🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

No single indicator captures welfare reliably, so the field has moved toward integrated assessment combining multiple lines of evidence. This overview surveys how comprehensive welfare evaluation for…

Linking genome resource banks to studbook management ensures that banked genetics are tracked and deployed to maximize population diversity. This overview surveys how biobanked samples are recorded al…

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…

Litter size in cats varies within and between species, influenced by maternal age and condition, resource availability, and species biology. This overview surveys typical litter sizes from small felid…

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…

Captive cats often live longer than their wild counterparts, raising questions about how reproductive performance changes across an extended lifespan. This overview surveys data on longevity and repro…

Combining magnetometers with accelerometers gives biologgers both the orientation and the dynamic motion of an animal's body, enabling unusually detailed reconstruction of hunting behavior. This overv…

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…

Early-life experience profoundly shapes felid behaviour, and the routine hand-rearing and early maternal separation used in cub-petting and some breeding programs carry developmental risks. This overv…

Mean kinship is a central metric used to decide which captive cats should breed in order to preserve genetic diversity. This overview surveys how mean kinship, the average relatedness of an individual…

Microsatellite genetic markers have made it possible to assign parentage in wild and captive cats, resolving questions about mating systems that behavior alone cannot answer. This overview surveys the…

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…

Because female cats may mate with several males during a single estrus, individual litters can contain offspring sired by more than one father. This overview surveys evidence for multiple paternity ac…

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…