The European wildcat: bigger and stouter than a house cat, with longer striped fur, a dark stripe along the back and a bushy, black-tipped tail. It lives mainly in broad-leaved and mixed forests, avoiding farmland and towns.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?Can be
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
Mainly nocturnal, but also out by day where people leave it alone.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inEurope, Asia
HabitatForest
ColoursGrey, Brown, Black
SizeSmall
LengthUp to 65 cm, plus a 34.5 cm tail
WeightMales about 5–8 kg, females about 3.5 kg
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives alone
Lives for12–15 years
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Continental Europe, Scotland, Turkey and the Caucasus. It has died out in England, Wales and Ireland.
- What it eats
- Mainly small mammals such as rabbits and rodents, plus ground-dwelling birds.
Did you know
Looks like a stocky tabby, but is said to be almost impossible to keep as a pet.
It interbreeds with domestic cats, which makes pure wildcats hard to tell from striped hybrids.
The northernmost wildcats live in northern and eastern Scotland.
Often confused with
- Domestic cat
The wildcat is bigger and stouter, with longer fur and a shorter, blunt, bushy tail.
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