🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

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…

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…

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…

Population bottlenecks that erode genetic diversity recur throughout felid history and interact powerfully with disease susceptibility. This overview surveys how bottlenecks, from the ancient cheetah…

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, in which a single sperm is injected directly into an egg, offers a route to fertilization when sperm are scarce or of poor quality. This overview surveys the developm…

Big cats not only compete for prey but kill one another, and intraguild predation shapes the structure of carnivore communities. This overview synthesizes research on how dominant cats such as lions a…

A survey of the lethal interactions between cats and dogs that share prey and space, a major structuring force in carnivore communities. Lions and hyenas kill wild dogs and cheetahs; pumas and coyotes…

A survey of the pervasive theft of kills within the African large-carnivore guild, where lions, spotted hyenas, leopards, cheetahs and wild dogs constantly contest carcasses. The direction and outcome…

Cheetahs lose a significant share of their kills to larger carnivores, a major cost of their position in the savanna guild. This overview synthesizes research showing that lions, hyenas, and even leop…

An overview of how often cheetahs lose their kills to lions, hyenas and other competitors, and the consequences for cheetah foraging. Because cheetahs are exhausted after high-speed pursuits and canno…

Depositing semen directly into the oviduct or uterus via laparoscopy bypasses cervical barriers and improves the odds of fertilization in cats with limited sperm quality. This overview surveys the dev…

Cheetahs produce relatively large litters compared with other big cats, sometimes bearing four to six cubs, yet suffer extremely high cub mortality in the wild. This overview surveys the reproductive…

Running near the limits of land-mammal speed places enormous loads on slender limb bones. This overview gathers what is understood about peak ground reaction forces, bone stresses, and the safety fact…

As the largest African cat, the lion exerts strong intraguild pressure on cheetahs and leopards. This overview synthesizes research on how lions kill cheetah cubs and steal kills, forcing cheetahs int…

Livestock guarding dogs, such as Anatolian shepherds placed with herds, are a widely promoted nonlethal tool for reducing predation and the retaliatory killing of cats like cheetahs and leopards. This…

This overview surveys the global evidence on livestock-guarding dogs (LGDs), breeds such as Anatolian shepherds, Kangals, and Maremmas, bonded to herds to deter predators through presence, barking, an…

Male cheetahs frequently form coalitions, most often of littermate brothers, that cooperate to hold territories and compete for mates. This overview synthesizes research showing that coalition males d…

Male cheetahs frequently form lifelong coalitions, often of brothers, that cooperatively defend territories and gain access to females. This overview surveys the formation and dynamics of cheetah male…

Unusually for a solitary felid, male cheetahs often form lifelong coalitions, frequently of brothers, that cooperate to hold small, high-quality territories. This overview surveys research on coalitio…

South Africa's reintroduction of cheetahs into many small reserves has produced a managed metapopulation sustained by coordinated translocations between sites. This overview surveys research on the re…

Cheetahs use prominent trees, logs, and termite mounds as communal scent-marking sites that function as information hubs. This overview synthesizes research, especially from Namibian farmland, showing…

Cheetah mothers raise cubs alone through a long, demanding dependency marked by extremely high cub mortality, especially from predation. This overview surveys research on cheetah maternal care, includ…

Genetic studies have shown that cheetah litters frequently contain cubs fathered by different males, reflecting female mating with multiple partners. This overview surveys evidence for multiple patern…