Knowra Felidae Felidae Felidae is the family of carnivorous mammals known as cats, including domestic cats, lions, tigers, leopards, and their relatives. Its members share specialized teeth, flexible bodies, and adaptations for hunting.
Carnivora : An order of mammals whose members include cats, dogs, bears, seals, and their relatives. Felidae is one branch of this larger mammalian order.
Felid hunting behavior : The stalking, ambushing, and pursuit strategies used by members of the cat family. These strategies connect cats’ anatomy to how they capture prey.
Proailurus : An extinct genus of small carnivorans from the late Oligocene and early Miocene, often regarded as an early felid. Its fossils offer evidence about the early evolutionary history of cats.
Cat domestication : The process by which domestic cats became associated with and adapted to human communities. Domestic cats are the family member most closely integrated into human life.
Canidae : The mammalian family that includes dogs, wolves, foxes, and their relatives. Canids are a familiar carnivoran family with different anatomy and hunting strategies.
Feliformia : A suborder of Carnivora that includes cats, hyenas, mongooses, and civets. This branch groups Felidae with its closest living carnivoran relatives.
Tapetum lucidum : A reflective layer behind the retina that increases light available to photoreceptors in dim conditions. It contributes to the low-light vision characteristic of many cats.
Pseudaelurus : An extinct genus of felids that lived during the Miocene and gave rise to several later cat lineages. Its diverse species help document the early radiation of the family.
Domestic cat : The domesticated small cat, Felis catus, kept as a companion and predator of commensal animals. This species shows how one felid lineage thrives alongside people.
Ursidae : The mammalian family that includes bears and their closest living relatives. Bears contrast with cats in body plan, diet, and typical locomotion.
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