The Caucasian wildcat (Felis silvestris caucasica is a European wildcat subspecies. It was described by Konstantin Satunin in 1905 on the basis of a skin of a female cat collected near Borjomi in Georgia.
The Caucasian wildcat differs from the European wildcat by being lighter gray in color, with a fainter pattern on the sides and the tail.
Caucasian wildcats are found in the Caucasus Mountains and Turkey. In Turkey, they inhabit mesic and mixed oak-beech forests of the Pontic Mountains but are rare in the Marmara and Aegean Sea regions. In the Taurus Mountains (southern Turkey), these wildcats probably only occur in the deciduous forest of Kahramanmaraş Province. They are possibly extinct in the Eastern Anatolia Region.
Little information is known about the habits of Caucasian wildcats. Like all European wildcats, they are probably nocturnal, but may also be active in the daytime when undisturbed by human activities. Sight and hearing are their primary senses when hunting. They lie in wait for prey, then catch it by executing a few leaps, which can span three meters. When hunting near water courses, they wait on trees overhanging the water. Wildcats kill their prey by grabbing it in their claws and piercing the neck or occiput with their fangs. They do not persist in attacking if prey manages to escape. European wildcats are mainly solitary, except during the mating period. Within its own territory, the wildcat deposits scent marks at different sites, and it may also leave visual markers on trees by scratching them as well as leaving scent through glands on its paws. Wildcats shelter in the hollows of fallen or old trees, rock fissures, and abandoned burrows by other animals, never digging their own burrow. When threatened, they retreat into a burrow, rather than climb trees.
Caucasian wildcats are carnivores. They feed on mouse-like rodents, and hares, as well as small birds, reptiles, and young chamois.
The information about the reproductive behavior of Caucasian wildcats is not known. In general, wildcats are polygynous meaning that one male mates with more than one female during the breeding season. The gestation period usually lasts for 60 to 68 days. Litters range in size from 1 to 7 kittens. The young start hunting alongside their mothers when they are 60 days old. Kittens are more or less fully grown at 10 months, though the growth of the skeleton continues past 18 to 19 months. The family disbands after about 5 months, the kittens going off to establish territories for themselves. Females become reproductively mature from about 6 months.
Caucasian wildcats suffer from the destruction of broad-leaved forests and diseases that are easily spread by domestic cats and affect the wildcats’ populations.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Caucasian wildcat total population size. As a whole the European wildcat is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List.
Wildcats control populations of small mammals they prey on and thus play an important role in the ecosystem they live in.
