🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This study documented a devastating outbreak of canine distemper virus that killed a large fraction of the lions in the Serengeti ecosystem, demonstrating that infectious disease can cause sudden mass…

Roelke-Parker ME, Munson L, Packer C, et al. · Nature · 1996

This landmark study documented the catastrophic 1994 canine distemper virus (CDV) outbreak that killed roughly a third of the Serengeti lion population, an estimated 1,000 lions, along with leopards,…

M. Roelke-Parker, L. Munson, C. Packer, et al. · Nature · 1996

Building on the prey-preference series, Hayward, O'Brien and Kerley developed regression models that predict the density a reserve can support for each large African predator from the available biomas…

Hayward, M.W., O'Brien, J. & Kerley, G.I.H. · Biological Conservation · 2007

Radloff and Du Toit analyzed the southern African large-carnivore guild to show that a predator's body mass sets both the average and the upper limit of the prey sizes it takes. Larger predators such…

Radloff, F.G.T. & Du Toit, J.T. · Journal of Animal Ecology · 2004

Creel and Creel demonstrated that African wild dog populations are limited not by prey scarcity but by competition with lions and spotted hyenas, which kill dogs and steal their kills. Analyzing demog…

Creel, S. & Creel, N.M. · Conservation Biology · 1996

Ogada and colleagues conducted a controlled comparison of husbandry practices on Laikipia ranches in Kenya to identify which measures reduce predation by lions, leopards, hyenas, and cheetahs. By corr…

Maurice O. Ogada, Rosie Woodroffe, Nicholas O. Oguge, Laurence G. Frank · Conservation Biology · 2003

Owen-Smith and Mills assembled a detailed predation web for Kruger National Park, quantifying which predators kill which prey and in what proportions across the size spectrum. They mapped how lion, le…

Owen-Smith, N. & Mills, M.G.L. · Journal of Animal Ecology · 2008

This synthesis pulled together the individual prey-preference analyses for lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena and wild dog to quantify dietary overlap across the African large-carnivore guild. By c…

Hayward, M.W. & Kerley, G.I.H. · South African Journal of Wildlife Research · 2008

Many of the most important felid diseases, from distemper to leukemia virus to Toxoplasma, originate at the interface of domestic animals, wildlife and people, making them quintessential One Health pr…

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is a morbillivirus closely related to measles and rinderpest that has expanded its host range far beyond dogs to infect lions, tigers, leopards, hyenas, seals and many oth…

A canine distemper virus outbreak caused substantial mortality in the lions of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in the mid-1990s, a landmark event in wildlife disease ecology that demonstrated how a virus…

An overview of the quantitative tools used to predict how many large predators a reserve can sustain from its prey base, building on the prey-preference and prey-biomass approaches. These models estim…

Cognition has been studied far less in cats than in primates, birds, or dogs, but a coherent picture is emerging across the felid family. This overview synthesises research on object permanence, spati…

Because domestic dogs often act as the reservoir feeding canine distemper into wild carnivores, vaccinating dogs around protected areas has become a key conservation tool. This overview surveys the lo…

Beyond the well-known feline immunodeficiency and leukemia viruses, felid genomes carry endogenous retroviruses and other retroelements that record ancient infections. This overview surveys the spectr…

Infectious disease can cause sudden, severe declines in lion populations, as shown by canine distemper outbreaks. This overview reviews how a 1990s distemper epidemic killed a large fraction of Sereng…

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…

The last wild Asiatic lions, confined to the Gir Forest of India, form a small, genetically depleted population whose disease exposure draws particular concern. This overview surveys what is known and…

Canine distemper in the Serengeti circulates not in a single species but across a community of carnivores including domestic dogs, jackals, hyenas and big cats. This overview examines research untangl…

The concept of pathogen pollution describes the human-mediated introduction of pathogens into new host populations, a recurring driver of disease in wild felids. This overview surveys how activities s…

Rabies, an almost invariably fatal lyssavirus infection, occasionally strikes wild felids exposed through bites from infected dogs, jackals or other wildlife reservoirs. This overview surveys document…

Effective rabies control depends on surveillance that spans the carnivore community, since the virus circulates among dogs, jackals, mongooses, foxes and bat reservoirs that all interface with felids.…

A central question in distemper ecology is how a virus historically associated with dogs repeatedly jumps into cats. This overview surveys research on the molecular basis of canine distemper virus hos…

Modified-live canine distemper vaccines, while protective in dogs, have caused vaccine-induced disease when given to some nondomestic carnivores, complicating efforts to protect wild felids. This over…

Controlling rabies in its wildlife and domestic reservoirs indirectly protects wild felids that are spillover victims of the disease. This overview surveys rabies control strategies relevant to felid…

This study examined the large domestic dog population living around the Serengeti to test whether dogs sustained the canine distemper virus that spilled into lions and other carnivores. Through serosu…

S. Cleaveland, M. G. J. Appel, W. S. K. Chalmers, et al. · Veterinary Microbiology · 2000

Schaller's monograph is the foundational field study of lion ecology and one of the most thorough predator-prey investigations ever conducted. Over years in the Serengeti, he documented lion social st…

Schaller, G.B. · University of Chicago Press · 1972

Periquet, Fritz and Revilla reviewed the full breadth of interactions between lions and spotted hyenas, the two dominant large carnivores of African savannas. They synthesized evidence on kleptoparasi…

Periquet, S., Fritz, H. & Revilla, E. · Biological Reviews · 2015