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Scottish wildcat fact file :cat: - Coggle Diagram
Scottish wildcat fact file
:cat:
Appearance
Looks similar to domestic tabby cat but is twice/25% the size - check
Stockier and more muscular
Brown, mottled fur and stripe-like markings help it blend in with vegetation
Longer legs
Larger, flatter head
Thick, bushy, blunt tail with black tip and rings
Weighs up to 8kg, or 4-5kg - check
Large, pointed ears
Habitat
Only found in the Scottish Highlands in UK
Prefer to live and hunt in areas of dense cover such as woodland edges
Lives in undisturbed mixed and broadleaf woodland
Prefer to live on the woodland edge, in the margins of mountains and moorlands, with rough grazing. They generally avoid high mountain areas, exposed coasts and intensively farmed lowlands
Behaviour
Skilled stealth hunters - they stalk their prey and pounce after a patient wait
Excellent sight, hearing and sense of smell, as well as highly sensitive whiskers
Mainly crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) but they may hunt during the day if undisturbed. Spend the day in tree hollows, rock crevices or dense thickets
Mating season January to March
Mostly solitary, apart from during breeding
Produce a litter of between one and eight kittens after a gestation period of around two and a half months (March to May)
Mothers care for their kittens until they reach independence at around six months old when juveniles leave to establish their own territories
Wildcats are breeding with domestic cats which is causing the species to hybridise
Uses old fox and badger burrows for their dens
Food chain
Crepuscular carnivores - they eat rabbits, hares, birds and small mammals eg voles
Kittens are preyed on by raptors and foxes
Conservation
Highly endangered
Extinct in England and Wales - hunting and habitat loss caused them to disappear from 200 years ago
European protected species
Only 400 wildcats left (top estimate), but probably much less than this - rarer than the Bengal tiger
Breeding programmes being established to boost population - 22 kittens due to be released in 2023
Scientists neutering feral cats to prevent interbreeding between wild and domestic species which dilutes the genes
Misc
Rare and elusive
Known as Highland tiger
Largest remaining native predator
Ferocious feline - only wild member of cat family in UK
Descended from the European wildcat, which evolved effective camouflage, night vision and hearing to hunt in the densest forests
Related to domestic tabby cat
Sources
https://www.wildcathaven.com/scottish-wildcat
https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/natural-sciences/scottish-wildcat/
https://www.nature.scot/plants-animals-and-fungi/mammals/land-mammals/wildcats
https://cairngorms.co.uk/caring-future/cairngorms-nature/wildcat/
https://savingwildcats.org.uk/
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/mammals/facts-about-scottish-wildcats/
https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/animals/species/scottish-wildcat
https://www.mammal.org.uk/species-hub/full-species-hub/discover-mammals/species-wildcat/
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/mammals/wildcat
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/mammals/scottish-wildcat/