Wildcat
Fast facts
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Genus
- Felis
Felis is a genus of small cats in the family Felidae. They include the familiar domestic cat and its closest wild relatives. The wild species are found in Europe, southern and central Asia, and Africa. The domestic cat, which may have its origin in North Africa, is now worldwide.
Members of the genus Felis are all small felines, rather similar to the domestic cat. The smallest species is the sand cat, which may be less than 40 centimetres (16 in) in length, while the largest is the jungle cat, which can reach 94 centimetres (37 in). They live in many habitats: forests, grassland, swampland and deserts. They mostly feed on small rodents, supplementing their diet with birds and other small animals, depending on their local environment.
Genetic studies indicate that the genus Felis first evolved around eight to ten million years ago, probably in the Mediterranean region.
Species
The genus Felis is currently considered to consist of six living species, although the domestic cat and Chinese mountain cat are sometimes considered subspecies of F. silvestris.
- Felis chaus (Schreber, 1777) – Jungle cat
- Felis margarita (Loche, 1858) – Sand cat
- Felis nigripes (Burchell, 1824) – Black-footed cat
- Felis silvestris (Schreber, 1775) – European wildcat
- Felis lybica (Georg Forster, 1780) — African wildcat
- Felis catus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Domestic cat (sometimes Felis silvestris catus)
- Felis bieti (Milne-Edwards, 1892) – Chinese mountain cat
- Felis attica (Wagner, 1857) – (extinct)
- Felis lunensis (Martelli, 1906) – Martelli’s cat (extinct)
Other small cats
Small cats are those smaller than the cheetah. These are small cats classified under other genera than Felis:
- Caracal: western and south Asia and Africa
- Leopardus: the small cats of the Americas, such as the Margay and the Ocelot
- Leptailurus: the Serval, southern Africa
- Lynx: Eurasia
- Pardofelis: southeast Asia
- Prionailurus: Asia
- Profelis: African golden cat, rainforests only
Written for younger readers
Wildcat, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: Big Cats
NOTOC
Wild cats, which still roam the wilds, are the ancestors of the domestic cats that live in our homes. There are three different types: the European, African (or Desert), and Asiatic Wild Cat (sometimes called Asian Steppe Wild Cat or Indian Desert Cat).
The European Wild Cat lives in forests of Western, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in Scotland and Turkey; it is not found in Scandinavia, Iceland, England, Wales, or Ireland. The African Wild Cat is found in deserts and savannas of Africa and the Arabian peninsula. The Asiatic Wild Cat primarily inhabits the scrub desert of Central Asia. It is commonly believed that African wild cats were domesticated by the Egyptians and are the original domestic cats. These mated with European wild cats as they were traded by their owners to the rest of the world.
The European Wild Cat is much bigger than the Asian or African wild cats or domestic cats. The thick fur and the size are a distinguishing mark, so that a Wild Cat normally should not be mistaken for a domestic cat. The African Wild Cat has shorter fur. The Asiatic Wild Cat has distinct small black or red-brown spots.
Their diet consists mainly of rodents, rabbits, hares and other small mammals, but it is likely that small birds are also eaten when the opportunity comes along.
See how much you know about the wild cat:
There is evidence of the domestication of the African wild cat as early as 7500 BC. Domestication of the cat may have begun as early as 8000 BC.
The Ancient Egyptians worshipped cats as gods. Cats seem to have never forgotten this.
Wikipedia: Wild cat Next Topic: Sand Cats
ca:Viquijúnior:Grans felins/Gat salvatge de:Wikijunior Großkatzen/ Wildkatze
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Wildcat” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
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