Talk:African wildcat/Archive 1

Intelligence
Is the African Wildcat smarter than other cat "breeds"? If so, I think it should be mentioned...--68.111.174.11 (talk) 07:52, 11 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Feel free to look for a reliable source for this idea. — SMcCandlish  Talk⇒ ʕ(Õلō)ˀ  Contribs. 01:49, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

"Felis lybica caudata"?
This trinomial appears on the Azerbaijan postage stamp featured in the article. Even the idea of this species being F. lybica instead of F. s. lybica is never mentioned in the article, so taxonomic information is obviously missing. — SMcCandlish  Talk⇒ ʕ(Õلō)ˀ  Contribs. 01:47, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
 * It wouldn't be the first time a stamp messed up animal names (heh, brontosaurus). On further examination F. s. caudata appears on both wikipedia and wikispecies pages, but both are stumps. F. s. caudata refers to the turkestan wildcat. There's also a ornata-lybica group but it doesn't appear to contain 'caudata'. I would suggest this was just a stamp error. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.182.230.44 (talk) 01:45, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Coming back with more information (same poster as parent). This highly reliable looking page /s seems to imply that F. s. and F. l. are more or less interchangeable. It would be interesting to see more investigation into this. 124.182.230.44 (talk) 01:53, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
 * If "lybica" refences to a region, it would be nice if were linked to relevant wikipage — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.240.131.177 (talk) 05:26, 17 December 2018 (UTC)
 * It doesn't really reference a defined region. The cat is found throughout much of Africa and southwestern, central and southern Asia. Historically Libya (sometime Lybia) referred to a large internal region of Saharan Africa or the Libyan desert (eastern Sahara) rather than modern nation state.  Jts1882 &#124; talk 07:55, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Picture of the Cat Leading into this article
It would be nice is someone replaced this picture with a more appealing picture of this species. Must the cat be represented by a photograph were it looks pissed off just because its name is "wildcat"? 108.81.134.236 (talk) 09:10, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
 * It has been done 124.182.230.44 (talk) 01:55, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

Differences?
It would be nice if the article would compare and contrast the wildcat with the domestic species. What makes them different? For example, if I raised an African wildcat kitten from birth, would it end up like my housecat? Viriditas (talk) 04:16, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

There are anecdotal reports of this happening, but a 1988 report on Felis silvestris lybica found that while hand-reared Felis silvestris lybica behave very similarly to housecats, they are less tame, and are hostile to other cats. A hybrid breed between housecats and the African wildcat exists as the Sokoke, even though they are technically conspecific. Here is an interesting article on a human encounter with an adult African wildcat.

Schvass (talk) 20:22, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Felis silvestris lybica sarda?
Sardan wildcat...scientific name is Felis silvestris lybica sarda, how can scientific names have more than 3 words? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.123.130.53 (talk) 11:29, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Photo showing legs
Long legs is a defining feature of African wildcats. Its a shame nether of the photos show this fact off. Jonpatterns (talk) 18:28, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

Felis silvestris floridious?
>>>The wild cats in Sardinia were long considered a subspecies of the African wildcat.[7] But results of zooarchaeological research indicate that they descended from domestic cats introduced about 2000 years ago from the Near East or sub-Sahara.[10] I had my indigenous cats tested at UC Davis and they turned out to be very similar genetically to their African wildcat ancestors also; which means the same research conducted here in the states may or may not conclude that the native "Feral" cat species found here in my home state of Florida and others may also be rightly considered a sub-species as well? — Preceding unsigned comment added by R Dailey0001 (talk • contribs) 01:41, 14 November 2015 (UTC)

Species vs. Subspecies?
This page lists it as its own species, Felis lybica. However, the page for Wildcat indicates that it is a subspecies, Felis sylvestris lybica. I feel that this contradiction ought to be resolved one way or the other.99.203.5.183 (talk) 04:53, 22 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Latest published taxonomy from IUCN Cat Specialist Group indicates Felis lybica is the latest taxonomic position, this has apparently not been ratified by IUCN Red List, ITIS, other taxonomic databases, or articles (yet?). en:Wikipedia is kind of in limbo by taking this position so early, and probably shouldn't have jumped the gun.
 * http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/filesharing/5.Cat_News/5.3._Special_Issues/5.3.10._SI_11/CN_Special_Issue_11_Revised_taxonomy_of_the_Felidae.pdf
 * ~ Mellis  ( talk ) 06:25, 22 January 2018 (UTC)
 * It is the IUCN specialist cat group who have made the determination and the group includes nearly every major scientist working on cat phylogenetics and taxonomy, including authors of the last wildcat red list assessment. The change has been expected for a decade since the detailed phylogentic study and the Cat SG revised taxonomy is the long expected ratification. The ASM (who oversee MSW) have accepted the revision in their online database. The reason some of the articles are out of kilter is because editors keep making changes without considing the new information.  Jts1882 &#124; talk 07:37, 22 January 2018 (UTC)
 * American Society of Mammalogists? Do you have a link to the ASM acceptance? ~ Mellis  ( talk ) 08:06, 22 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Felis lybicus. The database is in beta, although under construction is probably a better term. The main thing it is useful for at this stage is the revised species listing and updated families since MSW3. Most of the entries are sparce, with the exception of the sand cat, where they have placed most of the Mammalian Species article. Given the people on the guiding committee are largely those who dealt with MSW, I'd be surprised if this isn't a preview of the overdue MSW4.   Jts1882 &#124; talk 09:58, 22 January 2018 (UTC)


 * FYI, a related issue was raised in four separate sections of the archived section of the talk page for the article on domestic cats. One guy there suggested that it doesn't make any sense to list things as different species, if they're able to breed with each other.  See here:
 * Talk:Cat/Archive 13
 * Talk:Cat/Archive 13
 * Talk:Cat/Archive 13
 * Talk:Cat/Archive 13
 * - 68.207.248.247 (talk) 00:34, 10 January 2019 (UTC)

Wildcat
Why aren't Sardinian cats considered wildcats? Felis silvestris catus is a subspecies of Felis silvestris, if you object, please see the figures here: The Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication F. s. lybica is clearly closer to F. s. catus than to other subspecies, therefore, if F. s. catus are not considered wildcats, F. s. lybica are not wildcats, which is not the case. Editor abcdef (talk) 11:14, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by R Dailey0001 (talk • contribs) 18:02, 11 May 2016 (UTC)