🐈European wildcat
Le Chat forestier ou sylvestre (Felis silvestris), également connu sous le nom de Chat sauvage d’Europe, est une espèce de mammifère carnivore de la famille des félins. Proche parent du chat domestique (Felis catus), il s’en distingue par une morphologie plus robuste, une queue épaisse annelée à extrémité noire et un pelage généralement plus dense et uniforme. Espèce principalement forestière, il fréquente aussi des milieux semi-ouverts tels que les bocages, les lisières et les zones montagneuses. Discret et essentiellement nocturne, le chat forestier est un prédateur opportuniste dont le régime alimentaire se compose principalement de petits mammifères. Longtemps persécuté et menacé par la destruction de son habitat et l’hybridation avec le chat domestique, il bénéficie aujourd’hui de mesures de protection dans plusieurs pays de son aire de répartition.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2023.
- 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
Everything we know about the European wildcat
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass5.04 kgCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
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 length0.62 mCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Shoulder height0.27 m0.26–0.28 m · typical rangenot statedDetails ↓Hide ↑
'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 mass38 gCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Maximum lifespan28 yearsCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
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 length7.95 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Age at maturity351 daysCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Gestation65 daysCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
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 sizeabout 4COMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
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 levelCarnivoreCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Activity cycleCrepuscular / mixedCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Home range1.29 km²COMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Population density0.36 per km²COMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Volume l5 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
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.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classMammalia
- ›orderCarnivora
- ›familyFelidae
- ›genusFelis
- ›speciesFelis silvestris
- classMammals · Mammalia
- orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
- familyFelidae
- genusFelis
All 14 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- classMammals · Mammalia
- subclassTheria
- superorderLaurasiatheria
- orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
- suborderFeliformia
- familyFelidae
- genusFelis
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