Cretan Wildcat

Cretan Wildcat
Cretan Wildcat[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Felis
Species: F. silvestris
Subspecies: F. s. cretensis
Trinomial name
Felis silvestris cretensis
Haltenorth, 1953

The Cretan Wildcat (Felis silvestris cretensis; Greek φουρόκατος) is a Wildcat subspecies that inhabits the Greek island of Crete. Long feared extinct, an expedition by the University of Perugia managed to capture an individual in 1996.[2]

Origin of the Cretan Wildcat

Two hypotheses of how wildcats arrived on the island have been suggested:[2]

  • It was already present before the mainland and Crete separated.
  • Early Cretan settlers brought cats for domestication. Some of these escaped and became wild again.

References

  1. ^ Wozencraft, W. Christopher (16 November 2005). "Order Carnivora (pp. 532-628)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). pp. 536-537. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3. 
  2. ^ a b An article about the Cretan wildcat by "STIGMES, the magazine of Crete"



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