🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Cat urine contains felinine, an amino-acid-derived compound that breaks down into volatile sulfur-containing molecules responsible for the strong odor of cat marks. This overview surveys the role of f…

Lion prides are built on female philopatry, with daughters typically remaining in their natal range while subadult males are forced out to become nomads. This overview examines how this sex-biased dis…

Female lions usually remain in their natal pride for life, producing prides composed of closely related females that cooperate in hunting and cub rearing. This overview surveys the pattern of female p…

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…

Tigress reproduction is shaped by the energetic challenge of raising cubs alone over nearly two years. This overview synthesizes studies on litter size, cub survival, the long period of maternal depen…

A wildlife crossing works only if animals are guided to it, and this overview examines the critical role of fencing in funneling wildlife toward structures while keeping them off the road. Exclusion f…

This overview synthesises the use of fencing, from electrified perimeter fences around reserves to village-boundary barriers and predator-proof enclosures, to separate big cats from people and livesto…

Long-term studies of urban feral cat colonies, including well-known work in Rome, document stable groups built around related females and their offspring, with males ranging more widely and showing lo…

Removing feral cats from islands has produced some of conservation's clearest predator-management successes, and this overview surveys eradication programs and their outcomes. It examines campaigns th…

A survey of the documented and ongoing impacts of feral domestic cats on island vertebrates, among the most damaging examples of introduced-predator effects. Feral cats have contributed to dozens of b…

Free-roaming cats intersect with human health through zoonotic disease, and this overview surveys the public-health dimensions of feral and community cat populations. It examines concerns including ra…

Research in Australia has shown that feral cats exploit recently burned landscapes, where loss of vegetation cover leaves native prey exposed and easier to catch, compounding the impacts of fire. This…

Body temperature is actively defended around a set point, and this overview reviews how cats regulate temperature during illness and fever. When fighting infection, the body can raise its thermoregula…

Immobilizing free-ranging lions for collaring, health assessment, treatment, or research relies on established protocols typically combining dissociative anesthetics with alpha-2 agonists, delivered b…

The practical success of a camera-trap study often hinges on unglamorous logistics, keeping cameras powered, with adequate storage, and functioning through long deployments in harsh conditions. This o…

This overview surveys how finite-element analysis transformed understanding of sabertooth killing mechanics by revealing an apparent paradox: animals like Smilodon had skulls poorly suited to withstan…

Finite-element analysis models a skull as a mesh of elements and predicts how stresses distribute under loads, and this overview surveys its application to cat crania. By simulating canine bites, stru…

The wildland-urban interface, where development meets wildland vegetation, is expanding and is the zone where climate-driven fire most directly intersects with cat populations like urban-edge pumas an…

Studying how fire affects cats requires methods to map burns, track animal responses, and disentangle fire from other drivers. This overview surveys the toolkit, satellite burn-severity mapping, GPS t…

Climate is intensifying disturbance in boreal and montane forests through larger wildfires and bark-beetle outbreaks, reshaping the dense conifer stands and snow conditions Canada lynx and snowshoe ha…

Climate change can alter fire regimes, frequency, intensity, seasonality, and extent, pushing ecosystems toward new states that differ from historical conditions. This overview surveys how shifting fi…

Animals searching for patchy resources often slow down and turn more when they encounter good habitat, a behavior called area-restricted search, and first-passage time is a classic metric for detectin…

This overview examines the activity and ranging behavior of the fishing cat, drawn from telemetry and camera-trap studies. The species is predominantly nocturnal and crepuscular, concentrating activit…

The fishing cat is a wetland-dependent felid of South and Southeast Asia, adapted to hunting in marshes, mangroves, and along waterways, and camera traps are central to monitoring its scattered, decli…

Fishing cats sometimes take poultry and raid fish from ponds and aquaculture, generating conflict with households and farmers whose tolerance affects the species fate in human-dominated wetlands. This…

True to its name, the fishing cat is among the most piscivorous of felids, and this overview synthesizes diet studies confirming that fish form a major part of its diet, supplemented by rodents, birds…

The fishing cat is a wetland specialist found in scattered populations across South and Southeast Asia, including the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka, and parts of Southeast Asia, with strongholds in m…

The fishing cat shows clear adaptations to a semi-aquatic life, and this overview reviews them. The species has partially webbed forefeet, a deep-chested, muscular body, a short tail that may act as a…

The fishing cat is a wetland-dependent felid of South and Southeast Asia, reliant on marshes, mangroves, and waterways that are among the habitats most exposed to climate change and human conversion.…

Beyond Colombo, fishing cats occupy a mosaic of paddy fields, aquaculture, mangroves and peri-urban wetlands from South to Southeast Asia, persisting in human-dominated landscapes wherever wetlands re…