Felid form and function

... ardo, tienen garras retráctiles especializadas para la manipulación de las presas que luchan antes de ser sometidas y recibir un zarpazo final . Muchas especies son nocturnas y crepusculares, pero pueden ser activas también durante el día. Debido a esto, sus ojos deben ser lo suficientemente sensitivos a la oscuridad, pero también a la luz del día (Kitchener et al,. 2010). Su vista es seis veces mejor que la humana en situaciones de poca luz y sus ojos se ubican al frente de la cara, lo que los provee de una visión binocular que les es útil para discernir las distancias y localizar a sus presas. Ayudados por su camuflaje natural, son capaces de acechar, perseguir y emboscar a sus presas, a las que somete ...

... El sentido del olfato en los felinos es menos desarrollado que en otros carnívoros y está basado en la química, que regula gran parte de su comportamiento social, reproductivo y territorial (Kitchener et al., 2010). Frecuentemente marcan el límite de las áreas más usadas de su territorio con excremento, rociando orina o frotando glándulas odoríferas en rocas y arbustos, y arañando los troncos con sus garras (Ceballos et al., 2010). ...

... Frecuentemente marcan el límite de las áreas más usadas de su territorio con excremento, rociando orina o frotando glándulas odoríferas en rocas y arbustos, y arañando los troncos con sus garras (Ceballos et al., 2010). Con sus bigotes, conectados a terminales nerviosas, pueden sentir detalles de la dirección del viento y detectar cuán amplio es el espacio entre las ramas del camino, lo que les ayuda a "navegar" en silencio en la oscuridad del bosque (Kitchener et al., 2010;Ceballos et al., 2010). ...

... One of potentially effective non-lethal interventions to protect livestock from big cat attacks is the protective collar, which provides a physical barrier and prevents the animal's death (Khorozyan & Waltert, 2019a). Big cats are well known to kill their prey by a throat bite that blocks the windpipe and causes suffocation (Kitchener, Van Valkenburgh, & Yamaguchi, 2010). As livestock grazing practices can be spatially and seasonally variable, often bringing livestock inside predator habitats and predisposing them to depredation, it seems logical to fit livestock with protective collars against predator attacks. ...

... Plastic collars were very effective against blackbacked jackals, but not against leopards and caracals in South Africa (Smuts, 2008;Snow, 2008). Therefore, collar reinforcement with metal parts is essential to successfully protect livestock from felids, which have shorter jaws and a stronger bite than canids (Kitchener et al., 2010) and can kill an animal by puncturing a leather or plastic collar (du Plessis et al., 2018;Smuts, 2008). The application of protective collars with poison capsules is now very restricted due to environmental hazards such as scavenger poisoning (Snow, 2008;VerCauteren et al., 2012). ...

... Felids (family Felidae) constitute appropriate models to investigate this hypothesis, as some species exhibit conspicuous blackand-white spots on the posterior part of the ears (Fig. 1). It is clear that felids use the movement of their ears in intraspecific communication (Kingdon 1977;Kitchener et al. 2010;Stanton et al. 2015). Therefore, contrasting white spots may improve the perception of the information transferred with ear movements and thus function as amplifiers of such information like contrasting white marks in birds that perform movement displays (Galván 2008). ...

... As predicted on the basis that felids make use of ear movement to communicate with conspecifics (Kingdon 1977;Kitchener et al. 2010;Stanton et al. 2015) and that contrasting colors improve detection (Osorio et al. 1999;Schmidt et al. 2004), a correlated evolution of white spots on ears and occupancy of closed habitats in the Felidae family was found. High vegetation density limits visibility in closed habitats, leading to a higher prevalence of acoustic communication traits in mammals inhabiting closed habitats and a higher prevalence of visual traits in those inhabiting open habitats (Ey and Fischer 2009). ...

... Felids present similar morphologies due to relatively recent divergence and constrains imposed by foraging and diet (Johnson et al., 2006;Kitchener et al., 2011). Therefore, they are a good model for understanding how closely related and morphologically similar species can coexist. ...

