Domestic Cat
Felis catus
Cats possess a specialized collarbone that allows them to always land on their feet, and they share 95.6% of their DNA with tigers.
- Scientific name
- Felis catus
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Mammalia › Carnivora › Felidae › Felis
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- increasing
- Biome
- urban
- Habitat
- Urban, suburban, and rural areas worldwide; highly adaptable to human settlements.
- Diet
- Strict carnivore (obligate carnivore) feeding on small rodents, birds, insects, and commercial pet food.
- Range
- Global distribution, Worldwide except Antarctica
- Size
- 46 cm (18 in) in body length, weighing 3.6-4.5 kg (8-10 lbs)
- Lifespan
- 12-15 years (up to 20+ years indoors)
- Active
- crepuscular
- Threats
- Vehicular collisions, infectious diseases, predation by coyotes or stray dogs, and abandonment.
- Safe to approach?
- Generally harmless and approachable, though feral individuals may be defensive. Avoid cornering a cat. If scratched or bitten, wash the wound immediately with warm water and soap to prevent infection (such as cat-scratch fever), and consult a doctor if the wound is deep.
The cat ( Felis catus ), commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat , is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae. Recent advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the domestication of the cat occurred in the Near East around 7500 BC. It is commonly kept as a house pet and farm cat, but also ranges freely as a feral cat avoiding human contact. It is valued by humans for companionship and its...
Photo: Von.grzanka, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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