Scottish wildcat

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Scottish wildcat
Scottish wildcat & kitten.jpg
Female and kitten at the British Wildlife Centre
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Felinae
Genus: Felis
Species: F. silvestris
Subspecies: F. s. silvestris
Population:Scottish wildcat

The Scottish wildcat is a European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) population in Scotland. [1] It was once widely distributed across Great Britain, but the population has declined drastically since the turn of the 20th century due to habitat loss and persecution. It is now limited to northern and eastern Scotland. [2] Camera-trapping surveys carried out in the Scottish Highlands between 2010 and 2013 revealed that wildcats live foremost in mixed woodland, whereas feral and domestic cats (Felis catus) were photographed mostly in grasslands. [3]

It is listed as Critically Endangered in the United Kingdom and is threatened by hybridization with domestic cats. [4] Since all individuals sampled in recent years showed high levels of hybridisation with domestic and feral cats, this population is thought to be functionally extinct in the wild. [5]

Taxonomy

Felis grampia was the scientific name proposed in 1907 by Gerrit Smith Miller Jr. who first described the skin and the skull of a wildcat specimen from Scotland. He argued that this male specimen from Invermoriston was the same size as the European wildcat (Felis silvestris), but differed by a darker fur with more pronounced black markings and black soles of the paws. [6] In 1912, Miller considered it a subspecies, using Felis silvestris grampia after reviewing 22 skins from Scotland in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London. [7] When Reginald Innes Pocock reviewed the taxonomy of the genus Felis in the late 1940s, he had more than 40 Scottish wildcat specimens in the collection of the Museum at his disposal. He recognized Felis silvestris grampia as a valid taxon. [8]

Results of morphological and genetic analyses indicate that the Scottish wildcat descended from the European wildcat. The Great Britain population became isolated from the continental population about 7,000 to 9,000 years ago due to a rise of sea level after the last glacial maximum. [9] Since 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group recognizes Felis silvestris silvestris as the valid scientific name for all European wildcat populations and F. s. grampia as a synonym, arguing that it is doubtful that the Scottish wildcat is sufficiently distinct to accord it separate subspecific status. [1]

Characteristics

The male Scottish wildcat has a head-to-body length ranging from 578 to 636 mm (22.8 to 25.0 in) with 305–355 mm (12.0–14.0 in) long tails and of females from 504 to 572 mm (19.8 to 22.5 in) with 280–341 mm (11.0–13.4 in) long tails. Condylobasal length of skulls of females varies from 82 to 88 mm (3.2 to 3.5 in) and of males from 88 to 99 mm (3.5 to 3.9 in). [8] Males weigh 3.77–7.26 kg (8.3–16.0 lb), while females are smaller at 2.35–4.68 kg (5.2–10.3 lb). [10]

The Scottish wildcat's fur is distinctly striped with a solid tabby patterning. Its ringed tail is bushy with a black tip. It differs from the domestic cat by stripes on the cheeks and hind legs, the absence of spots, white markings and coloured backs of the ears. [4] It is heavier than a domestic cat, has longer limb bones and a more robust skull. It is also larger in body size, but with a shorter gastrointestinal tract. [11]

Distribution and habitat

The Scottish wildcat has been present in Britain since the early Holocene, when the British Isles were connected to continental Europe via Doggerland. [12] It was once common throughout all of Great Britain. [2] In southern England, it likely became locally extinct during the 16th century. By the mid-19th century, its range had declined to west-central Wales and Northumberland due to persecution, and by 1880 to western and northern Scotland. By 1915, it occurred only in northwestern Scotland. [13] Following the decreasing number of gamekeepers after World War I and a re-forestation programme, the wildcat population increased again to its current range. Urbanisation and industrialisation prevented further expansion to the southern parts of Scotland. [2]

Its current distribution includes the Cairngorms, the Black Isle, Aberdeenshire, the Angus Glens and Ardnamurchan. [14] [15] It lives in wooded habitats, shrubland and near forest edges, but avoids heather moorland and gorse scrub. [3] It prefers areas away from agriculturally used land and avoids snow deeper than 10 cm (3.9 in). [16]

