Felis nigripes

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Vulnerable

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Habitat

Biome: Terrestrial [1].

Ecology: The black-footed cat is a specialist of open, short grass areas with an abundance of small rodents and ground-roosting birds. It inhabits dry, open savanna , grasslands and Karoo semi-desert with sparse shrub and tree cover and a mean annual rainfall of between 100 and 500 mm at altitudes of 0-2,000 m. It is not found in the driest and sandiest parts of the Namib and Kalahari Deserts (Sliwa 2008).

During a 6-year field study on the game farm in central South Africa, 1725 prey items were observed consumed by 17 free-ranging habituated black-footed cats. Average prey size was 24.1 g. Eight males fed on significantly larger prey (27.9 g) than 9 females (20.8 g). Fifty-four prey species were classified by their average mass into 8 different size classes, 3 for mammals, 3 for birds, 1 for amphibians/reptiles, and 1 for invertebrates . Small mammals (5-40 g) constituted the most important prey class (39%) of total prey biomass followed by larger mammals (> 100 g; 17%) and small birds ( 100 g) were mainly consumed. Small rodents like the large-eared mouse (Malacothrix typica), captured 595 times by both sexes, were particularly important during the reproductive season for females with kittens. Male black-footed cats showed less variation between prey size classes consumed among climatic seasons. This sex-specific difference in prey size consumption may help to reduce intra-specific competition (Sliwa 2006). In terms of interspecific competition, Sliwa et al. (2007) found that black-footed cats captured smaller prey on average than African wildcats, although both captured approximately the same number (12-13) of prey species per night.

Black-footed cats are solitary, except for females with dependent kittens, and during mating. Males have larger annual home ranges (20.7 km²; n=5) than females (10.0 km², n=7) (Sliwa 2004). Adults travel an average of 8.42+/- 2.09 km per night - more distance than the African wildcat (5.1 +/- 3.35 km per night) depite their smaller size, although some wildcats travelled very far (17.37 per km longest distance, as opposed to the black-footed at's 14.61 km) (Sliwa et al. 2007).

Male ranges overlap those of 1-4 females. Intra-sexual overlap varies from 12.9% for three males to 40.4% for five females. Home-range size is likely to vary between regions according to resources available to the individuals (Sliwa 2004). Kittens are independent after 3-4 months, but remain within the range of their mother for extended periods (Sliwa 2008).

The black-footed cat is one of the world's smallest cats, with females weighing an average of 1.3 kg and males larger at 1.93 kg (Sliwa 2008). The conspecific and more common African wildcat is considerably larger (females - 3.9 kg; males - 5.1 kg) (Sliwa et al. 2007).[1].

List of Habitats :

•     2     Savanna   
  
•     2.1     Savanna - Dry   
  
•     4     Grassland   
  
•     4.5     Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry   
  
•     8     Desert   
  
•     8.1     Desert - Hot   
[more info]

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Aug-2007

Placed in the genus Felis according to genetic analysis (Johnson et al. 2006, O'Brien and Johnson 2007, Eizirik et al. submitted).[1].

Similar Species

Members of the genus Felis

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 38 species and subspecies in this genus:

