🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This study documented a devastating outbreak of canine distemper virus that killed a large fraction of the lions in the Serengeti ecosystem, demonstrating that infectious disease can cause sudden mass…

Roelke-Parker ME, Munson L, Packer C, et al. · Nature · 1996

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 uncovered a general relationship between the population density of carnivores and the availability of their prey, showing that across species roughly the same amount of prey biomass support…

Carbone, C., Gittleman, J. L. · Science · 2002

Carbone and Gittleman derived a simple, general rule linking carnivore population density to the productivity of the prey base, showing across species that roughly the same amount of prey biomass supp…

Carbone, C. & Gittleman, J.L. · Science · 2002

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

This study used DNA markers to measure relatedness within and between lion coalitions and prides, testing whether cooperation tracks genetic kinship. It confirmed that companion females within a pride…

Packer, C., Gilbert, D. A., Pusey, A. E., O'Brien, S. J. · Nature · 1991

Hosey proposed a conceptual model of how relationships form between zoo animals and the humans around them, distinguishing the effects of unfamiliar visitors from those of familiar keepers. He argued…

Hosey GR · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 2008

This influential analysis of long-term Serengeti and Ngorongoro data examined how female lions respond to the takeover of their pride by new males, an event that typically triggers infanticide of depe…

Packer C, Pusey AE · The American Naturalist · 1983

This study applied multilocus DNA fingerprinting to wild Serengeti and Ngorongoro lions to resolve parentage and quantify relatedness within prides and male coalitions. By matching cubs to candidate s…

Gilbert DA, Packer C, Pusey AE, Stephens JC, O'Brien SJ · Journal of Heredity · 1991

Mellen and Ellis authored a foundational book chapter explaining how learning theory underpins husbandry training in zoos. They described how operant conditioning with positive reinforcement can train…

Mellen JD, Ellis S · Wild Mammals in Captivity (University of Chicago Press) · 1996

Miller and colleagues proposed that the diversity of behaviours an animal performs, not just the presence or absence of specific behaviours, can serve as an indicator of positive welfare, with higher…

Miller LJ, Vicino GA, Sheftel J, Lauderdale LK · Animals · 2020

Watters, Margulis and Atsalis advocated systematic, ongoing behavioural monitoring of individual zoo animals as a foundation for evidence-based husbandry. They described how regularly recording behavi…

Watters JV, Margulis SW, Atsalis S · Zoo Biology · 2009

This influential comparative study estimated bite forces across a broad range of living and extinct mammalian carnivores using dry-skull dissection methods and lever modelling, then scaled the results…

Wroe, S.; McHenry, C.; Thomason, J. · Proceedings of the Royal Society B · 2005

Clubb and Mason analysed comparative data across 35 carnivore species to ask why some thrive in zoos while others pace and breed poorly. They found that wide-ranging species with large natural home ra…

Clubb R, Mason G · Nature · 2003

Building on the prey-preference series, Hayward, O'Brien and Kerley developed regression models that predict the density a reserve can support for each large African predator from the available biomas…

Hayward, M.W., O'Brien, J. & Kerley, G.I.H. · Biological Conservation · 2007

This study resolved a long-standing puzzle: why the 1994 Serengeti CDV epidemic was lethal while earlier CDV exposures left lions seropositive but alive. By integrating decades of serology, climate re…

L. Munson, K. A. Terio, R. Kock, et al. · PLoS ONE · 2008

Lionesses in a pride synchronise births and raise cubs in a communal creche, and this study examined how milk is shared. Mothers nursed their own cubs preferentially but tolerated suckling by related…

Anne Pusey, Craig Packer · Behavioral Ecology · 1994

Skibiel, Trevino and Naugher systematically compared categories of enrichment, including food-based items, spices and scents, and novel objects, for captive cats to see which most effectively boosted…

Skibiel AL, Trevino HS, Naugher K · Zoo Biology · 2007

Durant tested how subordinate cheetahs persist alongside dominant lions and hyenas in the Serengeti, proposing that they exploit competition refuges, places and times where the risk of encountering do…

Durant, S.M. · Journal of Animal Ecology · 1998

Trinkel and Kastberger quantified the contest over carcasses between lions and spotted hyenas in Namibia's Etosha National Park, where prey is comparatively scarce. They recorded how the outcome of co…

Trinkel, M. & Kastberger, G. · African Journal of Ecology · 2005

Using simulated intrusions, this study examined how lionesses behave when their pride must repel rivals. Individuals differed consistently: some females reliably led the advance toward broadcast roars…

Robert Heinsohn, Craig Packer · Science · 1995

Using playback experiments that simulated intruding roars, this study revealed that female lions vary in how readily they approach a threat, with consistent leaders and laggards within a pride. Some i…

Heinsohn, R., Packer, C. · Science · 1995

Dickman argued that human-wildlife conflict is often misdiagnosed as a simple problem of animal damage when its roots and intensity are deeply social, shaped by attitudes, cultural values, historical…

Amy J. Dickman · Animal Conservation · 2010

This analysis compared the performance and economics of fenced versus unfenced lion reserves across Africa. The authors found that fenced reserves maintained lion populations much closer to their pote…

Packer C, Loveridge A, Canney S, et al. · Ecology Letters · 2013

Male lions hold tenure over prides in coalitions, and this study used genetic and behavioural data to show how coalition size and kinship shape reproductive sharing. Small coalitions were composed of…

Jon Grinnell, Craig Packer, Anne Pusey · Animal Behaviour · 1995

Yeakel and colleagues applied stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to bone collagen and hair keratin from the two 1898 Tsavo man-eating lions held at the Field Museum. By comparing isotopic sig…

Justin D. Yeakel, Bruce D. Patterson, et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2009

This study examined how male lions in coalitions share access to receptive females and defend their prides. By combining behavioral observation with knowledge of relatedness, the authors found that co…

Grinnell, J., Packer, C., Pusey, A. E. · Animal Behaviour · 1995

Observing lions hunting in Etosha, this study showed that lionesses occupy consistent stalking positions, with some individuals reliably acting as left or right wings that circle prey while others wai…

Stander, P. E. · Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 1992

Stander's study in Namibia's Etosha provided rare evidence of role differentiation in lion cooperative hunting. By watching repeated hunts, he showed that individual lionesses consistently occupied pa…

Stander, P.E. · Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 1992

Donadio and Buskirk tested what predicts the intensity of interactions among carnivores, including both killing and avoidance. Analyzing a broad dataset, they found that intraguild predation and aggre…

Donadio, E. & Buskirk, S.W. · The American Naturalist · 2006