The Caucasian wildcat (''Felis silvestris caucasica'') is a
European wildcat
The European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Great Britain, Turkey and the Caucasus. Its fur is brownish to grey with stripes on the forehead and on the sides and has a bushy tail with a bl ...
subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
that inhabits the
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains
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* Azerbaijani: ,
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* is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...
and
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
.
Taxonomy
''Felis silvestris caucasica'' was
described by
Konstantin Satunin
Konstantin Alekseevich Satunin (20 May 1863–10 November 1915) was a Russian zoologist who graduated at Moscow State University in 1890. From 1893 onward, he worked at a sericulture station in the Caucasus. He was a senior specialist at the Depa ...
in 1905 on the basis of a skin of a female cat collected near
Borjomi
Borjomi ( ka, ბორჯომი ) is a resort town in south-central Georgia with a population of 11,173 (as of 2024). Located 165 km from Tbilisi, it is one of the six municipalities of the Samtskhe–Javakheti region and is situated in the ...
in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
.
''Felis silvestris trapezia'' was proposed in 1916 for a male
zoological specimen
A zoological specimen is an animal or part of an animal preserved for scientific use.
Various uses are: to verify the identity of a (species), to allow study, increase public knowledge of zoology.
Zoological specimens are extremely diverse. Exampl ...
in the collection of the
Natural History Museum, London
The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...
, which originated in the vicinity of
Trabzon
Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...
in northern Turkey.
Characteristics
The Caucasian wildcat differs from the European wildcat by being lighter gray in colour, with a fainter pattern on the sides and the tail. It is similar in size, measuring in head to body length, in shoulder height. It weighs , rarely more than .
Distribution and habitat
In Turkey, the wildcat is considered common in
mesic and mixed
oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
-
beech
Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...
forests of the
Pontic Mountains
The Pontic Mountains or Pontic Alps (, meaning 'North Anatolian Mountains'), form a mountain range in northern Anatolia, Turkey. They are also known as the "Parhar Mountains" in the local Turkish and Pontic Greek languages. The term ''Parhar'' ...
, but rare in the
Marmara and
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...
regions. In the
Taurus Mountains
The Taurus Mountains (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar,'' Greek language, Greek'':'' Ταύρος) are a mountain range, mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal reg ...
, it probably only occurs in
deciduous forest
In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, after flo ...
of
Kahramanmaraş Province
Kahramanmaraş Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey. Its area is 14,520 km2, and its population is 1,177,436 (2022). Its provincial capital is the city o ...
. It is possibly extinct in the
Eastern Anatolia Region
The Eastern Anatolia region () is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ.
It is bordered by the Black Sea Region and Georgia in th ...
.
See also
*
Caucasian black cat
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2620076
Wildcats
European wildcat subspecies
Mammals described in 1905
Mammals of Turkey
Fauna of Georgia (country)
Mammals of Azerbaijan
Fauna of Armenia