🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Kelly and colleagues estimated puma densities at multiple Latin American sites using camera-trap capture-recapture, confronting the challenge that pumas, unlike jaguars, have relatively uniform coats…

Marcella J. Kelly, Andrew J. Noss, Marcelo S. Di Bitetti, Leonardo Maffei, Rosario L. Arispe, et al. · Journal of Mammalogy · 2008

MacKenzie and colleagues introduced the occupancy modeling framework that revolutionized how ecologists analyze presence-absence and camera-trap detection-nondetection data. They recognized that faili…

Darryl I. MacKenzie, James D. Nichols, Gideon B. Lachman, Sam Droege, J. Andrew Royle, Catherine A. Langtimm · Ecology · 2002

This paper extended single-season occupancy modeling into a dynamic, multi-season framework capable of estimating the rates at which sites become colonized or experience local extinction, all while ac…

Darryl I. MacKenzie, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Melinda G. Knutson, Alan B. Franklin · Ecology · 2003

Jackson and colleagues adapted photographic capture-recapture to snow leopards, whose distinctive rosette and spot patterns allow individual identification. Working in the rugged high mountains of Cen…

Rodney M. Jackson, John D. Roe, Rinchen Wangchuk, Don O. Hunter · Wildlife Society Bulletin · 2006

Ullas Karanth pioneered the use of camera traps to count tigers as individually identifiable animals, recognizing that each tiger's stripe pattern is a natural, permanent mark. Working in Nagarahole,…

K. Ullas Karanth · Biological Conservation · 1995

This methodological landmark established how camera traps combined with capture-recapture statistics could yield rigorous, repeatable estimates of tiger density. Because individual tigers carry unique…

Karanth KU, Nichols JD · Ecology · 1998

Trolle and Kery produced one of the early rigorous density estimates for ocelots, applying closed-population capture-recapture to camera-trap data from the Brazilian Pantanal. Ocelots are well suited…

Mogens Trolle, Marc Kery · Journal of Mammalogy · 2003

Karanth and Nichols extended camera-trap capture-recapture into a full density-estimation framework applied across multiple Indian reserves. They combined closed-population abundance estimates from ph…

K. Ullas Karanth, James D. Nichols · Ecology · 1998

This methodological breakthrough applied camera trapping and capture-recapture statistics to estimate tiger density from the unique stripe patterns that identify individuals. By treating photographs a…

Karanth, K. U., Nichols, J. D. · Ecology · 1998

Knopff and colleagues rigorously evaluated how GPS cluster methods perform for estimating cougar predation, testing how fix interval, search protocol, and model assumptions affect inferences about kil…

Kyle H. Knopff, Aliah A. Knopff, Mark S. Boyce · The Journal of Wildlife Management · 2009

Palmer and colleagues used the extensive Snapshot Serengeti dataset to test how well camera-trap relative-abundance indices reflect true herbivore abundance, exploiting independent population informat…

Meredith S. Palmer, Alexandra Swanson, Margaret Kosmala, Todd Arnold, Craig Packer · African Journal of Ecology · 2018

Wilson and Anderson evaluated approaches for converting capture-recapture abundance into density by defining an effective trapping area, comparing boundary-strip methods such as adding a buffer based…

Kenneth R. Wilson, David R. Anderson · Journal of Mammalogy · 1985

Terio, Marker and Munson compared adrenal gland morphology and function between captive and wild cheetahs to test whether captivity imposes chronic stress. Captive cheetahs showed adrenal changes and…

Terio KA, Marker L, Munson L · Journal of Wildlife Diseases · 2004

This study tested whether competition between Canada lynx and bobcat structures their distributions at a continental scale, with implications for how warming snowpack reshuffles the two species. Lynx…

Peers, M.J.L., Thornton, D.H., Murray, D.L. · Proceedings of the Royal Society B · 2013

This study quantified variation in skull and lower-jaw shape across living and extinct cats to understand the patterns and constraints governing felid cranial evolution. Using morphometric analysis of…

Per Christiansen · PLoS ONE · 2008

This study recovered ancient DNA from extinct North American cats, including the scimitar-toothed Homotherium and the cheetah-like Miracinonyx, to test their relationships against living felids. The g…

