🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This comprehensive revision, produced by the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, synthesized morphological, molecular, and biogeographic evidence to propose a consistent, e…

Kitchener AC, Breitenmoser-Wursten C, Eizirik E, Gentry A, Werdelin L, Wilting A, et al. · Cat News Special Issue · 2017

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 study used fecal glucocorticoid monitoring to investigate why captive clouded leopards often breed poorly and show high rates of mate aggression. The authors related adrenal hormone output to hou…

Wielebnowski NC, Fletchall N, Carlstead K, Busso JM, Brown JL · Zoo Biology · 2002

This comparative study applied trait ratings to multiple felid species, including domestic cats, African lions, snow leopards, clouded leopards, and Scottish wildcats, to ask whether personality dimen…

Marieke Gartner, David Powell, Alexander Weiss · Journal of Comparative Psychology · 2014

Pregnancy rates from artificial insemination in wild cats remain modest and variable, reflecting the biological and technical challenges of the procedure. This overview surveys reported success rates…

Managing captive felid populations requires balancing genetic goals, such as retaining diversity, against demographic goals, such as maintaining stable numbers and age structure. This overview surveys…

Successful reproduction in captivity depends not only on physiology but on appropriate behavior, including mate recognition, courtship, and competent maternal care. This overview surveys how behaviora…

This overview examines clouded leopard activity, which camera-trap studies generally describe as nocturnal and crepuscular, with some daytime movement, and a strong association with forest cover at al…

This overview reviews the comparatively understudied conflict between people and smaller wild cats, including clouded leopards, in Southeast Asian forest-agriculture mosaics. It synthesises scattered…

Clouded leopards are among the most accomplished climbers of all cats, and this overview reviews the adaptations behind their arboreal skill. Like the margay, they possess highly flexible ankle joints…

Clouded leopards, both the mainland and Sunda species, are secretive, partly arboreal forest cats whose cloud-shaped coat blotches allow individual identification from camera-trap images. This overvie…

Clouded leopards possess the largest canine teeth relative to skull size of any living cat, and this overview reviews the morphology and its implications. The long upper canines and wide gape have inv…

Captive management of clouded leopards has been notably challenging, and this overview reviews research aimed at improving it. Breeding programs have struggled with mate aggression, in which males may…

Dietary information for clouded leopards, drawn from scattered observations, scat, and prey remains, indicates a broad diet spanning arboreal and terrestrial prey. This overview synthesizes records of…

Clouded leopards occupy forests from the Himalayan foothills and northeast India through Southeast Asia, with a distinct species on Borneo and Sumatra. This overview compiles records describing their…

Clouded leopards are forest-dependent cats of Southeast Asia and the Himalayan foothills whose arboreal habits tie them closely to intact forest. This overview surveys their distribution, sensitivity…

Small managed felid populations gradually lose genetic diversity through drift and the death of founders, and cryopreservation offers a way to slow this erosion. This overview surveys how banking game…

Collecting semen from nondomestic cats usually requires electroejaculation under anesthesia, a standardized technique that allows evaluation and banking of sperm. This overview surveys how electroejac…

The physical environment of an enclosure, including space, complexity, seclusion, and the ability to avoid disturbance, influences the reproductive function of captive cats. This overview surveys how…

Measuring estrogen metabolites in feces allows researchers to follow follicular development and estrus in cats without restraint or blood collection. This overview describes how fecal estrogen profile…

Measuring glucocorticoid stress hormones in feces provides a noninvasive way to assess how stress relates to reproductive function in cats. This overview surveys the use of fecal glucocorticoid monito…

The clouded leopard, long treated as a single species, was shown by genetic and morphological analysis to comprise two distinct species: the mainland clouded leopard and the Sunda clouded leopard of B…

Linking genome resource banks to studbook management ensures that banked genetics are tracked and deployed to maximize population diversity. This overview surveys how biobanked samples are recorded al…

Depositing semen directly into the oviduct or uterus via laparoscopy bypasses cervical barriers and improves the odds of fertilization in cats with limited sperm quality. This overview surveys the dev…

Captive cats often live longer than their wild counterparts, raising questions about how reproductive performance changes across an extended lifespan. This overview surveys data on longevity and repro…

Mean kinship is a central metric used to decide which captive cats should breed in order to preserve genetic diversity. This overview surveys how mean kinship, the average relatedness of an individual…

Noninvasive measurement of reproductive and stress hormones from feces and urine has transformed the study and management of felid reproduction. This overview surveys the development and application o…

Beyond tigers, Southeast Asia's oil palm expansion affects a guild of smaller cats, including leopard cat, clouded leopard, marbled cat, and flat-headed cat, with widely varying tolerance of plantatio…

Many captive cats, notably cheetahs and clouded leopards, undergo prolonged periods of ovarian inactivity in which they neither cycle nor ovulate, undermining breeding programs. This overview examines…