🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

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

Rabinowitz and Zeller built a continental model of jaguar connectivity spanning from Mexico to Argentina, identifying the corridors linking known jaguar populations across the species' entire range. U…

Alan Rabinowitz, Kathy A. Zeller · Biological Conservation · 2010

This study documented the first confirmed natural SARS-CoV-2 infections in big cats, occurring in tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo early in the COVID-19 pandemic. After several cats developed respira…

D. McAloose, M. Laverack, L. Wang, et al. · mBio · 2020

This study analyzed genomes across the genus Panthera and found pervasive evidence of ancient gene flow among the big-cat lineages, demonstrating that their evolution was reticulate rather than strict…

Henrique V. Figueiro, Eduardo Eizirik, et al. · Science Advances · 2017

This genomic study sequenced multiple Panthera species and found pervasive evidence that gene flow between lineages, not just simple branching, shaped big cat evolution. The authors detected introgres…

Figueiro HV, Li G, Trindade FJ, et al. · Science Advances · 2017

This study described Panthera blytheae, a newly recognized fossil cat from the Tibetan Himalaya that represents the oldest known member of the pantherine lineage, the group containing all living big c…

Z. Jack Tseng, Xiaoming Wang, Graham J. Slater, Gary T. Takeuchi, Qiang Li, Juan Liu, Guangpu Xie · Proceedings of the Royal Society B · 2014

This study combined ancient and modern mitochondrial DNA to reconstruct the lion's maternal history, including extinct populations such as the Barbary and Cape lions. The authors used a spatially expl…

Barnett R, Yamaguchi N, Shapiro B, et al. · BMC Evolutionary Biology · 2014

An early molecular study of the big cats that used mitochondrial 12S rRNA and cytochrome b sequences to probe relationships within the Panthera group. This work was among the first to apply DNA sequen…

Janczewski DN, Modi WS, Stephens JC, O'Brien SJ · Molecular Biology and Evolution · 1995

This study described Panthera zdanskyi, an exceptionally complete fossil cat skull from northwestern China that illuminates the early evolution of the tiger lineage. Dated to the Pliocene, the specime…

Ji H. Mazak, Per Christiansen, Andrew C. Kitchener · PLoS ONE · 2011

This study used genome-scale data to reconstruct felid relationships and uncovered widespread evidence that hybridization shaped cat evolution. By comparing many independent genomic regions, the autho…

Li G, Davis BW, Eizirik E, Murphy WJ · Genome Research · 2016

This study used mitochondrial and nuclear markers across the lion's range to map genetic structure and found a deep division between northern lions (West and Central Africa plus Asia) and southern lio…

Bertola LD, Jongbloed H, van der Gaag KJ, et al. · Scientific Reports · 2016

This study analyzed mitochondrial and microsatellite variation across the jaguar's range from Mexico to Argentina and found relatively shallow genetic structure with no support for the many traditiona…

Eizirik E, Kim JH, Menotti-Raymond M, et al. · Molecular Ecology · 2001

This study analyzed mitochondrial and microsatellite markers from tigers across their range and provided the first comprehensive molecular framework supporting multiple traditional subspecies. The aut…

Luo SJ, Kim JH, Johnson WE, et al. · PLoS Biology · 2004

This study used ancient and modern DNA to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships and population history of lions, including the extinct American lion and Eurasian cave lion. The genetic data resol…

Ross Barnett, Beth Shapiro, Ian Barnes, Simon Y. W. Ho, Joachim Burger, Nobuyuki Yamaguchi, et al. · Molecular Ecology · 2009

This study argued that tigers are best treated as just two subspecies, a continental form and a Sunda-island form, rather than the traditional six or nine. Reanalyzing morphological, ecological, molec…

Wilting A, Courtiol A, Christiansen P, et al. · Science Advances · 2015

This contribution to the Hayward prey-preference series quantified leopard diet selectivity across Africa and Asia using kill records weighted by prey abundance. Leopards showed a preferred prey weigh…

Hayward, M.W., Henschel, P., O'Brien, J., Hofmeyr, M., Balme, G. & Kerley, G.I.H. · Journal of Zoology · 2006

A foundational quantitative analysis of what lions actually select to kill versus what is merely available. Hayward and Kerley compiled prey records from across Africa and weighted them against prey a…

Hayward, M.W. & Kerley, G.I.H. · Journal of Zoology · 2005

Applying the prey-preference framework to high-mountain Asia, Lyngdoh and colleagues compiled snow leopard diet records across the species' range and weighted them by prey availability. They found sno…

Lyngdoh, S. et al. · PLOS ONE · 2014

Extending the prey-preference framework to Asia's largest cat, Hayward and colleagues compiled tiger kill records across the species' range and weighted them against prey availability. Tigers showed a…

Hayward, M.W., Jedrzejewski, W. & Jedrzejewska, B. · Journal of Zoology · 2012

This work measured carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in bone collagen from Rancho La Brea mammals, including the predators Smilodon and Panthera atrox alongside their herbivore prey. The isotopic si…

Joan Brenner Coltrain, John M. Harris, Thure E. Cerling, James R. Ehleringer, et al. · Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology · 2004

This overview describes Natural Trap Cave in Wyoming, a deep sinkhole that acted as a pitfall for Pleistocene animals and accumulated a rich fossil assemblage including the American lion, the cheetah-…

This overview surveys Panthera gombaszoegensis, an extinct big cat of the Pleistocene of Europe and western Asia often nicknamed the European jaguar because of similarities to the living jaguar. Known…

This overview surveys Panthera palaeosinensis, an early pantherine from the Pliocene of China that has figured prominently in debates about the origins of big cats. Known from cranial and dental mater…

This overview surveys the taxonomy of the Eurasian cave lion and its immediate ancestors. The classic Late Pleistocene cave lion is usually called Panthera spelaea, while larger, earlier Middle Pleist…

This overview surveys Styriofelis and related small Miocene cats, sometimes also referred to under names such as Miopanthera, that are placed near the base of the Felinae following the breakup of the…

The cave lion, Panthera spelaea, ranged across Ice Age Eurasia and Beringia and is known from abundant remains and even mummified cubs preserved in permafrost. This overview surveys ancient-DNA studie…

Genomic studies have revealed that cat evolution is not a clean branching tree but a network shaped by repeated hybridization. This overview synthesizes evidence that lineages within Panthera and else…

Molecular studies consistently show that African leopards, despite occupying a vast and varied continent, harbor relatively shallow genetic structure compared with the deep splits separating Asian for…

This overview surveys what skeletal evidence reveals about the body size of the cave lion and the degree of size difference between the sexes. Panthera spelaea was a large cat, generally exceeding the…

This overview examines the body size of Panthera atrox, frequently cited as one of the largest cats ever to have lived. Reconstructions based on its robust skeleton suggest it exceeded the modern Afri…