Cyprus-Forum.com

[GreekIslandGirl]

Part of the problem is that there is NOT a "huge difference" between wildcats, feral cats, wild cats and domestic cats (even if terminology suggests otherwise).

Genetically, these can interbreed and form hybrids so you get a whole spectrum ... But a lot is down to how early-on the kittens are handled by humans, as to which way they go.

[Tim Drayton]

There is a huge difference, actually, between feral cats, which are dependent on people and wild cats, such as those living in the north of Scotland, which are capable of living in the wild and hunting for their own food.

According to the dictionary "feral" is synonymous to "wild". Just because you find more cats in cities this doesn't mean that cats can not exist without humans. They are like cockroaches ... you can find more cockroaches in cities ... especially the dirty parts... but this doesn't mean that cockroaches need humans to survive... we just make their life easier so their population grows under certain circumstances Cats can hunt ... but they will just not bother if they are fed directly by humans or if they can find their food in the trash with minimal effort!

In daily language the two terms may be used synonymously but, technically, they have different meanings. As I understand it, a feral animal cannot survive in the wild away from humans, its whole pattern of existence has adapted to being in proximity to humans. So, for example, while the feral cats living in towns are capable of hunting prey to an extent, they mainly scavenge for food among rubbish left by humans, and would be unable to survive without this source of food.

[RichardB]

There is a huge difference, actually, between feral cats, which are dependent on people and wild cats, such as those living in the north of Scotland, which are capable of living in the wild and hunting for their own food.

According to the dictionary "feral" is synonymous to "wild". Just because you find more cats in cities this doesn't mean that cats can not exist without humans. They are like cockroaches ... you can find more cockroaches in cities ... especially the dirty parts... but this doesn't mean that cockroaches need humans to survive... we just make their life easier so their population grows under certain circumstances Cats can hunt ... but they will just not bother if they are fed directly by humans or if they can find their food in the trash with minimal effort!

Excellent post Sotos......In the UK we are now getting more and more Foxes in towns because of the reasons you state re the cats in Cyprus...which begs the question ...are they Feral or Wild???

[Tim Drayton]

Part of the problem is that there is NOT a "huge difference" between wildcats, feral cats, wild cats and domestic cats (even if terminology suggests otherwise).

Genetically, these can interbreed and form hybrids so you get a whole spectrum ... But a lot is down to how early-on the kittens are handled by humans, as to which way they go.

To the extent of my knowledge of this matter, I really think you have got that wrong. If you take in a two-week old Scottish wildcat and bring it up in a human family, it will still grow up to be a wildcat and will attack the humans that brought it up. The domestic cat, thanks to millennia of having grown up among humans, is genetically predisposed to become one of the family if adopted and taken in at a young enough age. Adult ferals, too, act differently towards humans as opposed to true wildcats. Adult ferals fear humans but will stay within a couple of metres of them, whereas wildcats come nowhere near towns.

However, the African wildcat may be different, from what I have read, and seems to have this genetic predisposition to 'become one of the family' if adopted by humans, even if taken from the wild as a kitten.

[RichardB]

Well I'm bored with all this cat talk now.... Think I'll start a less controversial thread such as ''Advise wanted for buying a house in Girne''

[Tim Drayton]

The following source, which I accept may not necessarily be right, bears me out on the Scottish wildcat:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/run ... -be-tamed/

Of all the wildcats, the Scottish wildcat is the largest, with males growing between 6-9kg (13-17lb) and females between 5-7kg (11-15lb), which is about 50% bigger than your average housecat. They have extremely dense fur, reportedly growing up to 30,000 hairs per square centimetre in winter, and they have eighteen retractable claws, rotating wrists and big, muscular thighs for running. They’re also notorious for being resolutely and impossibly wild. These cats have earned the reputation of never having been tamed by a human, not even if captive-born.

[Tim Drayton]

And the following source bears out my thinking about the African wild cat.

http://www.felineconservation.org/felin ... ildcat.htm

The African wildcat is very easily tamed, especially when taken as a kitten, and many farmers in its range have African wildcats in lieu of domestic cats.

[Tim Drayton]

...which begs the question ...are they Feral or Wild???

I am glad to see that you think there is a question worth begging, which is the point I am making.

[GreekIslandGirl]

I know the legend of how "wild" the Scottish wildcats are reputed to be; but the reality is that they can interbreed with domestic cats. Those would seem to be the two extremes of "tame" and "wild" among the smaller members of the cat family. As I said, there is a whole spectrum in-between which have been inter-breeding for thousands of years. The point I was making is that even domestic cats, which have not been handled much below 8 weeks tend to be shy (i.e. afraid) of humans ...

[Tim Drayton]

Part of the problem is that there is NOT a "huge difference" between wildcats, feral cats, wild cats and domestic cats (even if terminology suggests otherwise).

Genetically, these can interbreed and form hybrids so you get a whole spectrum ... But a lot is down to how early-on the kittens are handled by humans, as to which way they go.

Anyway, there is support in the literature for interbreeding:

Walker’s Carnivores of the World by Ronald M. Novak, p.42:

Genetic introgression has been a threat to […] Scottish wild cats (Felis silvestris) interbreeding with domestic cats (Daniels et al. 2001); in the case of the Scottish wild cat, probably few survive without at least some domestic cat genes (Beaumont et al. 2001).