... We also found some evidence that the activity of the four Neotropical small felids overlaps with those of their main prey, at least to some extent, even though none of these felids seems to be a specialist and despite the fact that we have grouped prey by their type. Hunting when prey is active tends to facilitate detection and optimize the outcomes as felids rely on auditory and visual cues to successfully hunt (Kitchener et al., 2011). Predator-prey time use synchronism has been previously found in a few other carnivores, Roth and Lima, 2007;puma and jaguar, Weckel et al., 2006;Harmsen et al., 2011;Foster et al., 2013). ...

... To characterize fur across cats, we measured by hand the hair radius r hair and hair length L hair of nine species of cats (Materials and Methods). Additionally, fur density ρ fur and length values were gathered from the literature (23)(24)(25), giving us a total of 19 species of cats, the fur properties of which are given in SI Appendix, Table S4. To fully clean their fur coat, cats must distribute saliva to the hair roots. ...

... We measured the diameter and length of down hairs for nine cat species and fur density for two cat species using a portable Andonstar A1 USB microscope, and we tabulate data in SI Appendix, Table S4. Additional fur density and length values were gathered from literature (23)(24)(25). ...

... Although the Andean cat is a specialist (restricted food and spatiotemporal niches) and occurs at lower population densities than the Pampas cat, there is wide trophic and spatiotemporal niche overlap between these species (Walker et al. 2007;Napolitano et al. 2008;Tellaeche 2010;Reppucci et al. 2011;Reppucci 2012). Long tails in felids and other mammals have been associated with arboreality and sprinting (e.g., Sunquist and Sunquist 2002;Kitchener et al. 2010), but are also a typical trait for the snow leopard (Panthera uncia), a larger felid that occurs in rocky habitats similar to those of the Andean cat. In snow leopards, the long tail appears to assist balance while moving along steep slopes and may provide insulation from cold for the face and paws at high altitudes when resting (Kitchener et al. 2010). ...

... Long tails in felids and other mammals have been associated with arboreality and sprinting (e.g., Sunquist and Sunquist 2002;Kitchener et al. 2010), but are also a typical trait for the snow leopard (Panthera uncia), a larger felid that occurs in rocky habitats similar to those of the Andean cat. In snow leopards, the long tail appears to assist balance while moving along steep slopes and may provide insulation from cold for the face and paws at high altitudes when resting (Kitchener et al. 2010). The Andean cat is restricted to areas with cold nights, whereas Pampas cats occur in more varied climates (e.g., Sunquist 2002, 2009). ...

... The elbow joint has the flexibility to allow enough pronation to hold and manipulate prey (Andersson, 2004). Therefore, the anatomical construction of the feline limbs demonstrates a balance for maximum speed concomitant with a powerful grasp, especially in larger cats (Kitchener et al., 2010;Meachen-Samuels and Van Valkenburgh, 2009). ...

... However, despite its food indices having up to 95% similarity with small cats, as reported in southern Brazil (Kasper et al., 2015), these species use different foraging strategies. Cats generally lie in ambush by trails or burrow entrances waiting for the prey to appear (Kitchener, Van Valkenburgh & Yamaguchi, 2010). Thus, it can be argued that character displacement does not provide the most comprehensive explanation for the lesser grison's skull size differentiation between the different ecoregions. ...

... In some cases, scat content consisted almost entirely of plants [29]. Snow leopards also have longer and denser hair than other felids as an adaptation to life at high altitude [30], which indicates a relatively high frequency of hair ingestion through grooming and thus, a correspondingly frequent evacuation. Based on the above characteristics, we chose snow leopards as a suitable felid species for which to investigate the effects of plant ingestion and hair evacuation. ...

... These species are short distance acceleration hunters in trees and on the ground. They are reasonable swimmers, good climbers and jumpers, and thus are able to cope with a variety of habitats, but they are no cursors (Gittleman 1985;Kitchener 1991;Kitchener et al. 2010;Meloro et al. 2013). Therefore, P. balamoides likely avoided open steppe habitats, where ambush hunting is difficult. ...