Feline

Feline is a term in zoology which is used to describe a cat family. It includes all the cat species such as leopard, cheetah, jaguar, lion, puma, and the domestic cat. Cats are a wide variety of species belonging to the family Felidae. Feline cats are carnivorous and are found in almost every region of the world. 

Here, we have given a detailed description of the feline species. Students can refer to this page to know more about the characteristics of feline animals. 

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The general scientific classification for Feline cat has been provided in the table below.

Scientific Classification of Cat

The scientific name of the cat is Felis catus. 

General Characteristics of Cat Family

All the species of the cat family (Felidae) are found to have similar characteristics. Some of the common characteristics found are stated below:

1. The feline cats are digitigrade i.e., they consist of five toes on their front feet and four toes on their back feet. They also have protractile curved claws which are protected by cutaneous sheaths. These claws are attached to the terminal bones of the toe with the help of ligaments and tendons. 

2. The cat family consists of whiskers that are well developed. These are present on their cheeks, above the eyes and on the muzzle which helps in navigating in the dark for capturing prey.

3.  All the feline cat species have large external ears which are sensitive to high-frequency sounds, thus, allowing them to trace small rodent prey.

4. They consist of plantar pads on their forefeet as well as hind feet. These pads form a compact three-lobed cushion.

5. The presence of muscular limbs makes their bodies more flexible.

6. Their skull has a rounded profile and is considered unusually large when compared to other mammals due to the presence of large orbits.

7. All the species belonging to Felidae have 30 teeth in total and has a dental formula of \[\frac{3.1.3.1}{3.1.2.1}\]

8. They are mostly nocturnal creatures and have good night vision due to the presence of tapetum lucidum which can reflect light inside the eyeball. 

9. The eyes of feline species are mostly large to provide binocular vision and are more sensitive to lights.

10. The feline tongue has a covering of horny papillae and has a nose that slightly projects beyond their jaw.

Evolution of Cats

The evolution of cats can be traced to about 37 million years ago. It can be found from various fossil records that the 'cat pattern' was established quite early during mammalian evolution and were already recognized as a typical cat during those time. 

The feline cats belonging to the subfamily Felinae were found 10 million years ago in western Europe and are still unchanged to date. Scientists also examined and studied the fossils of the cats from the Pantherinae sub-family and came to a conclusion that the Pantherine lineage had emerged about 16 million years ago in Central Asia and had spread to other continents later.

The commonly found house cat or domestic cat that belongs to the Felidae family had common ancestors about 10 to 15 million years ago. The feline species belonging to the genus Felis diverged from the family Felidae 6-7 million years ago as a result of parapatric speciation and artificial selection. As the reports of phylogenetic research, the wild Felis species evolved through sympatric or parapatric speciation whereas, the domestic cat evolved by the process of artificial selection. The domesticated cat is a mammal that is similar to other mammalian cat species. It along with its wild ancestors are diploid and consists of 38 chromosomes and roughly about 20,000 genes. 

Physical Characteristics of Cats

The general physical characteristics and habits of the cats are given below:

1. Size and Weight: The domestic cat has an average weight ranging from 2.7 kilograms to 4.5 kilograms (6-10 pounds). Some of the rare non-pedigreed cats can also weigh up to 12.7 kilograms (28 pounds). These feline animals have an average length of 28 inches (71.1 centimetres) in the case of a male. The female cats can have a length of 20 inches (50.8 centimetres) on average. Since the cats are carnivorous in nature, they have a simple gut and a small intestine measuring three times the length of the cat's body.

2. Skin: The cat’s skin contains the dermis and epidermis which regenerates and helps them in fighting infection. Also, the hair follicles of cats are attached to tiny erector muscles which help them in bristling.

3. Teeth: Cats have teeth that mostly include canines and molars based on their functionality, i.e., stabbing, anchoring, and cutting. They do not have any flat-crowned teeth and except for the canines and molars, the rest of the teeth are mostly non-functional. The normal dental formula found in all the cat species in each side of both the upper jaw and lower jaw is incisors (3/3), canines (1/1), premolars (3/2), and molars (1/1). Therefore, the cat has a total of 16 teeth in the upper jaw and a total of 14 teeth in the lower jaw. The cats consist of 24 milk teeth or primary teeth at the beginning which is later replaced by permanent teeth after a period of five months.

4. Skull: The cat skull has large eye sockets and a specialised powerful jaw which is quite unusual in any other mammals. This specialised jaw consists of teeth that have different functions such as killing prey and tearing meat. A cat delivers a lethal neck bite while overpowering a prey. It is done by inserting its two long canine teeth between the two vertebrae of the prey. This, as a result, severe the spinal cord and causes irreversible paralysis and death. When compared to other feline species, the domestic cats consist of canine teeth which are narrowly spaced relative to their jaw size. This shows their adaptation to the preferred prey of small rodents having small vertebrae. Each side of the cat's mouth is composed of the premolars and first molars which togetherly form the carnassial pair. These pairs act like scissors and efficiently helps in shearing meat into smalls pieces. Although cats have better teeth than humans and consist of a thick protective layer of enamel, which prevents them from any tooth decay, they can still undergo occasional tooth infection and loss.

5. Claws: Cats have claws that are protractible and retractable which help them in self-defense, hunting, climbing, and relaxing. During relaxation, their claws are sheathed under the skin and fur which aids in keeping the claws sharper. Cats have five claws on the front paws and four claws on their back paws. The claws present on the front feet of cats are sharper than those of their hind/back feet. 

Sensing Ability of Cats

The sensing ability, as well as the sense of touch, is found to be very acute in cats. The cat's eyebrows, cheek hairs, whiskers, and ears are all very sensitive to any vibratory stimulation. The toes, paws, and nose-tip of the cat are also equally sensitive to any touch.

Eyes: Cats are known for their great sensing ability. They are mostly known to be nocturnal creatures. Cat's retina contains a layer of guanine which makes it extra sensitive to light and causes the eyes to shine at night. The pupil of a cat’s eye has the ability to expand or contract to mere slits based on the density of light. As such, the cats cannot distinguish colours easily. The cats also have a third eyelid which is a nictitating membrane and is used often as an indicator for the health of the cat. This third eyelid is commonly known as the haw. 

Nose: Cats have a well-developed smelling ability which helps them during their food evaluation. Therefore, during illness or clogged nasal passages, the cats tend to lose their appetite completely. They can easily detect the odour of any food easily and are especially keen on any nitrogenous odour (which is found in fish). 

Ear: Cats are known for their acute sense of hearing and exceed the hearing capacity of dogs. Cat’s ears are even receptive to ultrasonic frequencies which can range up to 85000 vibrations per second. Their ears also have about 30 muscles (which is five times more than the human ear) and thus, they are able to turn their ears several times faster in the direction of a sound as compared to that of a dog. 

Felidae Speed

The speed of the feline species belonging to the Felidae family are listed below:

• Cat - 48 kilometre/hour

• Jaguar  - 80 kilometre/hour

• Tiger - 49-65 kilometre/hour

• Cheetah - 80-130 kilometre/hour

• Lion - 80 kilometre/hour

• Leopard - 58 kilometre/hour

• Cougar - 80 kilometre/hour