🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

A survey of how the depletion of wild prey drives leopards to kill domestic livestock, fueling conflict that is a leading threat to the species. Across Africa and Asia, leopards persisting near people…

This overview synthesises studies of leopard predation on livestock across South and Central Asia, examining which species and age classes are most vulnerable, where and when attacks occur, and how hu…

Leopards often survive in small habitat fragments and human-dominated mosaics where other big cats vanish, but fragmentation still imposes costs. This overview synthesizes research on how leopard popu…

An overview of the significant and well-documented role of leopards as predators of primates, from monkeys to apes, and the evolutionary consequences for primate behavior. Leopards are major predators…

The leopard is among the most adaptable big cats, occupying habitats from rainforest to desert to urban edges, yet it has still lost much of its historical range to habitat loss and conflict. This ove…

This overview examines the frequent incidents of leopards falling into open agricultural wells across western India and the rescue operations that follow, which serve as flashpoints of human-leopard i…

Leopards are assessed both as a species and at the subspecies level, and the consolidation of subspecies by genetics directly affects conservation prioritization. This overview explains how recognizin…

An overview of how leopards coexist with dominant tigers in Asian forests by partitioning prey size, space and activity. Where tigers are abundant, leopards tend to take smaller prey, shift toward are…

Across India, leopards occupy a continuum from forest reserves to intensively farmed countryside, with sugarcane, tea and other tall-crop landscapes functioning as year-round habitat. This overview sy…

Leopards are remarkable among big cats for persisting in close proximity to dense human populations, including the edges of major cities. This overview synthesizes research, notably from India, on how…

In the rainforests of Central Africa and Southeast Asia, leopards occupy a very different niche from savanna populations. This overview synthesizes research on forest leopards, which hunt primates, du…

In the arid Kalahari, leopards survive with little surface water across vast, sparsely vegetated terrain. This overview synthesizes long-term observations of desert leopards showing how they range ove…

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…

Where cats and livestock overlap, the distribution of herds and the layout of settlements shape predator movement, and this overview synthesizes telemetry insights relevant to conflict. GPS data show…

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…

This overview synthesises research using spatial analysis to identify hotspots where big-cat attacks on livestock or people concentrate, enabling targeted mitigation. It reviews methods, kernel densit…

Female leopards raise cubs alone, hiding them in dense cover and moving them between lairs to reduce the risk of detection by predators. This overview synthesizes research on leopard reproduction, inc…

How urban felids are portrayed in media and perceived by the public strongly influences tolerance, policy and conservation outcomes. This overview synthesises social-science research on news framing o…

This overview synthesises research on how news and social media portray big-cat attacks and conflict, and how that framing shapes public attitudes, fear, and policy. It reviews studies showing that se…

Black, or melanistic, coats appear repeatedly in wild cats, and this overview reviews this phenomenon and its causes. Melanism, seen famously in black leopards and jaguars, results from genetic varian…

A survey of how leopards, as widespread mid-to-large felids, suppress smaller carnivores through killing, kleptoparasitism and fear. Across Africa and Asia leopards kill and displace jackals, caracals…

Estimating how many big cats occupy an area is a central and challenging task in their ecology and conservation. This overview reviews the main methods, from individual-identification camera-trap capt…

In the rugged mountains of the Middle East and Central Asia, leopards persist as rare, threatened populations adapted to arid, rocky terrain. This overview synthesizes what is known about the Arabian…

Leopards are solitary and territorial, yet females may mate with more than one male, and the resulting paternity patterns shed light on the species' mating system. This overview surveys observations o…

Where several large cats share a landscape, they coexist by partitioning resources along axes of prey size, habitat, and activity. This overview synthesizes research across continents showing how tige…

Leopards sharing space with dense human populations frequently become more strictly nocturnal, compressing their activity into the hours when people are least active. This overview surveys telemetry a…

Leopard attacks on humans, though rare relative to encounter frequency, shape public perception and policy across urban-adjacent India. This overview surveys research on the spatial and temporal clust…

An overview of how the scent of felid predators alone can suppress prey foraging, movement and reproduction, demonstrating nonconsumptive effects without any direct attack. Prey detect chemical cues o…

This overview surveys evidence on reinforcing nighttime livestock enclosures (bomas, kraals) to prevent attacks by lions, leopards, hyenas, and cheetahs across East African rangelands. It covers the p…

How flexibly a cat can switch prey when its preferred species declines shapes its resilience to drought and habitat change. This overview surveys evidence on dietary breadth across felids, from specia…