Behaviour and ecology

Scottish wildcat shows its fangs, 2013 Scottish Wildcat shows its Fangs, 2013.jpg
Scottish wildcat shows its fangs, 2013

Between March 1995 and April 1997, thirty-one Scottish wildcats were fitted with radio-collars in the area of the Angus Glens and tracked for at least five months. In all seasons, they were most active by night with activity decreasing at low moonlight and in windy weather. [17] Home ranges of male wildcats overlap with home ranges of one or more females, whereas female ranges rarely overlap. Adult cats maintain larger territories than juveniles. They mark and defend their home ranges using scent marking through their scat. [18] Home range size in and around Cairngorms National Park was estimated at 2.44 to 3.8 km2 (0.94 to 1.47 sq mi). [16]

The wildcats mainly prey on European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and field voles (Microtus agrestis). [18] Scats collected in Drumtochty Forest and two more sites in the Scottish Highlands contained remains of rabbits, wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus), field and bank voles (Myodes glareolus) and birds. [19] Any uneaten remnants of a kill will be buried in a cache to save for later. [10]

Reproduction

Male Scottish wildcats reach sexual maturity at around 10 months of age and the female at an age of less than 12 months. A female had one estrous in early March and a litter was born in early May after a gestation period of 63–68 days. Another estrous occurred about one month later and the second litter was born in August. Kittens open their eyes at 10–13 days old; their eyes are initially blue and change to green around seven weeks of age. [20]

In the wild, mating occurs between January and March. Litter size varies from one to eight kittens, with a mean litter size of 4.3 young. Females rarely give birth in winter. [21] Kittens are born in a den, which is hidden within a cairn, among brush piles and under tree roots. They begin learning how to hunt at 10–12 weeks and are fully weaned by 14 weeks of age. They leave their mothers around six months of age. Kitten mortality during the winter of 1975−1978 was high; most starved. [18]

Captive Scottish wildcats have lived for 15 years, but the lifespan in the wild is much shorter due to road accidents and disease transmitted from feral domestic cats. [22]

Threats

Continued threats to the Scottish wildcat population include habitat loss, interbreeding with domestic cats, and being hunted as vermin. [5]

An extended controversy in Aberdeenshire pits Swedish energy firm Vattenfall Wind Power against the Scottish wildcat. The Scottish government considers Clashindarroch Forest outside the town of Huntly to be a "wildcat wonderland." The Scottish Wildcat Association states that the energy giant's efforts to raze the old-growth forest for their wind farms would wipe-out the cats there, which number at least 35 as of 2018, a substantial proportion of the known surviving population. As of 2021, an online petition circulated by activists had garnered more than 800,000 signatures in-support of protecting the forest. Vattenfall, however, has claimed that the company poses no threat. [23] [24]

Hybridisation with outdoor-roaming domestic cats is regarded as a threat to the wildcat population. [4] It is likely that all Scottish wildcats today have at least some domestic cat ancestry. [25] Unvaccinated and infected domestic cats may also transmit lethal diseases to the Scottish wildcat, such as feline calicivirus, feline coronavirus, feline foamy virus, feline herpesvirus, feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus. [26]

Scottish wildcats have also often been killed to protect game bird species, and were once widely considered vermin. [27]

Conservation

The Scottish wildcat was given protected status under the United Kingdom's Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. [4] Since 2007, it has been listed in the U.K. Biodiversity Action Plan as a priority species. [9] Feral cats can be killed throughout the year. [28]

The Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan was developed by the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Group, which set national action priorities and defined responsibilities of agencies and funding priorities for the group's conservation efforts between 2013 and 2019. Its implementation is coordinated by Scottish Natural Heritage. [29] In the wild, efforts to conserve wildcats include neutering feral cats and euthanizing diseased feral cats to prevent hybridization and the spread of disease. [30]

By 2014, the project members had researched nine potential action areas, settling on six, which were considered as having the highest likelihood of conservation success, with work planned beginning in 2015: Morvern, Strathpeffer, Strathbogie, Strathavon, Dulnain and the Angus Glens. An area of the remote and largely undisturbed Ardnamurchan Peninsula was designated a Scottish wildcat sanctuary. [31]

