🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Comparative and population genomics allow researchers to find genes shaped by natural selection in cats, revealing the molecular basis of their predatory adaptations. This overview surveys the methods…

Cheetah mothers bring live prey to their cubs and release it, apparently providing opportunities to practise capturing and killing. This overview surveys field research on how cubs develop hunting com…

Cheetahs face well-documented reproductive difficulties that intersect with their disease susceptibility and genetic uniformity. This overview surveys the links between disease, immune function and re…

Captive cheetahs experience a striking array of diseases rarely seen at such rates in other felids, including Helicobacter gastritis, kidney disease, and severe coronavirus outbreaks. This overview su…

Cheetahs are largely diurnal, hunting in the cooler parts of the day, a pattern shaped partly by the need to avoid dominant nocturnal competitors. This overview synthesizes research showing that cheet…

A long-standing hypothesis held that cheetahs abandon chases because sprinting overheats them, storing heat faster than they can lose it. This overview examines the evidence, including studies that im…

Before genomic sequencing, researchers used protein and allozyme variation to compare lion populations and found that the isolated Asiatic lions of Gir harbored strikingly little biochemical genetic v…

Elastic tendons can store and return energy like springs, reducing the muscular cost of each stride. This overview reviews evidence for and against substantial elastic energy storage in the cheetah hi…

Collecting semen from nondomestic cats usually requires electroejaculation under anesthesia, a standardized technique that allows evaluation and banking of sperm. This overview surveys how electroejac…

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…

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…

Beyond the terminal-Pleistocene crash, researchers have proposed that the cheetah experienced more than one demographic bottleneck, including a possible older, deeper reduction in the ancestral lineag…

Vocal abilities are distributed across the felid family tree in informative ways, and this overview reviews the evolution of cat vocal anatomy. Mapping hyoid structure and laryngeal features onto feli…

Measuring glucocorticoid stress hormones in feces provides a noninvasive way to assess how stress relates to reproductive function in cats. This overview surveys the use of fecal glucocorticoid monito…

Feline coronavirus circulates widely and usually harmlessly, but can mutate within a host into the lethal feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) virus, a particular danger in crowded captive felid collec…

Genetic and behavioral studies indicate that female cheetahs frequently mate with multiple males, and litters often contain cubs sired by more than one father. This overview surveys the cheetah mating…

Genetic studies have shown that the Asiatic cheetah is distinct from African cheetah populations, having diverged long enough ago to represent a separate evolutionary lineage worth conserving in its o…

The jaguarundi is an unusually shaped small cat of the Americas, with an elongated body and uniform coat, whose molecular placement revealed it as a close relative of the puma and cheetah within the p…

The end of the Pleistocene saw the loss of many large cats, including sabertooths, cave lions, American lions, and the American cheetah, as part of the broader megafaunal extinction. This overview sur…

The serval and the caracal are medium-sized African cats of the caracal lineage, both relatively widespread but facing localized pressures. This overview surveys their genetic relationships within the…

Genomic erosion refers to the cumulative loss of genetic diversity and accumulation of harmful variation that accompanies population decline, and cats provide some of its clearest examples. This overv…

How cheetahs are housed, including whether females are kept singly or in groups and their proximity to males, can influence ovarian cyclicity and breeding success. This overview surveys research on th…

The cheetah's high-speed hunting strategy raises questions about how heat and energy constrain its foraging. This overview synthesizes research on the physiology of cheetah pursuit, including the rapi…

GPS and accelerometer studies of wild cheetahs have transformed understanding of how the fastest land animal actually hunts. This overview surveys findings that hunting success depends less on top spe…

For much of the twentieth century, cat classification rested on coat patterns, skull morphology, and geography, producing many poorly supported species and subspecies. This overview surveys how molecu…

The diversity of immune genes, especially the major histocompatibility complex, strongly influences a population’s ability to resist infectious disease. This overview surveys research on felid immunog…

Applying in vitro fertilization to endangered cats aims to produce embryos from valuable individuals, including those that cannot breed naturally, for transfer to surrogates or for banking. This overv…

Inbreeding in small captive populations can reduce fertility, increase juvenile mortality, and cause physical and reproductive abnormalities, collectively termed inbreeding depression. This overview s…

Small, closed captive populations risk losing genetic diversity, raising the chance that deleterious recessive alleles pair up and reduce health, fertility and survival, a phenomenon known as inbreedi…

Small or isolated cat populations frequently show the hallmarks of inbreeding depression, including reduced fertility, abnormal sperm, congenital defects, weakened immunity, and elevated juvenile mort…