🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Pheromones are chemical signals that convey information between members of a species, and cats rely heavily on them for social and territorial communication. This overview surveys how cats detect pher…

The ultimate limit on night vision is how efficiently an eye captures and counts individual photons. This overview surveys research framing the cat eye in terms of quantum catch, including the contrib…

The functional payoff of the tapetum lucidum is that it gives photons a second pass through the photoreceptor layer, raising the probability of absorption and effectively boosting sensitivity. This ov…

Reconstructing the felid tree has driven the adoption of increasingly sophisticated analytical methods, from single-gene trees to genome-wide coalescent and network approaches. This overview surveys h…

The lynx lineage comprises four species: the Eurasian lynx, the Iberian lynx, the Canada lynx, and the bobcat. This overview surveys the molecular phylogeny of the group, the timing of their divergenc…

This overview synthesizes the deep-time evolution of cats, from the Oligocene Proailurus and Miocene Pseudaelurus stem felids through the divergence of the conical-toothed Felinae and the sabertoothed…

The jaguar, the largest cat of the Americas, ranges from the southwestern United States to Argentina, and genetic studies have examined how this vast distribution is structured. This overview surveys…

The Eurasian lynx is the most widespread lynx, ranging across the forests of Europe and Asia, and has been the subject of both phylogeographic study and reintroduction efforts. This overview surveys t…

Genetic studies have reshaped lion taxonomy by revealing a primary division between a northern group, encompassing the Asiatic, West African, and Central African lions, and a southern and eastern Afri…

The ocelot and margay are widespread Neotropical cats whose phylogeography reveals how rainforest history structured small felid populations. This overview surveys studies showing pronounced genetic s…

Anesthetizing large felids carries substantial physiologic risk, and monitoring of oxygenation, ventilation, heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature is essential, with pulse oximetry, capnography,…

Snow leopards are exquisitely adapted to life at high altitude in bitter cold. This overview synthesizes what is known about their dense fur, long thick tail used for balance and warmth, enlarged nasa…

The cat-human relationship has measurable physiological dimensions, and this overview surveys research probing them. It covers studies of behavioural and hormonal responses, including investigations o…

A cat external ears, or pinnae, swivel independently, and this overview reviews how this mobility sharpens sound localisation. Each pinna can rotate widely, funnelling sound and helping pinpoint a sou…

The shape of the external ear filters incoming sound in frequency-dependent ways, creating spectral cues the brain uses to judge a sound's elevation and to refine localization. This overview surveys h…

Range expansions often begin with a handful of pioneering individuals making improbable journeys into vacant habitat, and this overview examines how movement science documents these events for cats. W…

The African golden cat was historically placed in its own genus, Profelis, but molecular phylogenetics revealed it belongs to the caracal lineage, prompting reclassification. This overview explains ho…

Play is a prominent feature of cat behaviour and closely related to predation, and this overview surveys research on its forms, development and role in welfare. It examines object play that mimics hun…

Young cats engage in object and social play that is widely thought to help develop the motor patterns and coordination underlying predatory behavior. This overview surveys studies of play in kittens a…

Play is prominent in young big cats and persists in enriched captive settings, where it supports physical development and welfare. This overview surveys research on social and object play in lion, tig…

Play is a key part of the human-cat bond and an outlet for predatory motivation, and this overview surveys research on interactive and object play in companion cats. It covers how cats respond to toys…

Polydactyly, the presence of extra toes, is a common congenital trait in cats caused by dominant mutations in a limb-development regulatory region near the Sonic hedgehog gene. This overview surveys t…

Genetic tools illuminate how feral cat populations are connected, structured and sourced, informing management, and this overview surveys that research. It examines studies using molecular markers to…

Habitat loss and fragmentation increasingly isolate cat populations into small patches separated by inhospitable terrain, reducing effective population size and gene flow. This overview surveys how co…

The Canada lynx is tightly linked to boreal forests and the cyclical abundance of snowshoe hares, and its genetics reflect both high mobility and sensitivity to habitat at its southern range edge. Thi…

Although the snow leopard was traditionally treated as a single undivided species, genetic studies using noninvasive samples have proposed dividing it into several geographic subspecies or management…

Population viability analysis, PVA, uses demographic and genetic models to estimate the probability that a population will persist over a given time, helping conservationists assess risk and compare m…

Population viability analysis integrates demography, genetics and connectivity to project the persistence of small felid populations isolated by urbanisation, guiding conservation triage and intervent…

Population viability analysis estimates extinction risk by simulating a population's demography forward in time, and it is increasingly run under climate scenarios for threatened cats. This overview s…

Operant conditioning with positive reinforcement underpins modern husbandry training, allowing cats to cooperate in shifting, crating, weighing and medical procedures. This overview surveys the learni…