In an effort to bring the rare Scottish wildcat back from the brink of extinction, conservationists have released 19 young wildcats, which were bred in captivity, throughout the Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands. The Scottish wildcat, or Felis silvestris, is the last surviving native wildcat in the UK, according to National Museums Scotland. […]
Tag: Wildcats
Lucky No. 13? Latest images could add to Nepal’s 12 wildcat species
KATHMANDU — In early February 2022, a team of tiger researchers started downloading images from camera traps as part of a population census for the big cat in Nepal. They had to analyze 40,111 images taken by camera traps in the Chitwan-Parsa Complex, a key tiger habitat, from Dec. 5, 2021, to Feb. 7, 2022. […]
Captive-Bred Scottish Wildcats May Save the Species from Extinction
Last week, repopulation efforts took place in the Scottish Highlands when a number of young, captive-bred wildcats were released into the wild. The event is being touted as the first of its kind in Britain. The felines, who greatly resemble tabbies, were bred and released by Saving Wildcats, a European project led by the Royal […]
‘Anthill tiger’: Putting one of Africa’s rarest wildcats on the radar
Every night, somewhere unseen across the vast, semidesert and dry savanna habitat of Southern Africa, the continent’s deadliest cat emerges to hunt. Black-footed cats (Felis nigripes) are ideally suited for nocturnal stalking: They are evolutionarily older than jungle cats and domestic cats, boast exceptional night vision and hearing, and are believed to kill more prey […]
Wildcats could be released in England for first time in hundreds of years
Wildcats could be released in England for the first time in hundreds of years as the Wildlife Trusts recruit an expert to help introduce them back into the wild. After being hunted to extinction, the European wildcat is now the UK’s rarest native mammal. They are larger than the domestic cat, which are bred from […]
Wild Cat Finnigan Was Found Roaming the Streets After Fleeing the Tiny Apartment He Was Forcefully Kept In as a Pet
Meet Finnigan! He is currently living at wildcat ridge sanctuary. Finnigan was a former pet, and as many owners come to realize, wildcats were not made to be pets. His previous owners were keeping him in their small apartment, and when Finnigan saw his chance to escape, he ran for his life. He was found […]
Scotland changes course to save its last native wildcats
Great Britain has lost its entire suite of top land predators over the past few thousand years: wolves (Canis lupus), brown bears (Ursus arctos) and lynx (Lynx lynx) have all vanished from the island, largely due to habitat loss, hunting and persecution. Now it’s on the verge of losing a much smaller one, and its […]
Where the wild things are: a trip to Romania’s southern mountains
From this pile of logs onwards, we need to be completely silent,” says Georg Messerer, our guide through Romania’s southern Carpathians. His head cocks 45 degrees as a bird starts chirping. “Nuthatch,” he whispers, reaching for his binoculars. “And two red deer.” Georg directs our gaze to a row of apple trees, where sure enough, […]