IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| The Scottish wildcat (_Felis silvestris_) | |
| Full Book | |
The Scottish wildcat (_Felis silvestris_) is the only native member of the cat family (Felidae) living in Britain today and is now found only in Scotland. By the mid-19 Century the wildcat had totally disappeared from both England and Wales; its eradication was mainly due to historical persecution and habitat loss (deforestation) (Beaumont et al. 2001). Another threat to the Scottish wildcat has been from interbreeding (hybridisation or genetic mixing) with the domestic cat which was introduced to Britain by the Romans over 2000 years ago (Kilshaw etal. 2010). |
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(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union) |