🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

After a sufficient mating stimulus, the time from the luteinizing hormone surge to actual egg release follows a characteristic interval that determines the optimal window for fertilization. This overv…

After fire, vegetation regrows through successional stages that determine when and how prey and predators return. This overview surveys how post-fire recovery shapes habitat quality for cats, the flus…

Recovering viable gametes from animals shortly after death allows valuable genetics to be salvaged that would otherwise be lost. This overview surveys post-mortem gamete rescue in felids, including th…

Ultra-potent opioids such as thiafentanil and related compounds have been used in some wildlife immobilization protocols because their high potency allows effective dosing in tiny dart volumes and the…

This overview examines how poverty and social vulnerability concentrate the costs of big-cat conflict on those least able to bear them. It synthesises evidence that the poorest, most forest- or rangel…

Designing a camera-trap study to reliably answer its question requires anticipating whether the planned effort will yield enough data for adequate statistical power, the ability to detect a real effec…

A survey of how felids exploit the seasonal pulse of newborn ungulates, a period of high vulnerability that can dominate annual recruitment losses. During calving and fawning seasons, abundant, hidden…

Cheetah cubs face exceptionally high mortality before independence, with predation by larger carnivores being the dominant cause in open habitats. This overview surveys evidence that lions and spotted…

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…

Reducing livestock losses is central to securing snow leopards, and predator-proof corrals are among the most effective tools. This overview synthesizes research and program experience showing that re…

Reinforcing the enclosures, or bomas, where livestock are kept at night is among the most direct ways to reduce predation by lions, leopards, and other cats, and thereby retaliatory killing. This over…

This overview reviews efforts to reinforce nighttime livestock corrals across snow leopard range to prevent the catastrophic multiple-kill events that occur when a cat enters an open pen and kills man…

Play, especially object play that mimics hunting, is both an indicator and a contributor to good welfare in cats, and its absence can signal stress or poor environments. This overview surveys research…

A survey of the strong, general relationship between the abundance of prey and the density of the carnivores that depend on them, a cornerstone of predator ecology. Across species and systems, predato…

Researchers have applied predictive modelling and machine learning to anti-poaching, using past patrol and poaching data to forecast where illegal activity is most likely and to optimize where rangers…

This overview reviews the use of statistical and machine-learning models to build predictive risk maps that forecast where big-cat conflict is likely, rather than only describing past incidents. It sy…

Studies of feline diabetic remission have sought to identify which cats are most likely to achieve insulin independence, with factors such as shorter duration of disease before treatment, prompt achie…

Accurately confirming and dating pregnancy in cats supports both clinical care and reproductive research. This overview surveys methods used to diagnose feline pregnancy, including abdominal palpation…

Managers use prescribed fire to shape vegetation, reduce fuel loads, and create habitat conditions that benefit wildlife, including the prey of cats. This overview surveys how planned burning maintain…

Modern zoos run structured preventive medicine programs for captive felids encompassing routine health monitoring, parasite control, vaccination, nutritional management, dental care, and increasingly…

The abundance of big cats is governed largely from the bottom up by the biomass of their prey. This overview synthesizes the strong, repeatedly demonstrated relationship between ungulate prey density…

This overview explores the ecological backdrop to the 1898 Tsavo man-eating events, emphasising the late-nineteenth-century rinderpest panzootic that devastated wild ungulates and pastoralist cattle a…

The Asiatic cheetah depends on wild ungulates such as gazelle, wild sheep, and wild goat, whose populations have been depleted across central Iran by poaching, livestock competition, and habitat degra…

The number of snow leopards a mountain landscape can hold is set largely by the abundance of wild ungulate prey. This overview synthesizes research linking the density of blue sheep, ibex, and argali…

A survey of the minimum prey abundance large cats need to maintain viable populations and why prey depletion is a leading cause of felid decline. Because predator density scales with prey biomass, the…

Even where forest remains standing, jaguars can decline if their prey is hunted out, a phenomenon known as empty forest or defaunation that interacts with habitat and climate change. This overview sur…

Many structurally intact Asian forests now hold few or no tigers because their prey has been hunted out, a phenomenon known as the empty forest syndrome. This overview synthesizes evidence that unsust…

Many forests across tiger range remain structurally intact yet hold few or no tigers because their large prey have been hunted out, a condition often called the empty forest syndrome. This overview su…

An overview of how the loss of large ungulate prey to human hunting hollows out tiger habitat even where forest cover remains, producing empty forests that cannot support tigers. Because tigers requir…