🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Across the late 19th and early 20th centuries, naturalists named dozens of felid subspecies using trinomials, often from a single skin, skull, or locality. This overview traces that era, when type spe…

This overview synthesises the full toolbox of measures used to mitigate big-cat conflict, organising them into prevention (husbandry, fortified enclosures, guard animals, deterrents, fencing, zoning),…

The classic division between cats that roar and cats that purr was long tied to the hyoid apparatus, and this overview reviews this anatomy and the nuance behind it. The roaring big cats of the genus…

The Cape lion of southern Africa, extinct since the 19th century and noted for its dark mane, was once thought to be a distinct subspecies. This overview reviews genetic studies of museum specimens th…

A persistent trafficking route moves cheetah cubs from the Horn of Africa across the Gulf of Aden to markets on the Arabian Peninsula, where they are sold as exotic pets. This overview surveys researc…

Dental radiography revolutionized feline oral care by revealing disease hidden below the gumline, including the early and subgingival stages of tooth resorption, retained roots, periodontal bone loss,…

Toxoplasma is maintained in both domestic cycles centered on house cats and sylvatic cycles driven by wild felids, and the two intersect in complex ways. This overview surveys how domestic and wild tr…

The Sunda islands once held three tiger populations, of which only the Sumatran survives; the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct. This overview examines how these island forms figure in tiger taxonomy.…

The jaguar, the only Panthera species in the Americas, occupies an informative position in big cat phylogeny. This overview explains how molecular data place the jaguar within the genus Panthera, clos…

The jaguarundi is an unusual, weasel-like small cat of the Americas whose taxonomy was clarified by molecular phylogenetics. This overview explains how genetic data placed the jaguarundi in the puma l…

The feline jaw joint is configured to permit a strong hinge-like open-and-close motion while limiting the sideways grinding seen in herbivores and omnivores. This overview reviews how the shape of the…

Familiar keepers occupy a special place in a captive animal's social environment, and the quality of the keeper-animal relationship can influence stress, cooperation and welfare. This overview surveys…

The feline killing bite is precisely targeted to the nape, where the canines wedge between cervical vertebrae to sever or crush the spinal cord. This overview surveys research on how cats achieve this…

First described in the early twentieth century from southern Africa, the king cheetah's bold blotches and stripes led some naturalists to propose it as a distinct species, Acinonyx rex. This overview…

The kodkod holds the distinction of being the smallest wild cat in the Americas, and this overview reviews the biology associated with its diminutive size. Weighing only a couple of kilograms, the spe…

Tigers are solitary and territorial, and their spacing follows a land-tenure system in which residents hold and defend areas against same-sex rivals. This overview synthesizes how female territories a…

Beyond killing prey, big cats shape ecosystems through the fear they inspire, altering where and how prey forage. This overview synthesizes research on the landscape of fear, in which the risk of pred…

The landscape-of-fear concept holds that perceived predation risk, including risk from humans acting as super-predators, reshapes where and how animals move, feed and rest. This overview synthesises e…

This overview surveys efforts to determine when and where the scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium finally disappeared on each continent. In the Americas the genus persisted into the late Pleistocene, whi…

The leopard has the widest distribution of any wild cat, occupying habitats from rainforest and savanna to desert, mountains, and the edges of cities. This overview synthesizes the ecological traits b…

The leopard cat is the most widespread small cat in Asia, occupying habitats from Siberian forests to tropical islands, and its broad range produces extensive geographic variation. This overview surve…

The leopard cat lineage of Asia includes the widespread leopard cat, the fishing cat, the flat-headed cat, and the rusty-spotted cat, along with the related Pallas's cat. This overview surveys the gen…

Leopards are traded for their skins, bones, claws, and teeth across both Asia and Africa, driven by demand for fashion, status, traditional medicine, and ceremonial use. This overview surveys research…

Growing demand for lion bones, partly as a substitute for tiger parts in traditional medicine markets, has raised concern about new pressures on wild lions. This overview surveys research and policy a…

South Africa's legal export of lion skeletons, drawn largely from its captive lion industry, created a regulated trade in lion bones destined for Asian markets, and with it a controversial conservatio…

The lion's mane is one of the most conspicuous ornaments among mammals, and research has explored what it advertises. This overview synthesizes experimental and observational work suggesting that mane…

This overview takes a deep-time perspective on the rise and fall of sabertooth cats, whose machairodont lineage flourished for more than ten million years before vanishing in the late Pleistocene. Aft…

The perennial tension between lumpers, who favor fewer broad taxa, and splitters, who recognize many fine ones, is sharply visible in cat classification. This overview examines how the debate plays ou…

The release of mature eggs in cats depends on a surge of luteinizing hormone from the pituitary, which in most species is evoked by the sensory stimulus of mating. This overview describes how the magn…

The lynx lineage comprises four species: the Eurasian lynx, the Iberian lynx, the Canada lynx, and the bobcat. This overview surveys their relationships and biogeography, explaining how molecular phyl…