Feline ResearchEuropean wildcat and domestic cat: Do they really differ?
Introduction
The European wildcat, Felis silvestris silvestris (Schreber, 1775), is considered a subspecies of Felis silvestris. The domestic cat is arbitrarily considered either as a subspecies of F. silvestris (Felis silvestris catus) or as a distinct species (Felis catus) (Macdonald et al., 2010).
The European wildcat is a medium-sized carnivore, with a general color pattern of brown gray or dark gray. It is more robust than the domestic counterpart. A combination of external features such as the typical black dorsal line, 4-5 black lines on the head and black tail rings, allows to distinguish wildcats from its domestic form and from most of the hybrids (Lapini, 2006, Lozano and Malo, 2012).
The distribution of the European wildcat extends from the Iberian Peninsula to Caucasus Mountains and up to Scotland (Driscoll et al., 2007). It is considered an endangered species and is strictly protected under Annex IV of European Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC); in addition, this felid is included in the CITES Appendix II (Lozano and Malo, 2012). The wildcat has been categorized as “least concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to the wide geographic distribution of the species (Driscoll et al., 2007). However, the population trend is globally decreasing. In Italy, the European wildcat population is fragmented and residual populations can be found in North East and Central Italy and in Sicily (Pierpaoli et al., 2003, Lapini, 2006). The European wildcat is threatened by several factors, including habitat fragmentation and destruction, which have gravely reduced the populations. Other important threats for the European wildcat population include hybridization with the domestic cat (genetic introgression), human-induced mortality (hunting, poisoning, and road and railway kills), infectious diseases (feline immunodeficiency virus, feline leukemia, and feline parvovirus), and competition with other species such as lynx, red deer, and boar (Nowell and Jackson, 1996, Macdonald et al., 2004, Phelan and Sliwa, 2006, Driscoll et al., 2007, Oliveira et al., 2008, Lozano and Malo, 2012, Beugin et al., 2016). Improving our knowledge of the behavior of the European wildcat might be valuable for the conservation of this species in the wild and also for its husbandry in captive environments (Stanton et al., 2015).
The wildcat is a solitary, crepuscular, and territorial species; moreover, it is shy and aggressive and tends to avoid humans. The kittens remain with the mother for about 5 months, after which they become independent and leave the mother's home range (Nowak, 1997, Yamaguchi et al., 2015). Female and male European wildcats do not associate outside the mating season (Lozano and Malo, 2012, Beugin et al., 2016). However, the Felidae are known to include both solitary and social species. Opportunistic domestic cats without kinship can congregate temporarily around resources, establishing social relationships between more predisposed individuals (Dehasse, 2008, Bradshaw, 2016).
The habitat preferences of the European wildcat are controversial. Although it is considered a forest species, alternative environments as scrublands are preferred (Lozano, 2010, Beugin et al., 2016). The wildcat occurrence depends more on prey and shelter availability rather than on the habitat type (Klar et al., 2008, Lozano, 2010, Lozano and Malo, 2012). Diet seems to vary based on prey availability. Wildcats eat mainly small mammals, such as meadow and forest rodents. A preference for rabbits has been reported, if this species is present (Malo et al., 2004, Germain et al., 2009). The European wildcat is considered a facultative specialist carnivore. The feral domestic cat is more generalist and opportunistic, and its diet may also include amphibians, birds, insects and anthropogenic foods (Fitzgerald, 1988, Germain et al., 2009).
The European wildcat (F. silvestris silvetris) and the domestic cat are often considered as subspecies of F. silvestris (Randi and Ragni, 1991). Therefore, although the European wildcat is not the ancestor of the domestic cat, they are supposed to share a similar ethogram and analogous communication modalities. The domestication of the cat took place in the Near East more than 9000 years ago (Driscoll et al., 2007) when a mutual and cooperative relationship started between human beings and cats. Humans discovered that cats were helpful in defending grains and cereals from rodents, so farmers likely began to encourage wildcats to approach and, or remain in their settlements, providing an environment for domestication. The needs of humans required no change in any behaviors of the wildcats, so the behavioral patterns of the domestic cat probably remained mostly unchanged from the wild counterpart (Serpell, 1988, Overall, 1997, Driscoll et al., 2007).
Research on felids suggests that all felid species display comparable behavioral repertoires (Bradshaw and Cameron-Beaumont, 2000, Sunquist and Sunquist, 2002, Stanton et al., 2015). In captivity, despite environments that might affect animal behavior, felid species behave similarly to each other and to their domesticated counterparts (Cameron-Beaumont, 1997). The behavioral repertoire of the domestic cat (F. silvestris catus) has been widely studied and has often been used as a model for wild species such as the European wildcat (Lowe and Bradshaw, 2001). However, further studies should be done to investigate and compare felid behavioral repertoires and to develop a standardized ethogram for these species. Improving our knowledge on animal behavior might be important for the conservation of endangered species in the wild as well as in captive environments (Stanton et al., 2015). Moreover, information on domestic cat behavior and sociality might be useful to improve the management of pet cats and maximize their well-being (Bradshaw, 2016).
The aim of this study was to enhance the knowledge on the biology and behavior of the European wildcat by comparing its behavioral repertoire with that of the domestic cat. Individual and social behaviors of a group of European wildcats in captivity were observed and compared with behaviors of a group of domestic cats to underline similarities and differences between the 2 groups.
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Subjects
The subjects of this study were 6 European wildcats (F. silvestris silvestris) and 5 domestic cats (F. silvestris catus). The wildcat group consisted of a pair with their offspring housed at Parco Natura Viva, an Italian zoological garden (45.484351, 10.799502). This group consisted of 3 females and 3 castrated males aged between 1.5 and 12 years (Table 1). The wildcats were fed once a day with chicken or turkey and had 1 fasting day per week to mimic the unpredictable food environment in the
Individual and social behavior in wildcats and domestic cats
First, in the wildcat group, the most performed behavioral category was vigilance (43.96%), followed by locomotion (14.24%), social resting (11.35%), individual resting (10.87%), self-grooming (5.75%), out of sight (3.96%), human-directed behavior (HDB; 4.01%), exploration (2.20%), abnormal behavior (1.02%), affiliative behavior (0.89%), individual play (0.66%), maintenance (0.50%), scent marking (0.35%), and agonistic behavior (0.24%; Figure 1A). In the domestic cat group, the most performed
Discussion
This report highlights that, despite the differences in the housing conditions and life history of the subjects, the behavior of the study wildcats and domestic cats seems to be similar, particularly in terms of shape and morphology of the reported behavioral patterns. Therefore, as previously suggested, the ethogram of the domestic cat (F. silvestris catus) may represent a model for the wildcat (Lowe and Bradshaw, 2001). However, a few differences were reported in our study, which were related
Conclusion
The literature on the European wildcat has focused mainly on its morphological and anatomical features, geographic range, and food preferences. Due to the elusive and crepuscular habits of this species, little is known about its behavioral repertoire. This study is one of only a few that investigates wildcat behavior and compares the behavioral patterns of domestic cats and European wildcats. Our findings seem to suggest that behavioral differences between European wildcat and domestic cat are
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the anonymous reviewer for the careful reading of our manuscript and the useful comments and suggestions.
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