🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Allonursing, the nursing of non-offspring, is best documented in lions but reported in other group-living or colonial felid contexts, including domestic cat colonies. This overview surveys research on…

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…

Cats and dogs differ in how they handle water, and this overview reviews the comparison and its roots in feline biology. Cats, descended from desert-adapted ancestors, tend to have a lower thirst driv…

Beyond purrs and roars, cats produce a rich variety of calls, and this overview reviews the laryngeal anatomy and mechanics behind them. The larynx, with its vocal folds, muscles, and cartilages, shap…

Cats handle dietary carbohydrate differently from omnivores, and this overview reviews their specialised glucose metabolism. Adapted to a low-carbohydrate, meat-based diet, cats have reduced activity…

Felids scratch trees and other surfaces and create ground scrapes that combine visual marks with scent from glands in the paws. This overview surveys research on the marking function of scratching acr…

Roughly two-thirds of domestic cats display a stereotyped response to catnip, sniffing, licking, rolling, and rubbing, triggered by the compound nepetalactone acting through the olfactory and vomerona…

The cat first digit, carried high on the inner foreleg as the dewclaw, does not touch the ground in walking but plays a role in grasping. This overview reviews its anatomy and function: a mobile, claw…