Felis silvestris
The wildcat weights about 3 to 5 kg. The males are usually larger. The body length is about 50 to 70 cm and the tail is 21 to 30 cm. The tail is about twice the size of the hind foot. The tail is very characteristic because of the cylindrical shape, the bushy coat and the black spot in the back edge. The basic color of their fur is dark brown and gray with black stripes. They have five fingers in their forepaws and four fingers in their back paws. The breeding occurs in winter and births occur in the spring. Females are pregnant about 60 days and give birth to 1 – 8 juveniles. Sexual maturity comes at 10 – 22 months. In the wild they can live about 15 years and in captivity about 30 years.
We can see many similarities with their close cousins, the domestic cats. First of all they can interbreed. This is a problem because of the danger of loss of the characteristics of the species, especially in small populations. They communicate with each other just like the domestic cats: with movements of the tail, with facial expressions, with sounds (a big variety) etc. They have a well-developed sense of smell, vision and hearing. They eat small rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, eggs, insects, arachnids etc.
IUCN level
Least Concerned – 2015
Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the two species and it is possible that we may see a result of interbreeding. Instead of these we can use ten characteristics to separate the two species:
• Bushy, blunt tail with a black tip and two or more dark rings, which gradually fade towards the tail base. No dark stripe along the upper side of the (lower half of the) tail.
• Longhaired coat with a base colour of beige to ochrous-brown (see extreme colour of the animal at the right at nr. 1), and vague grey stripes, low in contrast. More contrast on the head and legs. Distinctiveness of the striping depends heavily on the angle and kind of light.
• Nose leather (front of the nose) pinkish.
• Eyes green to yellow-green.
• Contrasting dark stripe running from behind the shoulders to the root of the tail, never continuing to the tail tip and joining the tail rings
• Often a white patch on the breast, but not always.
• Relatively long legs and big feet, especially in young animals.
• The underside of the hind feet is black (or very dark) only in the front part, around the soles, and not on the heel. In tabby house cats the hind feet are black over their whole length.
• Almost always a small whitish tuft of hair is present in between the toes and the foot sole.
• Young cats (see also at 7), and wildcats in summer coat, have a more contrasting striping and therefore resemble tabby house cats more.
Geographical distribution (Greece)
In Greece we can find wildcats in Macedonia, Ipirus and Acarnania. In Peloponissos there is a small region in eastern Ahaia. Of course wildcats live in Crete and specifically in the western edge of Crete near the city of Chania.
To the north regions we can find the subspecies Felis silvestris silvestris and to the Crete we can find the subspecies Felis silvestris cretensis, which is an endemic subspecies. The Greek name for the subspecies is “Furogatos”.
Geographical distribution (worldwide)
The Wild Cat has a very broad distribution, found throughout most of Africa, Europe, and southwest and central Asia into India, China, and Mongolia. More specifically we can find a wildcat in these countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola (Angola), Armenia (Armenia), Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Congo, Congo, The Democratic Republic of the, Croatia, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, India, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia (Serbia), Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, United Republic of, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.