Guest Videos: Felis the Wildcat

For those of us in the North America, it’s pretty easy to tell a house cat from a wildcat:

Another name for “wildcat” is “bobcat.”

But that is only because Felis silvestris never immigrated here on its own. Humans brought domesticated African wildcats overseas.

In the Old World, distinguishing between house cats and European wildcats can be challenging:

Oddly enough, it’s easier to see the difference between Fluffy and its direct ancestor because of those long, striped legs:

Good luck trying to tell them apart if they’re up in the tree (though being in Africa and in a tree out on the wild savannah is a big clue!):

More information:

F. silvestris lybica: Still an enigma. (Herbst’s thesis was of great help when I was doing the cat books and some posts here; in it is this adorable photo of an African wildcat she tagged who was not at all pleased with the experience.)

For lagniappe:

This full-length video covers most wildcats — it has excellent videography that shows all these beautiful felines at their finest.

Featured image: Erwin Niemand/Shutterstock