The Scottish Wildcat This is a short introduction to the Scottish wildcat. We will talk about how we can identify a wildcat and tell them apart from tabby cats, where the Scottish wildcat lives, why there are so few of them left and what is being done to help protect them.

What is a Scottish wildcat Scotland’s last wild member of the cat family Can grow up to 1 metre in length and can weigh 7.5 Kg Mainly eat small mammals but will also eat birds, amphibians, reptiles and insects Can live for up to 8 years in the wild and 15 years in captivity They live alone and have a home area called a territory First of all hands up if you have heard of a Scottish wildcat? Sadly they are Scotland’s last wild member of the cat family. There used to be Lynx as well but they became extinct a long time ago. These beautiful cats can grow up to a metre in length and can weigh around 7.5kg however individuals have been found that weigh up to 9kg. This means they are bigger than your normal house cat. They have a varied carnivorous diet. They eat mainly small mammals but will also eat birds, amphibians (like frogs and toads), reptiles and even insects and other invertebrates. In the wild the Scottish wildcat lives for up to 8 years. When kept in captivity this almost doubles to around 15 years. This is because they never have a shortage of food, conditions are never too harsh and there is a vet and keepers to look after them. When in the wild these cats live on their own for most of the year only meeting up at breeding time. To reduce the amount of fighting and competition for food each cat has it’s own home area which is called a territory. The males have larger territories than the females and a male’s and female’s territory can overlap, this would never happen with male/male territories or female/female ones.

This is a Scottish wildcat Here is a photograph of a Scottish wildcat. You can see that it looks very similar to a normal pet cat.

This is not a Scottish wildcat In this photograph the cat is not a Scottish wildcat. It can be very difficult to tell wildcats apart from pet cats.

How can we tell them apart 4 wavy neck stripes. 2 shoulder stripes. Wildcat Tabby cat Unbroken stripes on the side. No spots on bottom. After a lot of studying of different cats and cat furs scientists have discovered that there are certain differences between the patterns of a wildcat and a tabby cat. You can see the seven main differences on this picture. A wildcat has 4 wavy stripes on the back of it’s neck, 2 stripes between their shoulders, the stripes on their sides are unbroken, they have no spotty pattern on their bottoms, the stripe down the centre of their back always stops before the tail which has a black, rounded tip and dark, easy to see stripes around it. Back stripe stops at tail. Dark tail stripes and the tip is rounded and black.

Now knowing the differences to look for have another look at these two cats. Can you see the differences?

This is where they live Scottish wildcats used to be forest animals but with the cutting down of many wooded areas they have been forced to find homes elsewhere. Wildcats now favour wooded landscapes with a mixture of habitats including semi-natural woodland, conifer plantation, scrub, moorland and pastureland. This is an image of an area within the Cairngorms National Park which is ideal for wildcats.

Now there are less than 400 left Habitat loss & destruction Scattered groups Road traffic deaths Poisoning Snaring Shooting Breeding with domestic cats Even though these amazing cats have out-lasted the wolf, bear and lynx in Britain, they are now on the brink of extinction. Scientists believe there could be as few as 400 left in Scotland. This huge decline is due to a number of reasons: Habitat loss and destruction has left the wildcats with fewer safe places to live. This has also caused splits in the populations leaving small groups that cannot mix so they cannot breed, or if they do it is with closely related cats that can cause a lot of health problems in future generations. As travelling around Scotland becomes easier with the addition of new and better road systems, more cats are unfortunately being hit. Traditionally their territories didn’t have these features so the wildcats do not recognise the threat until it is too late. In the past wildcats were seen as a pest. Many ate grouse, chickens and other important species so people wanted them gone. It was quite common forpeople to poison, snare and shoot wildcats. This is now illegal but unfortunately some wildcats still get poisoned or snared because these things are used to get rid of other pest animals. They can also be shot. This is because it is legal to shoot feral, domestic cats (cats that are no longer pets and roam wild) and we know how difficult it is to tell the difference sometimes. The main problem today is breeding with pet or feral cats. As the populations are so small and separated wildcats are more likely to come into contact with other types of cat. This means they will breed with these non-wildcats producing hybrids and this brings down them number of pure wildcats.

What can we do to help them Spread the word Report sightings Look after pet cats properly One of the biggest problems facing the Scottish wildcat is that people don’t know it exists. If they don’t know, how can they care? It’s really important that we get the Scottish wildcat as well known as tigers, elephants and pandas (especially as they are rarer than all of them). The best way to do this is to tell as many people as you can. The Highland Tiger Project does this through it’s website, facebook page and YouTube channel but people can do it just by talking. There are also leaflets, posters, postcards, dvds, education sessions and special events all to shout about the Scottish wildcat. Hopefully now that you know about the Scottish wildcat you will help to spread the word and protect Scotland’s last wildcat. As well as people knowing about them it is important that the experts know where they are so they can be studied and protected. One of the easiest ways to do this is to report any sightings of wildcats in Scotland. This can be done through the Highland Tiger website www.highlandtiger.com And finally there are some things that every cat owner can do to help protect the Scottish wildcat. It’s as simple as looking after your cats well. Cat owners are encouraged to have their cats inoculated to stop them catching diseases that can be passed to the wildcats, remember they don’t have vets to look after them. Also cat owners can have their pets neutered. This means that they can’t have young so it will reduce the number of hybrids being born. There is also the problem with the feral cats. People can microchip their cats to make sure that if they do wonder off then when they are caught they can be returned to their home and don’t become feral. Also charities are very helpful. The Cats Protection League helps by getting volunteers to catch feral cats which are then neutered and returned to where they were found. Stopping any feral kittens being born.