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| Scientific Name: Felis silvestris |
Size: Head and body 18.5-29.5 inches
(47-75cm);
tail 8.5-14 inches (21-35cm) |
| Weight: 9-17.5 pounds (4-8kg) |
| Distribution: Parts of Europe, Africa,
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, USSR, and India. |
| Habitat: Wide range of habitats, coniferous
forest, scrubby brush, agricultural croplands, woodlands. |
| Diet: Primarily a rodent catcher,
but also eats rabbits, small mammals, insects and birds. |
| Reproduction: After a gestation period
of about 65 days, female gives birth to 2-3 kittens |
| Status: Least
Concern |
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| In earlier records, the Wild Cat is
sometimes referred to as the Wood Cat, or the British Tiger. Today, the Wild Cat
is usually named according to the district from which it comes. People write of
Scottish Wild Cats, because this is the last refuge of the British Wild Cat. They
talk of the European Wild Cat, because it has a heavy body and thick coat, creating
a typical race of the main species. Or they make special reference to the African
Wild Cat, |
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because
it is generally accepted as the original ancestor of all our domestic breeds.
But, in reality, these different forms are no more than subspecies of the Common
Wild Cat. In the past, they have often been designated as different species (the
African Wild Cat, for example, being named as Felis lybica), but that view
is no longer held. If earlier zoological works are consulted, it emerges that
no fewer than 88 forms of this species have been recognized from time to time
in the past, most of them often rashly considered as full species. Some authorities
have whittled these down to three main geographical subspecies, called the European
Wild Cat, the Asiatic Steppe Cat, and the African Wild Cat.
The Wild Cat looks very much like a domestic tabby cat, but with less clearly
defined markings. It is shy, secretive, solitary, and strongly territorial in
its natural woodland and scrub habitat and has rarely been observed directly in
any detail. In many regions it has crossed freely with feral domesticated cats,
so that pure Wild Cat stock is no longer easy to find for serious study. It is
primarily a rodent-eater (77 percent of its diet), which makes its widespread
persecution by many agricultural communities inexplicable. In this respect the
ancient Egyptians were more advanced than many later cultures. It is a shaming
thought that modern European farmers have behaved more stupidly than early Egyptian
ones.
The Wild Cat was once found over a much wider region that it is today, especially
in the European part of its range, but it has been exterminated over huge areas
as human farming and settlements have spread, destroying its woodland and scrub
strongholds. It survives today in the following regions: northern Scotland, Spain,
Portugal, France, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Majorca, Germany, Switzerland,
Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovena, Croatia,
Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, southern Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq,
Iran, Israel, Syria, Afghanistan, N.W. India, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt,
and the whole of Africa south of the Sahara, except for the rain forests of central
West Africa. |
| WILD
CAT PHOTOS |
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