In 2018, the official efforts fell under the auspices of Scottish Wildcat Action, a coalition including government and academic institutions, with an updated list of five priority areas: Strathbogie, the Angus Glens, Northern Strathspey, Morvern and Strathpeffer. [32] In 2019, a report for Scottish Wildcat Action found that the wildcat population in Scotland was no longer viable and the species was at the verge of extinction. [33]

In captivity

Scottish wildcat at British Wildlife Centre, 2015 Scottish Wildcat - Explored -) (18989583708).jpg
Scottish wildcat at British Wildlife Centre, 2015

A captive breeding programme for the Scottish wildcat has been established in the frame of the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan, with wild-caught individuals that pass genetic and morphological tests to be considered wildcats with less than 5% hybridization. [29] Participating institutions include the Alladale Wilderness Reserve, Chester Zoo, British Wildlife Centre, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, Highland Wildlife Park, New Forest Wildlife Park and Aigas Field Centre. [22]

This captive breeding programme has drawn criticism from the Captive Animals Protection Society, an organization opposed to the existence of zoos, which stated the opinion that the breeding programme has "little to do with conservation and everything to do with these zoos stocking their cages". [34]

Six kittens were born at the Highland Wildlife Park in 2015. [35] From 2011 to 2016, there have been 15 surviving Scottish wildcat kittens born at the Highland Wildlife Park. [36] As of December 2016, around 80 Scottish wildcats were in captivity. [37] In 2023, a license was approved by NatureScot to release captive-bred wildcats into the Cairngorms region during the summer of that year. [38] The first of 22 cats were released in early June 2023, with a further 40 expected to follow in 2024 and 2025. [39]

Conservation groups' political controversy

Within the conservation community, there are some political divides over proper actions and strategies. In 2014, the Scottish Wildcat Association and Wildcat Haven challenged the efforts of Scottish Natural Heritage. [40] In 2017, Scottish Wildcat Action, the official government organisation, defended itself from what it called unfair criticism by Wildcat Haven. [41]

In culture

The Scottish wildcat is traditionally an icon of the Scottish wilderness. The Scottish wildcat or Kellas cat is the likely inspiration of the mythological Scottish creature Cat-sìth .

Since the 13th century, it has been a symbol of Clan Chattan. Most of the members of Clan Chattan have the Scottish wildcat on their crest badges, and their motto is "Touch not the cat bot a glove", bot meaning 'without'. The motto is a reference to the ferocity of the Scottish wildcat. Clan Chattan has participated in Scottish wildcat conservation efforts since 2010. [10]

In 2010, as part of the International Year of Biodiversity, the Royal Mail issued a series of 10 stamps celebrating at-risk mammals, one of which depicted the Scottish wildcat. [42] [43]

The Scottish wildcat was the subject of a documentary film titled The Tigers of Scotland that was issued in 2017, narrated by Scottish actor Iain Glen. [44]

In 2019, Scottish wildcats were the central theme of the first issue of the Journal of Matters Relating to Felines, a student-led general interest magazine produced at the University of Aberdeen. [45]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cat</span> Small domesticated carnivorous mammal

The cat, commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae. Recent advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the domestication of the cat occurred in the Near East around 7500 BC. It is commonly kept as a house pet and farm cat, but also ranges freely as a feral cat avoiding human contact. It is valued by humans for companionship and its ability to kill vermin. Its retractable claws are adapted to killing small prey like mice and rats. It has a strong, flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp teeth, and its night vision and sense of smell are well developed. It is a social species, but a solitary hunter and a crepuscular predator. Cat communication includes vocalizations like meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling, and grunting as well as cat body language. It can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by small mammals. It also secretes and perceives pheromones.

