African wildcats mostly hunt murids, but they may eat invertebrates, birds, and small reptiles. These wildcats also prey on nutria, hares, dormice, ducks, waterfowl, pigeons, passerines, and galliformes. They are natural predators, with the European species primarily hunting on small mammals like rodents and rabbits. Wild cats have an average life expectancy of about 13-14 years, but they can live for up to 21 years. African wildcats live in a wide range of habitats, including mountainous landscapes, tropical and subtropical grasslands, shrublands, deserts, and savannas. They also occur at altitudes of 2,250 m in the Pyrenees Mountain Range in the Iberian Peninsula. What Kind of Habitats do Wild Cats live inĮuropean wildcats primarily inhabit the broad-leaved and mixed temperate forests in Europe. African wildcats are found across Africa, along the edge of the Arabian Peninsula, in the Middle East, through Central Asia and western India, and finally into western China. The distribution range of European wildcats extends from Iberia, Italy, France, Turkey, Scotland, Central and Eastern European countries, to the Caucasus. Their skull is also more spherical as compared to that of leopard cats and jungle cats. Skull: Wild cats are characterized by a larger brain and greater skull volume than domestic cats. They also possess 6-8 eyelashes on each eye, measuring anywhere between 2.0 and 2.4 in.
Both the sexes possess a pair of thoracic and abdominal teats.Įars: These are moderately large, with a broad base and pointed tip.Įyes: The wild cats have large eyes, along with yellowish-green irises and vertical pupils.
Their white whiskers, on the muzzle, can be 2.0-3.1 in long. They have a long tail, measuring about half of their body’s length. Females, on the other hand, have a weight that ranges from 6.6-11 lb.īody: Wild cats are more robust and have comparatively longer legs than domestic cats. Weight: Male wild cats are heavier and weigh anywhere between 11 and 18 lb. Males have head to body length of 17-36 in and tail length of 9.1-15.7 in, while the females are smaller, with their body measuring 16-30 in and tail reaching to a size of 7.1-13.8 in. Their size varies depending on their geographic distribution, with the largest individuals being found in colder environments in Siberia, Manchuria, and Mongolia. Size: Wild cats are visibly larger as compared to domestic cats. The following members are considered their subspecies.
Cats obviously have superior ability to see in low light, but are as blind as we are in total darkness.Ĭats’ dusk-and-dawn behavior may be a result of their desert-cat ancestors: their prey is more likely to be out and about when the temperature is lower.The genus Felis is divided into two species, including the African wildcat ( F. Adding to this ability, cat’s pupils can dilate much greater than ours and a structure in the back of their eye called the tapetum lucidum reflects light back to the photoreceptors, further enhancing vision (and creating the glowing eye effect). Cats cannot perceive colors as richly as humans and are also severely nearsighted but can see in one-sixth the light of their human counterparts. Human eyes have an abundance of “cone” receptors (responsible for day vision and color perception) while cats have an abundance of “rod” receptors (responsible for night and peripheral vision). This brings us to another myth about cats, that they can see in the dark. These are the times when hunting would be most advantageous – prey is available and there is still enough light to see. But domesticated cats are instinctively crepuscular, meaning active during dawn and dusk. Wild cats such as tigers, lions and even feral cats are generally nocturnal. This has led many to believe that cats are nocturnal creatures (active mostly at night), when in fact they are crepuscular. Housecats are often seen sleeping during the day and prowling at night with mysterious glowing eyes. Are cats nocturnal? Can cats see in the dark?
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