…

Clubb R, Mason G · Nature · 2003

Bond and Lindburg compared feeding captive cheetahs whole carcasses against conventional processed diets, assessing both behaviour and oral health. Carcass feeding prolonged feeding time, increased sp…

Bond JC, Lindburg DG · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 1990

Building on the prey-preference series, Hayward, O'Brien and Kerley developed regression models that predict the density a reserve can support for each large African predator from the available biomas…

Hayward, M.W., O'Brien, J. & Kerley, G.I.H. · Biological Conservation · 2007

This widely read synthesis assembled the scientific case that free-ranging domestic cats are a significant driver of wildlife declines and a vector for zoonotic disease, while examining the contentiou…

Marra PP, Santella C · Princeton University Press · 2016

This landmark ethological treatise compiled decades of close observation into a comprehensive description of feline behaviour, with especially detailed analysis of the predatory sequence: the stalk, t…

Paul Leyhausen · 1979

This study tested whether cats modify their behaviour according to their owner's displayed emotion, comparing happy and angry expressions. Cats showed behaviours consistent with detecting the emotiona…

Moriah Galvan, Jennifer Vonk · Animal Cognition · 2016

Galvan and Vonk investigated whether domestic cats are sensitive to their owners' emotional expressions, a capacity well documented in dogs. Cats were exposed to their owner displaying either a happy…

Moriah Galvan, Jennifer Vonk · Animal Cognition · 2016

Adapting the Strange Situation Test used with infants and dogs, researchers observed how cats behaved when their owner left and returned. Cats displayed distinct attachment styles: secure individuals…

Kristyn Vitale, Alexandra Behnke, Monique Udell · Current Biology · 2019

This experiment tested whether cats hold a spatial representation of unseen humans. A cat was placed in a room while its owner's voice was played from a speaker at one location, then, after a delay, f…

Saho Takagi and colleagues · PLOS ONE · 2021

Using a habituation-dishabituation design, researchers played domestic cats recordings of their owner's voice interspersed with strangers calling their name. Cats showed orienting responses such as ea…

Atsuko Saito, Kazutaka Shinozuka · Animal Cognition · 2013

This study examined whether cats are sensitive to the high-pitched, sing-song register people use when addressing pets. Cats showed stronger behavioural responses when their own owner spoke in cat-dir…

Charlotte de Mouzon and colleagues · Animal Cognition · 2023

Researchers shook opaque containers in front of cats; some rattled and some were silent, and the experimenter then tipped each to reveal whether an object fell out. Cats explored more and showed expec…

Saho Takagi and colleagues · Animal Cognition · 2016

Zimmermann, Walpole, and Leader-Williams surveyed cattle ranchers across the Brazilian Pantanal to understand attitudes toward jaguars and pumas amid livestock depredation. They found that ranchers fr…

Alexandra Zimmermann, Matthew J. Walpole, Nigel Leader-Williams · Oryx · 2005

The authors applied dental microwear texture analysis to carnivores from Rancho La Brea, comparing microscopic wear surfaces on the teeth of Smilodon fatalis and other predators across the deposit's c…

Larisa R. G. DeSantis, Blaine W. Schubert, Jessica R. Scott, Peter S. Ungar · PLoS ONE · 2012

Nyhus and Tilson analysed records of human-tiger conflict around Sumatran protected areas, characterising attacks on people and livestock and the killing of tigers. They linked conflict to habitat con…

Philip J. Nyhus, Ronald Tilson · Oryx · 2004

Caro's long-term Serengeti study is the definitive account of cheetah behavioral ecology, with deep treatment of hunting and predation. He quantified hunting success rates, prey selection by Thomson's…

Caro, T.M. · University of Chicago Press · 1994

This book reports a long-term behavioral study of free-ranging cheetahs, with extensive coverage of reproduction and development. The author documented female ranging and mating, the formation of male…

Caro TM · University of Chicago Press · 1994

This long-term field study produced one of the most complete accounts of cheetah behavioural ecology, covering hunting, social organisation, male coalitions, maternal care, and cub mortality. Among it…

Tim Caro · 1994

This long-term study of cheetahs on the Serengeti plains provided the definitive account of cheetah social organization, combining years of observation of known individuals. It documented the species'…

Caro, T. M. · University of Chicago Press · 1994

Nicastro and Owren analyzed the acoustic structure of domestic cat meows recorded in different behavioural contexts and tested whether human listeners could classify them. They measured features such…

Nicholas Nicastro, Michael J. Owren · Journal of Comparative Psychology · 2003

This study linked landscape genetics to climate projections for Canada lynx, asking how warming-driven habitat contraction would affect genetic diversity along the species' southern, trailing range ed…

Koen, E.L., Bowman, J., Murray, D.L., Wilson, P.J. · Ecography · 2014

This study resolved a long-standing puzzle: why the 1994 Serengeti CDV epidemic was lethal while earlier CDV exposures left lions seropositive but alive. By integrating decades of serology, climate re…

L. Munson, K. A. Terio, R. Kock, et al. · PLoS ONE · 2008

This study combined species distribution modeling with projected climate change to locate the parts of High Asia most likely to remain suitable for snow leopards as temperatures rise. By overlaying cu…

Li, J., McCarthy, T.M., Wang, H., Weckworth, B.V., Schaller, G.B., Mishra, C., Lu, Z., Beissinger, S.R. · Biological Conservation · 2016

This study connected the felid-shed parasite Toxoplasma gondii to deaths of threatened southern sea otters along the California coast. Because cats are the only definitive hosts that shed environmenta…

M. A. Miller, I. A. Gardner, C. Kreuder, et al. · International Journal for Parasitology · 2002