<i>Felis</i> Genus of mammals (cats)

Felis is a genus of small and medium-sized cat species native to most of Africa and south of 60° latitude in Europe and Asia to Indochina. The genus includes the domestic cat. The smallest Felis species is the black-footed cat with a head and body length from 38 to 42 cm. The largest is the jungle cat with a head and body length from 62 to 76 cm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildcat</span> Small wild cat

The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat and the African wildcat. The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the African wildcat inhabits semi-arid landscapes and steppes in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia, into western India and western China. The wildcat species differ in fur pattern, tail, and size: the European wildcat has long fur and a bushy tail with a rounded tip; the smaller African wildcat is more faintly striped, has short sandy-gray fur and a tapering tail; the Asiatic wildcat is spotted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sand cat</span> Small wild cat species (Felis margarita)

The sand cat is a small wild cat that inhabits sandy and stony deserts far from water sources. With its sandy to light grey fur, it is well camouflaged in a desert environment. Its head-and-body length ranges from 39–52 cm (15–20 in) with a 23–31 cm (9.1–12.2 in) long tail. Its 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) short ears are set low on the sides of the head, aiding detection of prey moving underground. The long hair covering the soles of its paws insulates its pads against the extreme temperatures found in deserts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese mountain cat</span> Small wild cat

The Chinese mountain cat, also known as Chinese desert cat and Chinese steppe cat, is a small wild Felis species with sand-coloured fur, faint dark stripes on the face and legs and black tipped ears. It is endemic to the Tibetan Plateau of western China, where it lives in grassland above elevations of 2,500 m (8,200 ft). It has been listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asian golden cat</span> Small wild cat

The Asian golden cat is a medium-sized wild cat native to the northeastern Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and China. It has been listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List since 2008, and is threatened by poaching and habitat destruction, since Southeast Asian forests are undergoing the world's fastest regional deforestation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing cat</span> Small wild cat

The fishing cat is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. It has a deep yellowish-grey fur with black lines and spots. Adults have a head-to-body length of 57 to 78 cm, with a 20 to 30 cm long tail. Males are larger than females weighing 8 to 17 kg ; females average 5 to 9 kg. Since 2016, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fishing cat populations are threatened by destruction of wetlands and have declined severely over the last decade. The fishing cat lives foremost in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps, and mangroves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feral cat</span> Unowned or untamed domestic cat in the outdoors

A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens of generations and become an aggressive local apex predator in urban, savannah and bushland environments. Some feral cats may become more comfortable with people who regularly feed them, but even with long-term attempts at socialization, they usually remain aloof and are most active after dusk. Of the 700 million cats in the world, an estimated 480 million are feral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kellas cat</span> Cross between Scottish wildcat and domestic cat

The Kellas cat is a large black cat found in Scotland. It is an interspecific hybrid between the Scottish wildcat and the domestic cat. Once thought to be a mythological wild cat, with its few sightings dismissed as hoaxes, a specimen was killed in a snare by a gamekeeper in 1984 and found to be a hybrid between the Scottish wildcat and domestic cat. It is not a formal cat breed, but a population of felid hybrids. It is named after the village of Kellas, Moray, where it was first found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felid hybrids</span> Hybrid carnivore

A felid hybrid is any of a number of hybrids between various species of the cat family, Felidae. This article deals with hybrids between the species of the subfamily Felinae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cretan wildcat</span> Cat hybrid or subspecies

The Cretan wildcat is a member of the genus Felis that inhabits the Greek island of Crete. Its taxonomic status is unclear at present, as some biologists consider it probably introduced, or a European wildcat, or a hybrid between European wildcat and domestic cat. It was previously considered a separate subspecies of wildcat as Felis silvestris cretensis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European wildcat</span> Small wild cat

The European wildcat is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Scotland, Turkey and the Caucasus. It inhabits forests from the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Central and Eastern Europe to the Caucasus. Its fur is brownish to grey with stripes on the forehead and on the sides and has a bushy tail with a black tip. It reaches a head-to-body length of up to 65 cm (26 in) with a 34.5 cm (13.6 in) long tail, and weighs up to 7.5 kg (17 lb).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asiatic wildcat</span> Small wild cat

The Asiatic wildcat, also known as the Asian steppe wildcat and the Indian desert cat, is an African wildcat subspecies that occurs from the eastern Caspian Sea north to Kazakhstan, into western India, western China and southern Mongolia. There is no information on current status or population numbers across the Asiatic wildcat's range as a whole, but populations are thought to be declining.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African wildcat</span> Small wild cat

