Wildcat

Wildcat

Taxobox
name = WildcatMSW3 Wozencraft | pages = 536-537]
status = LC
trend = down
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref =IUCN2006|assessors=Cat Specialist Group|year=2002|id=8543|title=Felis silvestris|downloaded=5 May 2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern]


image_width = 200px
image_caption = European Wildcat ("Felis silvestris silvestris")
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Carnivora
familia = Felidae
genus = "Felis"
species = "F. silvestris"
binomial = "Felis silvestris"
binomial_authority = Schreber, 1775
subdivision_ranks = subspecies
subdivision = See text
range_

range_map_caption = The five subspecies of "Felis silvestris" according to a 2007 DNA study.

The Wildcat ("Felis silvestris"), sometimes Wild Cat or Wild-cat, is a small felid native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa. It is a hunter of small mammals, birds, and other creatures of a similar size. There are several subspecies distributed in different regions. 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 colours, wild individuals 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 colour.

The Wildcat is extremely timid. It avoids approaching human settlements. It lives solitarily 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. The closest relative of the Wildcat is the Sand Cat ("Felis margarita").

Diet

It is an obligate carnivore, like all felines, and consumes almost every part of any kill it makes;fact|date=May 2008 the coat providing roughage, the bones calcium, and the meat everything else, in fact they rarely need to drink because meat has such a high water content. The Wildcat often carries parasitic worms in its gut and will eat long blades of grass to help clear out its system and probably also to obtain certain necessary acids not present in meat.fact|date=May 2008

ubspecies

According to a 2007 DNA analysis, there are only 5 subspecies:cite journal | author = Driscoll, CA, et al | title = The Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication | journal = Science | date = 2007-06-28 | volume = 317 | issue = 5837 | pages = 519–523 | doi = 10.1126/science.1139518 | pmid = 17600185]
* "Felis silvestris silvestris" (Europe and Turkey).
* "Felis silvestris lybica" (North Africa, Middle East and Western Asia, to the Aral Sea).
* "Felis silvestris cafra" (Southern Africa).
* "Felis silvestris ornata" (Pakistan, north east of 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)

*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"

References

External links

* [http://www.lioncrusher.com/animal.asp?animal=72 "Felis silvestris":] three distinct populations
* [http://lynx.uio.no/lynx/catsgportal/cat-website/20_cat-website/home/index_en.htm "IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group - Cat Species Information"]
* [http://www.scottishwildcats.co.uk/ Scottish Wildcat Association]
* [http://digimorph.org/specimens/Felis_sylvestris_lybica/female/ Digimorph.org:] 3D computed tomographic (CT) animations of male and female African wild cat skulls


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Wildcat — (engl. Wildkatze) steht für: nicht serienmäßig hergestellte Patronen ein Waffensystem der Firma Krauss Maffei: Wildcat (Waffensystem) ein trägergestütztes Kampfflugzeug aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, die Grumman F4F Wildcat ein britischer… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • wildcat — [wīld′kat΄] n. pl. wildcats or wildcat 1. a) any of a large group of fierce, medium sized, undomesticated cats, including the bobcat, Canada lynx, ocelot, serval, and caracal b) a house cat that has escaped from domestication: in this sense,… …   English World dictionary

  • wildcat — A wildcat scheme is rash financially or ethically and will probably fail …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • wildcat — [wajldkat] n. m. ÉTYM. Mil. XXe; mot angl., « chat sauvage ». ❖ ♦ Anglic. Techn. Puits d exploration foré dans une zone pétrolière non encore exploitée …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • wildcat — (n.) early 15c., from WILD (Cf. wild) (adj.) + CAT (Cf. cat). Meaning savage woman is recorded from 1570s; sense of one who forms rash projects is attested from 1812. The adj. in the financial speculative sense is first recorded 1838, Amer.Eng …   Etymology dictionary

  • wildcat — ► NOUN 1) a small Eurasian and African cat, typically grey with black markings and a bushy tail, believed to be the ancestor of the domestic cat. 2) a hot tempered or ferocious person. 3) an exploratory oil well. ► ADJECTIVE 1) (of a strike)… …   English terms dictionary

  • wildcat — /wuyld kat /, n., pl. wildcats, (esp. collectively) wildcat for 1 4, adj., v., wildcatted, wildcatting. n. 1. any of several North American felines of the genus Lynx. Cf. lynx. 2. a yellowish gray, black striped feline, Felis sylvestris, of… …   Universalium

  • wildcat — I. noun (plural wildcats) Date: 14th century 1. a. an Old World cat (Felis silvestris) that resembles but is heavier in build than the domestic tabby cat and is usually held to be among the ancestors of the domestic cat b. or plural wildcat any… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • wildcat — ▪ I. wildcat wild‧cat 1 [ˈwaɪldkæt] adjective [only before a noun] a wildcat oil well or discovery of oil is one that is in a place where no one has found oil before   [m0] ▪ II. wildcat wildcat 2 verb [intransitive] to look for oil in a place… …   Financial and business terms

  • wildcat — [[t]wa͟ɪldkæt[/t]] wildcats 1) N COUNT A wildcat is a cat which is very fierce and lives especially in mountains and forests. A giant wildcat is being hunted after 58 lambs were butchered. 2) ADJ: ADJ n A wildcat strike happens suddenly, as a… …   English dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”