F. badia (Bay Cat) · F. bengalensis hainana (Leopard Cat) · F. bieti (Chinese Mountain Cat) · F. catus (Cat) · F. catus silvestris (African Wild Cat) · F. chaus (Andean Cougar) · F. colocolo (Pampas Cat) · F. concolor (Goldon Ringtail Possum) · F. concolor concolor (Mountain Lion) · F. concolor coryi (Florida Panther) · F. concolor couguar (Eastern Cougar) · F. concolor schorgeri (Wisconsin Cougar) · F. geoffroyi geoffroyi (Geoffroy's Cat) · F. guigna (Kodkod) · F. guigna guigna (Kodkod) · F. iriomotensis (Band-Tailed Goatfish) · F. libyca (African Wild Cat) · F. manul (Pallas's Cat) · F. margarita (Pakistan Sand Cat) · F. margarita margarita (Sand Dune Cat) · F. nigripes (African Black-Footed Cat) · F. nigripes nigripes (African Black-Footed Cat) · F. pardalis (Ocelot) · F. pardina (Spanish Lynx) · F. pardus (Small Cats) · F. planiceps (Flat-Headed Cat) · F. rubiginosa (Vogelkop Ringtail) · F. serval serval (Serval) · F. silvestris (Andean Cougar) · F. silvestris bieti (Chinese Desert Cat) · F. silvestris catus (African Wild Cat) · F. silvestris grampia (Scottish Wildcat) · F. sylvestris (Wild Cat) · F. temmincki (Asian Golden Cat) · F. tigris (Small Cats) · F. viverrina (Fishing Cat) · F. wiedii wiedii (Margay) · F. yagouaroundi cacomitli (Jaguarundi)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A hand-book to the Carnivora. by Richard Lydekker. London: Allen, [1896] url p. 155.
• Advances in the study of mammalian behavior / edited by John F. Eisenberg and Devra G. Kleiman. [Stillwater, Okla.]: American Society of Mammalogists; 1983. url p. 261.
• Annotated CITES Appendices and Reservations CITES url p. 52.
• Bulletin of entomological research. Farnham Royal: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux. url p. 213.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 83 1939 Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, 1863- url p. 241, p. 242, p. 750.
• Catalogue of Mammalia in the Indian Museum, Calcutta / by John Anderson, Superintendent of the Indian Museum. Calcutta, 1881-1891. url p. 232.
• Catalogue of carnivorous, pachydermatous and edentate Mammalia. .. in the. .. Museum / by J.E. Gray London, 1869. url p. 29.
• Catalogue of scientific papers (1800-1900) Comp. by the Royal society of London. Cambridge, C. J. Clay and sons, 1867-1902; url p. 89.
• Catalogue of scientific papers, 1800-1900. Compiled by the Royal Society of London. London, C.J. Clay and Sons, 1867-1902 [etc.] Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1914-25. url p. 89.
• Catalogue of the Genus Felis / By R.I. Pocock, F.R.S. London, 1951. url p. 135, p. 145, p. 146, p. 147, p. 179, p. 189, p. 190, p. 25, p. 4.
• Checklist of CITES Species CITES, WCMC url p. 110, p. 126, p. 151, p. 154, p. 221.
• Checklist of CITES Species: a reference to the appendices to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES url p. 128, p. 132, p. 217, p. 75, p. 96.
• Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian mammals 1758 to 1946 / by J.R. Ellerman and T.C.S. Morrison-Scott. London: BM(NH), 1966. url p. 302.
• Checklist of mammals listed in the CITES appendices and in EC Regulation 338/97 JNCC url p. 52.
• Mammals of the Soviet Union / V.G. Heptner, A.A. Nasimovich, and A.G. Bannikov; scientific editor, Robert S. Hoffmann. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Libraries and National Science Foundation, 1988- url p. 324, p. 647, p. 782.
• Natural history essays / by Graham Renshaw. London: Sherratt & Hughes, 1904. url p. 23.
• Natural history essays; by Graham Renshaw. .. London [etc.]Sherratt & Hughes, 1904. url p. 17.
• Nature. London, etc., Macmillan Journals Ltd., etc. url p. 286, p. 521.
• Revue méthodique et critique des collections déposées dans cet établissement. Leyden, Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie. url p. 105.
• Science. New York, N.Y.: [s.n.]1880- url p. 940.
• Smithsonian year. 1968 Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1965-1976. url illustration , p. 405.
• South African mammals. A short manual for the use of field naturalists, sportsmen and travellers. London: H.F. & G. Witherby, 1920. url p. 75.
• South African mammals: a short manual for the use of field naturalists, sportsmen and travellers / Alwin Haagner; with numerous illustrations. London: H.F. & G. Witherby; 1920. url p. 75.
• South African mammals; a short manual for the use of field naturalists, sportsmen and travellers. London, H. F. & G. Witherby, 1920. url .
• Special scientific report--wildlife / U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, D.C.: The Service, 1949- url p. 36.
• Spixiana. 10 1987 München: Zoologische Staatssammlung München, 1977- url book reviews , p. 186.
• The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany, and geology being a continuation of the Annals combined with Loudon and Charlesworth's Magazine of Natural History. London, Taylor and Francis, Ltd. url p. 333, p. 333.
• The Journal of heredity. Washington, etc., American Genetic Association url p. 397, p. 397.
• The Marine Mammal Commission compendium of selected treaties, international agreements, and other relevant documents on marine resources, wildlife, and the environment / compiled by Richard L. Wallace. Washington, D.C.: The Commission; 1994 url p. 562, p. 623.
• The game animals of Africa, by R. Lydekker. London, R. Ward, limited, 1908. url p. 441.
• The mammals of South Africa / by W.L. Sclater. .. London: R.H. Porter, 1900-01. url , , , p. 40.
• The natural history of South Africa. .. London, Longmans, Green and Co., 1919-20. url , , .
• Ticks, a monograph of the Ixodoidea / by George H. F. Nuttall. .. [et al.]. Cambridge, [England]: University press, 1908-1926. url p. 472, p. 508.
• Treaties and other international agreements on fisheries, oceanographic resources, and wildlife to which the United States is party / prepared at the request of Hon. Warren G. Magnuson for the use of the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1974. url p. 154.
• World Checklist of Threatened Mammals JNCC url p. 81.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 31, 2012.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Sliwa, A. 2008. Felis nigripes. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 01February2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 17, 2007:

• Berkeley Natural History Museums, University of California Museum of Paleontology DiGIR provider
• Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Vertebrate specimens
• Marine Science Institute, UCSB, Paleobiology Database

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 105476
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-183800
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13808246
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 183800
• IUCN ID: 209646
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Species Identifier: A04W
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 5139

Footnotes

1. Sliwa, A. 2008. Felis nigripes. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 01 February 2012. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.