Family: Felidae (cats)
Subfamily: Felinae (small to medium sized cats)
Genus: Felis (small cats)

There is no cat lover who doesn't know the cat-family, so lets get educated!


Attention: These are wild cats (except of course the domestic cat also included here), even though cute and adorable, they are happy in the wild so don’t have them as pets.


"Concervation status" in decreasing order:

Least Concern
Near Threatened

Threatened
Vulnerable
Endangered
Critically Endagered

Extinct in the Wild
Extinct

Chinese Mountain (Desert) Cat – Felis bieti

A so called “mysterious” cat by scientists – even cat specialists haven’t seen this one in the wild, only as fur. This is considered to be in the vulnerable status category as they are so rare.
Check National Geographic for extra information and images.



A curious fact: its name in Chinese is huang mo mao which means "cat that occurs in wilderness of little vegetation."

Jungle Cat – Felis chaus

Found in Asia and North Africa in grassy habitats - no jungle. They are also known as Swamp Lynx, but are not related to them. So these cats are a misleading specie with misleading names. Happily it is considered “least concern”, then why aren’t there more images of it?



Check Animal Diversity for some good information and a picture!

Funny fact: During mating, the males bark like dogs.

Pallas Cat – Felis manul

Also known as Manul, this cat inhabits rocky areas throughout Central Asia. It is rare as it was hunted for fur in Mongolia and China, but now it is prohibited!






They are truly interesting and worth your attention, as they are unfortunately near threatened.

Black-Footed Cat – Felis nigripes

One of the smallest cat species (out of 3), and are found in southern African countries.

Good stuff in both Animal Info and Animal Diversity.



These are hard to hunt and they are too small to be house pets, but they are still rare because of rat traps and poisons, which leads to their vulnerable status.

Sand Cat – Felis margarita

These species do live in sandy locations; the Sahara deserts and Arabian Peninsula – not a misleading cat this one.
Characterised by the large ears, which good to increase surface area to get rid of excess heat.





This excellent digger is actually the smallest cat specie (or one of the smallest anyways). As they are all secretive, little is known about them and unfortunately this lovely cat is near threatened.

Important: This adorable specie is used in illegal pet trade and is getting endangered because of desertification and habitat loss. This is truly a too beautiful cat to get extinct, especially when too little is known about them.

Their profile can be found in Animal Diversity.

Wildcat – Felis silvestris

Literally wild cats which are in the least concern concervation state. These are found in forests in Europe; in scrub deserts in south-western Asia; and the savannah regions of Africa.

Domestic Cat – Felis catus

Your's trully. What the Felis genus is most known of:











The point of this article is to give some awareness of these amazing creatures, that not even I ever heard of. As a biologist these factors concern me, and as a artistic community I decided to share these species with some talanted pieces of work. So I thank them for their contribution, and I thank you for showing some interest.


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Next: Felidae > Felinae > Prionailurus (Asian small cats) and Puma

After: Felidae > Felinae > Lynx and Leopardus