The African wildcat is a small wildcat species with sandy grey fur, pale vertical stripes on the sides and around the face. It is native to Africa, West and Central Asia, and is distributed to Rajasthan in India and Xinjiang in China. It inhabits a broad variety of landscapes ranging from deserts to savannas, shrublands and grasslands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corsican wildcat</span> Species of felid

The Corsican wildcat is an isolated cat population of uncertain taxonomic status that has been variously regarded as a separate species of its own, a subspecies of the African wildcat, or a population of feral house cats that were introduced to Corsica around the beginning of the first millennium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern African wildcat</span> Subspecies of carnivore

The Southern African wildcat is an African wildcat subspecies native to Southern and Eastern Africa. In 2007, it was tentatively recognised as a distinct subspecies on the basis of genetic analysis. Morphological evidence indicates that the split between the African wildcat subspecies in Africa occurred in the area of Tanzania and Mozambique.

Highland cat may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arabian wildcat</span> Subspecies of carnivore

The Arabian wildcat, also called Gordon's wildcat is a wildcat subspecies that inhabits the Arabian Peninsula.

Schauenberg's index is the ratio of skull length to cranial capacity. This index was introduced by Paul Schauenberg in 1969 as a method to identify European wildcat skulls and distinguish them from domestic cat skulls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestication of the cat</span> Evolutionary origins of domesticated cats

The domestic cat originated from Near-Eastern and Egyptian populations of the African wildcat, Felis sylvestris lybica. The family Felidae, to which all living feline species belong, arose about ten to eleven million years ago and is divided into eight major phylogenetic lineages. The Felis lineage in particular is the lineage that the domestic cat is a member of. Several investigations have shown that all domestic varieties of cats come from a single species of the Felis lineage, Felis catus. Variations of this lineage are found all over the world, and until recently scientists have had a hard time pinning down exactly which region gave rise to modern domestic cat breeds. Scientists believed that it was not just one incident that led to the domesticated cat but multiple independent incidents at different places that led to these breeds. More complications arose from the fact that wildcat populations as a whole are very widespread and very similar to one another. These variations of wildcats can and will interbreed freely with one another when in close contact, further blurring the lines between taxa. Recent DNA studies, advancement in genetic technologies, and a better understanding of DNA and genetics as a whole has helped make discoveries in the evolutionary history of the domestic cat. Archaeological evidence has documented earlier dates of domestication than formerly believed.

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  32. ↑ MacLennan, S. (2018). "Last chance to save the UK's most endangered carnivore - the Scottish wildcat". Press and Journal. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  33. ↑ Breitenmoser, U.; Lanz, T.; Breitenmoser-Würsten, C. (2019). "Conservation of the wildcat (Felis silvestris) in Scotland: Review of the conservation status and assessment of conservation activities" (PDF). Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan Steering Group. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  34. ↑ "UK Zoos in controversy as plot to cage endangered Scottish wildcats is exposed". Captive Animals' Protection Society. 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  35. ↑ Barclay, D. (2016). "Scottish wildcat breeding programme – what, where and when?". The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  36. ↑ Barclay, D. (2016). "The journey of last year's litter of Scottish wildcat kittens". Scottish Wildcat Action. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  37. ↑ Barclay, D. (2016). "Scottish wildcat conservation breeding for release a lifeline for the species?". Scottish Wildcat Action. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  38. ↑ "Scottish wildcats to be released in Cairngorms". BBC News. 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  39. ↑ "Wildcats bred in captivity released into Cairngorms". BBC News. 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  40. ↑ McKenna, K. (2014). "Why the Scottish wildcat is threatened by its 'saviour'". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  41. ↑ Scottish Wildcat Action (2017). "Scottish Wildcat Action response to unfair criticism from Wildcat Haven". Scottish Wildcat Action. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  42. ↑ "Stamp celebrates Highland tiger". 13 April 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  43. ↑ "Mammals (Action for Species 4) (2010)". Collect GB Stamps. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  44. ↑ Gater, L.; Stone, A. (2017). The Tigers of Scotland (Documentary). Wild Films Ltd.
  45. ↑ "Journal of Matters Relating to Felines (Autumn 2019)" . Retrieved 10 May 2021– via Issuu.
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