Wildcat

This article is about the Old World wildcat. For other meanings of wild cat and wildcat, see Wildcat (disambiguation).

Wildcat
European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris)
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Felidae
Genus:	Felis
Species:	F. silvestris
Binomial name
Felis silvestris Schreber, 1775
subspecies
See text
The five subspecies of Felis silvestris according to a 2007 DNA study.

The wildcat (Felis silvestris) is a small cat (Felinae) native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa. It is a hunter of small mammals, birds, and other creatures of a similar or smaller size. There are several subspecies distributed in different regions of the world. Sometimes included is the ubiquitous domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus), which has been introduced to every habitable continent and most of the world's larger islands, and has become feral in many of those environments.

In its native environment, the wildcat is adaptable to a variety of habitat types: savanna, open forest, and steppe. Although domesticated breeds show a great variety of shapes and colors, wild species are medium-brown with black stripes, between 45 and 80 cm (18–32 inches) in length, and weigh between 3 and 8 kilograms (6–17.6 pounds). Shoulder height averages about 35 cm (14 in) and tail length is about 30 cm (12 in). The African subspecies tends to be a little smaller and a lighter brown in color.

The wildcat is extremely wary of humans. It avoids approaching human settlements. It lives in solitude and holds a territory of about 3 km².

A study by the National Cancer Institute suggests that all current house cats in the world are descendants from a group of self-domesticating wildcats 10,000 years ago, somewhere in the Near East. It is believed that this domestication occurred when the Agricultural Revolution yielded grain, which would be stored in granaries, that attracted rodents, which in turn attracted cats. The closest relative of the wildcat is the Sand Cat (Felis margarita).

Diet

The wildcat is predominantly a carnivore; insects and plants are unimportant parts of its diet. Most of its prey is small mammals, mainly rodents and rabbits, with lizards being the third most common prey in Portugal, and birds the least common.

Status

The main threats to the survival of this species are hybridization with domestic cats, disease transmission, and competition with feral domestic cats. Other significant threats are ongoing habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation in some areas (although in some other parts of Europe forest cover is increasing, as a result of abandonment of extensive agricultural land). Road kills and, in some areas, persecution are also problems.

The main central European population is in the Eiffel mountains of Germany. There have been reintroduction efforts in Southern Germany. The European Association of Zoos and Aquarius (EAZA) is trying to establish a European studbook for the species, which would contain data on the captive population in its member institutions. The wildcat is part of the EAZA European Carnivore Campaign [1], running from 2008–2010, with the goal of furthering the acceptance for living together with carnivores and ultimately supporting various field projects in Europe on each of the sixteen chosen species.

Subspecies

African wild cat at the Johannesburg Zoo

According to a 2007 DNA analysis, there are only 5 subspecies:

• Felis silvestris silvestris (Europe and Turkey).
• Felis silvestris lybica (North Africa, Middle East and Western Asia, to the Aral Sea).
  • Felis silvestris catus (Domestic Cat, Worldwide).
• Felis silvestris cafra (Southern Africa).
• Felis silvestris ornata (Pakistan, northwestern India, Mongolia and northern China).
• Felis silvestris bieti (China).

Older texts separated out many more subspecies:

• African subspecies
  • Felis silvestris cafra (Southern Africa)
  • Felis silvestris foxi (West Africa)
  • Felis silvestris griselda (Central Africa)
  • Felis silvestris lybica African wildcat (North Africa)
  • Felis silvestris ocreata (East Central Africa)
  • Felis silvestris mellandi (West Central Africa)

• Asian subspecies
  • Felis silvestris caudata (Caspian Sea area)
  • Felis silvestris ornata Indian desert cat (India to Iran)
  • Felis silvestris bieti Chinese mountain cat (possible subspecies)

• European subspecies
  • Felis silvestris cretensis (Crete) (extinct, though some sightings have been reported).
  • Felis silvestris caucasica Caucasian wildcat (Caucasus Mountains and Turkey)
  • Felis silvestris grampia Scottish wildcat (northern and western Scotland)
  • Felis silvestris jordansi Balearic wildcat (Balearic Islands)
  • Felis silvestris reyi Corsican wildcat (Corsica) (Possibly Extinct)
  • Felis silvestris silvestris European wildcat (Europe)

Felis silvestris gordoni at the Zoo Olomouc, Czech Republic

• Unknown distribution:
  • Felis silvestris chutuchta
  • Felis silvestris gordoni
  • Felis silvestris haussa
  • Felis silvestris iraki
  • Felis silvestris nesterovi
  • Felis silvestris rubida
  • Felis silvestris tristrami
  • Felis silvestris ugandae
  • Felis silvestris vellerosa

External links

• IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group - Cat Species Information
• Save China's Tigers to Fund Wild Cat Conservation Worldwide
• Digimorph.org: 3D computed tomographic (CT) animations of male and female African wild cat skulls
• Scottish Wildcat (Scottish Tiger)
  • Scottish Wildcat Association charitable organisation with the aim of conserving the unique Scottish wildcat in the Cairngorms National Park
  • Highland Tiger: The Scottish Wildcat Wild Media Foundation for The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland & Cairngorms National Park
  • Cairngorms Wildcat Project Edinburgh Zoo operated by The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland