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259:, although the legs are proportionately longer. The most distinguishable characteristic is the rich reddish-brown colour on the backs of the ears, over the belly and on the back legs. Its body length is 46–66.5 cm (18.1–26.2 in) with a 25–36 cm (9.8–14.2 in) long tail; and weight range 2.4–5.5 kg (5.3–12.1 lb).
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The body of the
Southern African wildcat is marked with vertical stripes but these can vary from faint to quite distinct. The tail is ringed with black and has a black tip. The chin and throat are white and the chest is usually paler than the rest of the body. The feet are jet black underneath. There
337:
Kitchener, A. C.; Breitenmoser-Würsten, C.; Eizirik, E.; Gentry, A.; Werdelin, L.; Wilting, A.; Yamaguchi, N.; Abramov, A. V.; Christiansen, P.; Driscoll, C.; Duckworth, J. W.; Johnson, W.; Luo, S.-J.; Meijaard, E.; O’Donoghue, P.; Sanderson, J.; Seymour, K.; Bruford, M.; Groves, C.; Hoffmann, M.;
279:
Southern
African wildcats are largely nocturnal, finding cover in which to rest during the day. Their habits are solitary, except for mating and raising their young, and they are highly territorial. They are adaptable predators, preferring to hunt small
284:, but able to change their diet according to seasonal and longer-term prey abundances and availability; they have been observed to take other small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and other invertebrates. The largest recorded prey include
360:
Driscoll, C. A., Menotti-Raymond, M., Roca, A. L., Hupe, K., Johnson, W. E., Geffen, E., Harley, E., Delibes, M., Pontier, D., Kitchener, A. C., Yamaguchi, N., O’Brien, S. J., Macdonald, D. (2007).
417:
503:"The feeding habits of the Southern African wildcat, a facultative trophic specialist, in the southern Kalahari (Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa/Botswana)"
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are two colour phases; iron-gray, with black and whitish speckling, and tawny-grey, with less black and more buffy speckling. In appearance it is very similar to a
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Kitchener, A. C. & Rees, E. E. (2009). "Modelling the dynamic biogeography of the wildcat: implications for taxonomy and conservation".
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340:"A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group"
227:. Morphological evidence indicates that the split between the African wildcat subspecies in Africa occurred in the area of
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The
Southern African wild cat is widely distributed throughout Africa south of the equator, but does not occur along the
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The main threat to the survival of the
Southern African wildcat is its tendency to
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223:. In 2007, it was tentatively recognised as a distinct subspecies on the basis of
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539:. Museum Memoir. Vol. 4. The Trustees of the National Museum of Rhodesia.
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coast. It tolerates a wide range of habitats that provide some sort of cover.
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Yamaguchi, N.; Kitchener, A.; Driscoll, C. & Nussberger, B. (2015).
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475:. London: British Museum of Natural History. pp. 102–109.
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488:The mammals of the southern African sub-region
362:"The near eastern origin of cat domestication"
312:near human habitations. Other threats include
486:Skinner, J. D. & Chimimba, C. T. (2005).
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416:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
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338:Nowell, K.; Timmons, Z.; Tobe, S. (2017).
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501:Herbst, M. & Mills, M. G. L. (2010).
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561:IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
316:by hunters and farmers, as well as
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522:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00679.x
445:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00599.x
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490:. Cambridge University Press.
473:Catalogue of the Genus Felis
292:and birds up to the size of
535:Smithers, R. H. N. (1971).
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797:African wildcat subspecies
787:Mammals described in 1822
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39:Scientific classification
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24:Southern African wildcat
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263:Distribution and habitat
200:Southern African wildcat
812:Mammals of South Africa
568:: e.T60354712A50652361.
537:The Mammals of Botswana
386:10.1126/science.1139518
349:(Special Issue 11): 19.
16:Subspecies of carnivore
590:Felis silvestris cafra
463:Pocock, R. I. (1951).
275:Ecology and behaviour
238:It is also known in
802:Mammals of Botswana
378:2007Sci...317..519D
807:Mammals of Namibia
510:Journal of Zoology
467:Felis lybica cafra
433:Journal of Zoology
205:Felis lybica cafra
182:Felis lybica cafra
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705:Open Tree of Life
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158:Subspecies:
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640:iNaturalist
314:persecution
290:springhares
122:Subfamily:
781:Categories
737:Q122375218
324:References
306:crossbreed
294:guineafowl
233:Mozambique
215:native to
213:subspecies
106:Feliformia
102:Suborder:
189:Desmarest
144:Species:
96:Carnivora
62:Kingdom:
56:Eukaryota
792:Wildcats
731:Wikidata
671:14000059
605:Q3643977
599:Wikidata
404:17600185
347:Cat News
269:Namibian
244:bush cat
242:as the '
229:Tanzania
217:Southern
208:) is an
112:Family:
86:Mammalia
76:Chordata
72:Phylum:
66:Animalia
52:Domain:
759:ZooBank
751:9029391
632:6164701
619:1243777
395:5612713
374:Bibcode
366:Science
300:Threats
282:rodents
240:English
132:Genus:
126:Felinae
116:Felidae
92:Order:
82:Class:
697:159295
684:458416
658:726326
645:486034
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191:, 1822
710:54737
506:(PDF)
343:(PDF)
286:hares
137:Felis
746:GBIF
679:NCBI
653:ITIS
627:GBIF
566:2015
418:link
400:PMID
310:cats
231:and
219:and
198:The
666:MSW
614:EoL
518:doi
514:280
441:doi
437:279
390:PMC
382:doi
370:317
246:'.
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
