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: φουρόγατος, fourógatos) is a European wildcat subspecies that inhabits the Greek island of Crete and was first described in 1953.[2]

Long feared extinct, participants of an expedition by the University of Perugia managed to capture an individual in 1996. Two hypotheses of how wildcats arrived on the island have been suggested:[3]

References

  1. Wozencraft, W.C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 536–537. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. Haltenorth, T. 1953. Die Wildkatzen der Alten Welt; eine Übersicht über die Untergattung. Geest und Portig, Leipzig.
  3. Anonymous. The Wild Cat of Crete. A Ghost Animal. Stigmes online
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