🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Faced with rampant hybridization between Scottish wildcats and domestic cats, this study developed a pelage-based scoring system to distinguish genuine wildcats from hybrids and feral domestic cats. T…

Kitchener AC, Yamaguchi N, Ward JM, Macdonald DW · Animal Conservation · 2005

This study characterized the lentivirus circulating in free-ranging African lions and confirmed it as a distinct feline immunodeficiency virus lineage (FIV-Ple) related to but divergent from the domes…

E. W. Brown, N. Yuhki, C. Packer, S. J. O’Brien · Journal of Virology · 1994

Ellis and co-authors produced consensus veterinary guidelines defining the environmental needs of domestic cats, organised around five pillars: a safe place; multiple and separated key resources; oppo…

Ellis SLH, Rodan I, Carney HC, Heath S, Rochlitz I, Shearburn LD, et al · Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery · 2013

Ellis and colleagues, on behalf of the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the International Society of Feline Medicine, produced consensus guidelines defining the environmental needs of…

Sarah L. H. Ellis, Ilona Rodan, Hazel C. Carney, et al. · Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery · 2013

This study recorded meows from domestic cats across behavioural contexts and analysed their acoustic structure, also testing whether human listeners could assign calls to context. Meows were acoustica…

Nicholas Nicastro, Michael Owren · Journal of Comparative Psychology · 2003

This study examined the temperature-sensitive coloration of pointed cats, such as the Siamese and Burmese, and the rare full albino, mapping these phenotypes to variants in the tyrosinase gene that co…

Deborah L. Imes, Leslie A. Lyons, et al. · Animal Genetics · 2006

This review examined how artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, embryo transfer, and gamete cryopreservation can support the genetic and demographic management of captive felid populations.…

Swanson WF · Theriogenology · 2006

Vitale, Behnke and Udell adapted the secure base test used with infants and dogs to ask whether cats form attachment bonds with their owners. Cats experienced a brief separation from and reunion with…

Kristyn R. Vitale, Alexandra C. Behnke, Monique A. R. Udell · Current Biology · 2019

Carlstead, Brown and Strawn studied domestic cats in a laboratory setting, manipulating predictability and handling while tracking behaviour and adrenocortical activity. Cats subjected to unpredictabl…

Carlstead K, Brown JL, Strawn W · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 1993

This review summarized the reproductive physiology of the domestic cat, which serves as the principal model for understanding felid reproduction. The authors described the follicular phase and estrous…

Tsutsui T, Stabenfeldt GH · Journal of Reproduction and Fertility. Supplement · 1993

This study reported the successful cloning of an endangered small felid by somatic cell nuclear transfer using domestic cats as oocyte donors and surrogate mothers. Researchers transferred nuclei from…

Gomez MC, Pope CE, Giraldo A, Lyons LA, Harris RF, King AL, Cole A, Godke RA, Dresser BL · Cloning and Stem Cells · 2004

This widely read synthesis assembled the scientific case that free-ranging domestic cats are a significant driver of wildlife declines and a vector for zoonotic disease, while examining the contentiou…

Marra PP, Santella C · Princeton University Press · 2016

This study tested whether cats modify their behaviour according to their owner's displayed emotion, comparing happy and angry expressions. Cats showed behaviours consistent with detecting the emotiona…

Moriah Galvan, Jennifer Vonk · Animal Cognition · 2016

Galvan and Vonk investigated whether domestic cats are sensitive to their owners' emotional expressions, a capacity well documented in dogs. Cats were exposed to their owner displaying either a happy…

Moriah Galvan, Jennifer Vonk · Animal Cognition · 2016

Using a habituation-dishabituation design, researchers played domestic cats recordings of their owner's voice interspersed with strangers calling their name. Cats showed orienting responses such as ea…

Atsuko Saito, Kazutaka Shinozuka · Animal Cognition · 2013

Researchers shook opaque containers in front of cats; some rattled and some were silent, and the experimenter then tipped each to reveal whether an object fell out. Cats explored more and showed expec…

Saho Takagi and colleagues · Animal Cognition · 2016

Nicastro and Owren analyzed the acoustic structure of domestic cat meows recorded in different behavioural contexts and tested whether human listeners could classify them. They measured features such…

Nicholas Nicastro, Michael J. Owren · Journal of Comparative Psychology · 2003

This study connected the felid-shed parasite Toxoplasma gondii to deaths of threatened southern sea otters along the California coast. Because cats are the only definitive hosts that shed environmenta…

M. A. Miller, I. A. Gardner, C. Kreuder, et al. · International Journal for Parasitology · 2002

This study produced an improved domestic cat genome assembly and compared it with wildcats and other mammals to find molecular footprints of domestication. The authors identified selection signals in…

Michael J. Montague, Wesley C. Warren, Stephen J. O'Brien, et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2014

Montague and colleagues produced a high-quality domestic cat reference genome and compared it with wild felids and other mammals to find the genetic footprint of domestication. They detected selection…

Michael J. Montague, Gang Li, Barbara Gandolfi, et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2014

This study validated and applied fecal steroid hormone assays to track ovarian activity in multiple felid species without restraint or blood sampling. The authors characterized how estrogen and proges…

Brown JL, Wasser SK, Wildt DE, Graham LH · Biology of Reproduction · 1994

This review compiled what was known about reproductive hormone patterns across the cat family, drawing heavily on noninvasive fecal and urinary steroid monitoring developed for zoo animals. The author…

Brown JL · Theriogenology · 2006

This morphological study measured wildcat skulls to test whether the European, African, and Asian wildcat groups differ consistently in cranial form. Analyzing museum specimens, the authors found that…

Yamaguchi N, Driscoll CA, Kitchener AC, et al. · Biological Journal of the Linnean Society · 2004

Building on emotion research, this study asked whether cats integrate visual and auditory emotional information from both humans and other cats. Cats were presented with facial expressions and vocalis…

Serenella d'Ingeo, Angelo Quaranta and colleagues · Animals · 2020

Herbst and colleagues challenged the long-held assumption that purring requires continuous, cyclical neural commands to the laryngeal muscles. Working with excised cat larynges, they showed that simpl…

Christian T. Herbst, Tamara Prigge, Maxime Garcia, et al. · Current Biology · 2023

Saito and colleagues tested whether cats can tell their own name from similar-sounding words. Using habituation-dishabituation, cats heard a series of four nouns matched in length and accent to their…

Atsuko Saito, Kazutaka Shinozuka, Yuki Ito, Toshikazu Hasegawa · Scientific Reports · 2019

Across several experiments in homes and a cat cafe, cats were played sequences of four nouns matched in length and accent followed by their own name. Many cats habituated to the nouns but showed renew…

Atsuko Saito, Kazutaka Shinozuka, Yuki Ito, Toshikazu Hasegawa · Scientific Reports · 2019

Potter and Mills applied a modified Ainsworth Strange Situation Test to pet cats to test whether they treat owners as an attachment figure providing security. Measuring behaviours during separations a…

Alice Potter, Daniel S. Mills · PLoS ONE · 2015

Kessler and Turner investigated how stocking density and cage size affect stress in shelter and cattery cats, again using the Cat-Stress-Score. They found that very high densities raised stress, but t…

Kessler MR, Turner DC · Animal Welfare · 1999

Stella, Croney and Buffington experimentally exposed cats to unpredictable husbandry and other stressors, measuring sickness behaviours such as reduced eating, elimination outside the litter box, vomi…

Stella JL, Croney CC, Buffington CAT · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 2013