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European wildcat

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European wildcat
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Carnivora
Family:
Felidae
Genus:
Felis
Species:
F. silvestris
Subspecies:
F. s. silvestris
Trinomial name
Felis silvestris silvestris[1]
Schreber, 1777
Approximate European wildcat range within Europe (excluding the Asian part of Turkey and the Caucasus)
Felis silvestris range within Europe.[2]
A European wildcat photographed in a German game park.

The European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) is a subspecies of the wildcat that inhabits European forests, as well as forested areas in Turkey and the Caucasus Mountains. It is absent in Scandinavia, and has been extirpated in England and Wales. Numbers in Scotland are critically low.[3]

In France, European wildcats are predominantly nocturnal, but are also active in the daytime when undisturbed by human activities.[4][5]

Populations in Scotland, the Mediterranean islands, Turkey, and Caucasus used to be considered separate wildcat subspecies and distinct from wildcats occurring on the European mainland.[1]

Characteristics

Closeup of head, Germany

The European wildcat is much bigger and stouter than the domestic cat, has longer pelage and a shorter non-tapering bushy tail. It has a striped fur and a dark dorsal band.[6] Males average a weight of 5 kg (11 lb) up to 8 kg (18 lb), and females 3.5 kg (7.7 lb). Their weight fluctuates seasonally up to 2.5 kg (5.5 lb).[7]

Large males in Spain reach 65 cm (26 in) in length, with a 34.5 cm (13.6 in) long tail, and weigh up to 7.5 kg (17 lb). They also have a less diffuse stripe pattern, proportionally larger teeth, and feed more often on rabbits than the wildcats north of the Douro-Ebro, which are more dependent on small rodents.[8]

Since European wildcats and domestic cats interbreed, it is difficult to distinguish European wildcats and striped hybrids correctly on the basis of only morphological characters.[9]

Distribution and habitat

European wildcats live primarily in broad-leaved and mixed forests. They avoid intensively cultivated areas and settlements.[10] The northernmost population lives in northern and eastern Scotland.[11] There are two disconnected populations in France. The one in the Ardennes in the country's north-east extends to Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium. The other in southern France may be connected via the Pyrenees to populations in Spain and Portugal.[12] In Germany, the Rhine is a major barrier between the population in Eifel and Hunsrück mountains west of the river and populations east of the river, where a six-lane highway hampers dispersal.[13] The population in the Polish Carpathian Mountains extends to northern Slovakia and western Ukraine.[14][15] In Switzerland, wildcats are present in the Jura Mountains.[16] Three fragmented populations in Italy comprise one in the country's central and southern part, one in the eastern Alps that may be connected to populations in Slovenia and Croatia. The Sicilian population is the only Mediterranean insular population that has not been introduced.[17]

Evolution

In European Pleistocene deposits, remains of small cats are not common, and indicate a close relationship to the European wildcat.[18]

Threats

In most European countries, European wildcats have become rare. Although legally protected, they are still shot by people mistaking them for feral cats. In the Scottish Highlands, where approximately 400 were thought to remain in the wild in 2004, interbreeding with feral cats is a significant threat to the wild population's distinctiveness.[19] The greatest population of wildcats lives in Spain and Portugal but is threatened by interbreeding with feral cats and loss of habitat.[20][21] In the 1990s, the easternmost population in Ukraine, Moldova, and the Caucasus was threatened by destruction of broad-leaved forests, entailing a reduction of their range. Only small numbers occur in protected areas.[22]

Conservation efforts

In Scotland

Distribution of five Felis silvestris subspecies recognised by a 2007 DNA study.[23] The dark blue areas in Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus show the current distribution of the European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris), while the lighter blue areas in Europe show the regions where it has become extinct.

The main threats to wildcats in Scotland are:[24]

  • Hybridisation with domestic cats. Non-neutered feral cats, farm cats and pet cats can produce fertile offspring with wildcats.
  • Disease. Local populations of unvaccinated cats can spread feline diseases to wildcats.
  • Accidental Persecution. Control of feral cats is important for the conservation of wildcats, but where this is carried out for protection of game birds it can involve lamping. Lamping does not make it possible to differentiate a wildcat from a domestic cat, and as such wildcats can be accidentally persecuted.

There are two major projects to conserve the wildcat in Scotland, Wildcat Haven run by the Scottish Wildcat Association[25] focussing on the Ardnamurchan and Moidart peninsuilas, and Scottish Wildcat Action supported by the Scottish Government and lottery funding.[26] Both projects are focussed on surveying for wildcats, operating schemes to trap, neuter, vaccinate and release domestic cats, and educating local land managers on wildcat-sensitive

Scottish Wildcat Association

The Scottish Wildcat Association is a charity founded in 2008 by filmmaker Steve Piper with the aims of conserving the Scottish wildcat.[27]

In 2012, conservationists reported to have discovered a previously unknown population of Scottish wildcats in the Cairngorms National Park. They are still threatened because of crossbreeding with domestic and feral cats. The scientists reported 465 potential sightings.[28][29][30] In response, the Scottish Wildcat Association disputed the claims, stating in their website, social networks, and press interviews that the sightings were defined as hybrid crossbreeds by leading experts, and that the wildcat population was likely well below 100 individuals.[31]

In September 2012, following a review of 2,000 records including camera trapping photographs, sighting reports, and road kills, the Scottish Wildcat Association warned that Scottish wildcats could be extinct within a short time, because only 35 pure wildcats survive in the wild.[32] A severe reduction of rabbit populations due to myxomatosis has hastened the wildcat's decline.[33] In 2013, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland encouraged collection of biological material, but considered cloning as an option only after "all other avenues have been exhausted".[34]

