AnimalvsAnimal
Felis silvestris silvestris Luc Viatour🐈

Photo: Lviatour · CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesCarnivoraFelidae
Carnivores

🐈European wildcat

Felis silvestris Schreber, 1777

Als Wildkatze werden vier Arten bzw. Unterarten aus der Gattung der Echten Katzen (Felis) bezeichnet. Die Europäische Wildkatze oder Waldkatze (Felis silvestris) ist in Europa, auf einigen Mittelmeerinseln, in Anatolien sowie im Kaukasus und Nordkaukasus verbreitet und zeichnet sich vor allem durch den buschigen Schwanz aus, der in einer breiten, stumpfen Rundung endet. Am Schwanzende finden sich häufig drei schwarze „Kringel“. Das Fell ist dicht, das Streifenmuster recht auffällig, aber auch oft verwaschen. Die Afrikanische Wildkatze oder Falbkatze (Felis lybica lybica) Nord-, West- und den Norden von Ostafrika, die Arabische Halbinsel und angrenzende Teile Südwest-Asiens sowie einige Mittelmeerinseln. Sie ist durch den spitz zulaufenden Schwanz, rötliche Ohr-Hinterseiten und ein unscheinbares Streifenmuster gekennzeichnet. Von ihr stammt die Hauskatze (Felis catus) ab. Die Südafrikanische Wildkatze (Felis lybica cafra) bewohnt Afrika südlich des Kongobeckens. Die Asiatische Wildkatze oder Steppenkatze (Felis lybica ornata) ist von Iran bis ins westliche Indien und Zentralasien verbreitet, wo sie bis Nordwestchina und in die Mongolei vordringt. Sie ähnelt der Afrikanischen Wildkatze, unterscheidet sich von dieser aber durch das Fellmuster, das mehr gefleckt als gestreift ist.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
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Measurements
14
vs you
≈ 1/12th of your weight
Also called
wild cat
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2023.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
5.04 kg
Body length
0.62 m
Shoulder height
0.27 m
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
28 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the European wildcat

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
5.04 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 5.5 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
0.62 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Shoulder height
0.27 m0.26–0.28 m · typical rangenot stated
Details ↓

'Body length of the adult cats usually 70 to 75 cm, height at shoulders 26 to 28 cm, and height at sacrum 30 to 32 cm.' Figures are for the Caucasian forest wildcat (F. s. caucasica); the same work reports the largest of 36 Slovak wildcats at 'height at shoulders 430 mm' (Sladek 1966). The '35 cm average' in wide web circulation is uncited. HMW Vol 1 and IUCN CatSG give no shoulder height for this species.

Source: Heptner & Sludskii 1972 (Engl. transl. 1992), Mammals of the Soviet Union, Vol. II Part 2, forest wildcat account (Caucasian forest wildcat, after Dinnik 1914 and Satunin 1915), https://archive.org/details/mammalsofsov221992gept · see citation

Brain mass
38 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
28 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 19 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
7.95 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
351 days
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
65 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 64 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
about 4
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 3.7AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Carnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixed
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
1.29 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
0.36 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
5 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for European wildcat yet: top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCarnivora
  5. ›familyFelidae
  6. ›genusFelis
  7. ›speciesFelis silvestris
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  3. familyFelidae
  4. genusFelis
All 14 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  12. suborderFeliformia
  13. familyFelidae
  14. genusFelis
More

More about the European wildcat

Closest relative on this site
🐈 Cat — last shared an ancestor ≈ 0.9 million years ago.
What it eats
warm-blooded animals80%
insects and other invertebrates10%
reptiles, fish and amphibians10%
In other languages
Wildkatze (de), Felis silvestris (fr), Felis silvestris (es), 野猫 (zh), kočka divoká (cs), vadmacska (hu) … and 27 more languages
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