European wildcat

🔎 Who is it?

The European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) is a subspecies of the wildcat (Felis silvestris), a carnivorous mammal in the family Felidae.

The European wildcat is a feline that lives in the forests of eastern, central and western Europe and, to a lesser extent, in the Scottish Highlands and Turkey. It is not found in the rest of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, the Baltic States or the Scandinavian Peninsula, including Finland and Norway.

🌍 Where does it live?

Wildcats were very common in Pleistocene Europe. When the ice sheet retreated northwards, they adapted to life in dense forests.

The destruction of its habitat and the persecution it suffered through poisons and traps to protect game species caused a decline in numbers and in the distribution of this species. Today, in almost all parts of Europe it is very rare and protected, although a few individuals are sometimes caught and killed after being mistaken for feral domestic cats. Hybrids of the European wildcat and the domestic cat are common and fertile, which compromises the genetic integrity of the species.

The largest populations are found on the Iberian Peninsula, in both Spain and Portugal, although it is not abundant in Catalonia, Galicia or along the Cantabrian coast. In the autonomous community of Catalonia, a captive breeding programme was carried out with the aim of reintroducing the animals bred in this way into the wild.

🍽️ What does it eat?

It feeds mainly on rodents, lagomorphs and birds, and rarely on amphibians and invertebrates. Unlike foxes, it does not eat the bones of its prey unless the prey is very small, so the carcasses left by each can easily be told apart. On the other hand, the remains of prey left by domestic cats are identical to those left by the European wildcat. Occasionally it may hunt roe deer fawns, although, as already noted, its diet consists basically of small prey.

🪺 How does it breed?

Mating generally takes place between the end of winter and the end of spring, and the young are born from April to September, with the largest number of births in May. Only the mother looks after the litter (of at least 2 and at most 6 kittens; commonly 3 or 4), which she does for about five months.

💡 Did you know…?

It resembles the domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus), but is sturdier and considerably larger than most of them; only some giant breeds come close to its size. It is also larger and has longer, denser fur than the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), the ancestor of the domestic cat.

The European wildcat's markings are striped. Its most distinctive feature is its tail, much shorter, thicker and bushier than that of domestic cats, with three to five dark rings on a lighter background, and an always black, rounded tip.