Wildcat Haven

Wildcat Haven is a project run by the Scottish Wildcat Association to initially secure an area for wildcat conservation on the Ardnamurchan and Moidart peninsulas, eventually extending to the entire West Highlands of Scotland.[35]

In September 2013, the Aspinall Foundation announced plans to develop an in-situ captive breeding centre on the island of Càrna, off the west coast of Scotland at Ardnamurchan.[36] The Scottish Wildcat Association had developed the Wildcat Haven project on this peninsula to identify pure Scottish wildcats and neuter feral cats, using a genetic test to identify hybridisation in Scottish wildcats.[37][38]

In July 2014, the Wildcat Haven project announced the successful neutering of feral and hybrid cats across 250 sq mi (650 km2) of the West Highlands, creating a protected zone for the Scottish wildcat.[39][40]

In September 2015, Wildcat Haven began selling one square foot plots of land with souvenir titles to raise funds.[41] The fundraising scheme was criticised as it is not possible under Scottish law and the land ownership does not actually change to the buyer.[42][43]

Scottish Wildcat Action

In 2013, SNH announced a new wildcat action plan taking a pragmatic approach to conserve wildcats.[44] Scottish Wildcat Action is a partnership project uniting experts from twenty different organisations to conserve the Scottish wildcat.[45][46]

The founder and former chairman of the Scottish Wildcat Association considered the approach a "shameful effort" that would force the Scottish wildcat into extinction. The criticism was based on potential use of a relaxed definition for a wildcat to include some hybrids, particularly where pure-bred wildcats were not available.[47][48][49] The Scottish Wildcat Association left the action plan project in 2013 over these concerns, focussing on their Wildcat Haven project.[50]

The actions to be undertaken in the action plan are: [51]

  • Identify at least five priority areas for wildcat conservation through survey and local liason. In 2014, Scottish Wildcat Action announced six priority areas for wildcat conservation based on a scoping report commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage. The priority areas are at Morvern, Strathpeffer, Strathbogie, Strathavon, Northern Strathspey and the Angus Glens.[52][53]
  • Take forward conservation work in these areas, by reducing the risks from local cat populations, promoting responsible cat ownership and land management.
  • Take forward work to underpin a wider conservation plan, including a captive breeding programme, research hybridisation, improve monitoring and reporting techniques and ensure protection of wildcats from future land use changes.

From the end of 2015, Scottish Wildcat Action begin the first of five winter 60-day surveys starts, using camera traps with dead birds and salmon oil bait along with velcro hair collectors to sample the DNA and appearance of all cats in the priority areas.[54][55]. Trapping and neutering of feral cats by volunteers will be carried out from Spring 2016.[56]

By 2019, Scottish Wildcat Action aims to have preserved local wildcat populations in at least five areas, have a better understanding of numbers, genetics and hybridisation and have greater local awareness of threats to wildcats. They also aim for responsible cat ownership to be widely adopted in priority areas, reduced risk of accidental persecution and to have a better understanding of land management factors that affect wildcat populations.[57]

Taxonomy

European Wildcat in a zoo in Děčín, Czech Republic

Many authorities restrict the subspecies F. s. silvestris to the populations of the European mainland. As per the old classification that considered several different subspecies, the small population of Scottish wildcats is F. s. grampia, the Caucasian wildcat (also including wildcats in Turkey) is F. s. caucasica, the possibly extinct Crete wildcat is F. s. cretensis, the Balearic wildcat is F. s. jordansi, and the possibly extinct Corsican wildcat is F. s. reyi.[1] But in 2007, a genetic study suggested that the European wildcat populations, including those in Sicily, Anatolia, and the Caucasus Mountains belong to this subspecies as well; on the other hand, populations in Corsica, Sardinia, Crete, and Cyprus turned out to be introduced African wildcats.[23]

Two different forms often are identified in the Iberian Peninsula: the common European form, north of the Douro and Ebro Rivers, and a "giant" Iberian form, sometimes considered a different subspecies F. s. tartessia, in the rest of the region.[58] The palaeontologist Björn Kurtén noted that the disputed "Tartessian" subspecies has uniquely kept the same size and proportions as the form that was found throughout mainland Europe during the Ice Ages of the Pleistocene.[18] The habitat of both forms also is different: the northern silvestris lives mainly in deciduous Quercus robur forests and the southern tartessia in Mediterranean evergreen Quercus ilex forests.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 536–537. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ^ IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) 2015. Felis silvestris. In: IUCN 2015. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.2. http://www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 01 September 2015.
  3. ^ Template:IUCN
  4. ^ Stahl, P. (1986). [The European forest wildcat (Felis silvestris Schreber, 1777): resource exploitation and spatial organization.] PhD thesis, University of Nancy, Nancy.
  5. ^ Genovesi, P. and Boitani, L. (1993). "Spacing patterns and activity rhythms of a wildcat (Felis silvestris) in Italy". Pp. 98–101 in: Seminar on the biology and conservation of the wildcat (Felis silvestris), Nancy, France, 23–25 September 1992. Environmental encounters No. 16, Strasbourg. Council of Europe
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  24. ^ http://www.scottishwildcataction.org/about-wildcats/top-3-threats-to-wildcat-survival/
  25. ^ https://www.wildcathaven.com/
  26. ^ http://www.scottishwildcataction.org/
  27. ^ http://www.scottishwildcats.co.uk/
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