Wildcat
Description
In appearance, the wildcat is more massive and muscular than the domestic cat and it has longer legs in relation to its body. Adult male wildcats have a snout-vent length of 55 to 65 cm, a tail of 27 to 32 cm and a weight of 3.8 to 7.3 kg. Females are much smaller with a snout-vent length of 47 to 57.5 cm and a tail length of 25 to 32 cm and a weight of 2.4 to 4.7 kg.
The basic colouring of the coat varies from yellowish-brown to reddish-grey to silver-grey. On the back there is often a typical, continuous black dorsal stripe ending at the root of the tail. The back and sides of the body are more or less heavily patterned with washed-out stripes. The stripe pattern is usually more pronounced in the west of the range than in the east. The tail is thick and relatively short, has a typical ringing with three to five dark rings and ends bluntly, always with a black tip. The skull is similar to that of the domestic cat, but with room for a larger brain. The eyes are wide apart. There is a small black spot on the sole. Another distinguishing feature is the light-coloured nose leather (pink).
Habitat
European wildcats live mainly in forests. Large populations occur in deciduous or mixed forests that are not disturbed by humans. They also live along coasts, at the edge of marshes, in riparian forests and in the Mediterranean maquis. They avoid areas with intensive agricultural use, pure coniferous forests, very high mountains, coastal regions without cover or areas that are more than 50 % snow-covered in winter, where the average snow depth is more than 20 cm or where the snow cover remains for a period of 100 days or longer.
In Austria, wildcats were formerly widespread in the Alpine foothills of northern, eastern and southern Austria. In the second half of the 19th century, populations were severely decimated and since then only a few specimens have been recorded. They were considered extinct, extirpated or lost in Austria, and only a few years ago there was no evidence of a resident reproducing population in Austria. However, in recent years there have been increasing reports of sightings south of the Danube and evidence of an occurrence in the Thayatal National Park was found.
The text is a translation of an excerpt from Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europäische_Wildkatze). On wikipedia the text is available under a „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“ licence. Status: 25 August 2021