Ross Barnett, Ian Barnes, Matthew J. Phillips, Larry D. Martin, C. Richard Harington, Jennifer A. Leonard, Alan Cooper · Current Biology · 2005

This study recovered mitochondrial genomes from the extinct scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium using ancient DNA, including a specimen from the permafrost, to place the sabertooths relative to living ca…

Johanna L. A. Paijmans, Michael Hofreiter, Ross Barnett, et al. · Current Biology · 2017

This study recovered complete mitochondrial genomes from the dirk-toothed Smilodon and the scimitar-toothed Homotherium, allowing a genetic test of how these iconic sabertooths relate to one another a…

Johanna L. A. Paijmans, Ross Barnett, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, et al. · Current Biology · 2017

This study examined lion population history using both the lions' own genetic markers and the genetic signatures of their viruses, an innovative dual approach. By analyzing host DNA alongside feline i…

Antunes A, Troyer JL, Roelke ME, et al. · PLoS Genetics · 2008

Edwards and colleagues tested whether the bond between cats and owners meets formal criteria for attachment by observing owned cats in an Ainsworth-style procedure with episodes of the owner present,…

Claudia Edwards, Marcia Heiblum, Argel Tejeda, Francisco Galindo · Journal of Veterinary Behavior · 2007

Building on long-term monitoring of pumas around Los Angeles, this study modelled how genetic and demographic factors could interact to drive small, urbanization-isolated populations toward an extinct…

Benson JF, Mahoney PJ, Vickers TW, Sikich JA, Beier P, Riley SPD, Ernest HB, Boyce WM · Ecological Applications · 2019

Building on earlier work, this study examined how urbanization-driven isolation can drive small puma populations in the Santa Monica and Santa Ana Mountains into an extinction vortex, where inbreeding…

Benson, J.F., Mahoney, P.J., Vickers, T.W., Sikich, J.A., Beier, P., Riley, S.P.D., Ernest, H.B., Boyce, W.M. · Ecological Applications · 2019

Evangelista and colleagues developed and validated a Feline Grimace Scale, a practical tool to assess acute pain in cats from facial expression. By analyzing photographs of cats in pain and after anal…

Marina C. Evangelista, Ryota Watanabe, Vivian S. Y. Leung, et al. · Scientific Reports · 2019

This study developed and validated the Feline Grimace Scale, a tool that assesses acute pain in cats by scoring facial action units such as ear position, orbital tightening, muzzle tension, whisker ch…

Evangelista MC, Watanabe R, Leung VSY, Monteiro BP, O'Toole E, Pang DSJ, Steagall PV · Scientific Reports · 2019

Mellen surveyed husbandry across many institutions holding small exotic cats and used multiple regression to identify which factors predicted breeding success. Strikingly, the strongest predictors wer…

Mellen JD · Zoo Biology · 1991

Clevenger and Waltho analyzed how the design and placement of wildlife underpasses beneath the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park affected their use by different species, drawing on one of th…

Anthony P. Clevenger, Nigel Waltho · Conservation Biology · 2000

Quirke, O'Riordan and Zuur analysed a large dataset of captive cheetahs to identify which husbandry and demographic factors predict stereotypic pacing. Variables such as enclosure features, neighbouri…

Quirke T, O'Riordan RM, Zuur A · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 2012

The carnivore volume of this reference series provides one of the most comprehensive modern species-by-species treatments of the cat family, with detailed accounts of distribution, taxonomy, and natur…

Wilson DE, Mittermeier RA (eds) · Handbook of the Mammals of the World, Vol. 1: Carnivores · 2009

Efford and Boulanger developed rapid analytical tools to evaluate and optimize camera-trap array designs for spatially explicit capture-recapture before fieldwork begins. Rather than relying on slow,…

Murray G. Efford, John Boulanger · Methods in Ecology and Evolution · 2019

This classic experiment tested whether the felid parasite Toxoplasma gondii manipulates rodent behavior to favor transmission back to its definitive cat host. The authors found that infected rats lost…

M. Berdoy, J. P. Webster, D. W. Macdonald · Proceedings of the Royal Society B · 2000