🧬 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

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 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 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

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

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…

Vocal abilities are distributed across the felid family tree in informative ways, and this overview reviews the evolution of cat vocal anatomy. Mapping hyoid structure and laryngeal features onto feli…

The redrawing of lion subspecies along a north-south axis has direct regulatory consequences under CITES and the Red List. This overview explains how the recognition of the northern subspecies Panther…

The Panthera lineage contains the roaring cats and their relatives and represents the earliest branch of the modern felid radiation. This overview surveys genetic and fossil evidence for an Asian orig…

The American lion, Panthera atrox, was one of the largest cats ever to live, roaming Pleistocene North America south of the ice sheets. This overview surveys ancient-DNA evidence indicating that the A…

The Pleistocene cave lion was a widespread Eurasian and Beringian predator, and ancient DNA has clarified how it relates to living lions. This overview summarizes genetic evidence that the cave lion,…

The ability to roar distinguishes the genus Panthera and is tied to specialized anatomy of the larynx and a flexible hyoid apparatus, while smaller cats purr instead. This overview surveys the anatomi…

The Asiatic lion of India's Gir Forest is the last surviving lion population in Asia and has long been treated as a distinct subspecies, Panthera leo persica. This overview examines its genetic status…

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…

Modern lion taxonomy recognizes two subspecies divided by a north-south axis rather than the old African-Asian split. This overview explains the arrangement: Panthera leo leo covers North, West, and C…

The roaring big cats and the purring small cats appear to form complementary groups, and this overview reviews the basis and limits of this divide. The flexible, incompletely ossified hyoid and specia…

The big cats of the genus Panthera proved historically difficult to resolve because of rapid speciation and conflicting gene trees. This study assembled a large multilocus supermatrix and applied both…

Brian W. Davis, Gang Li, William J. Murphy · Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution · 2010

Relationships among the big cats long resisted resolution because of short internal branches and conflicting markers. This study assembled a large multi-gene dataset and applied both concatenated supe…

Davis BW, Li G, Murphy WJ · Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution · 2010

Why can lions and tigers roar while domestic cats and cheetahs cannot? This comparative anatomical study examined the hyoid apparatus, the chain of bones supporting the larynx and tongue, across felid…

Gerald Weissengruber and colleagues · Journal of Anatomy · 2002

This study produced the first reference genome for the tiger and compared it with newly sequenced lion and snow leopard genomes to investigate big cat evolution and adaptation. The authors identified…

Cho YS, Hu L, Hou H, et al. · Nature Communications · 2013