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The Wild Cat (Felis silvestris) is a small predator native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa. It is a hunter of small mammals, birds, and other creatures of a similar size. There are two named subspecies: the African Wild Cat or Desert Cat (Felis silvestris lybica) which remains common, and the ubiquitous Domestic Cat (Felis silvestris catus), which has been introduced to every habitable continent and most of the world's larger islands, and has become feral in many of those environments.

In its native environment, the Wild Cat is adaptable to a variety of habitat types: savanna, open forest, and steppe. Although domesticated breeds show a great variety of shapes and colours, wild individuals are medium-brown with black stripes, between 50 and 80 cm in length, and weigh between 3 and 6 kilograms. The African subspecies tends to be a little smaller and a lighter brown in colour.

1 European Wild Cat

The European Wild Cat (Felis silvestris silvestris) inhabits forests of Western, CentralHistorical lands and provinces in Central Europe Central Europe is the region of Europe between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. There are no physical landmarks that would commonly be seen as its borders. Rather, it is a concept of shared history, in op and Eastern EuropeEastern Europe is, by convention, a region defined geographically as that part of Europe covering the eastern part of the continent. Generally this means that it lies between the Ural and Caucasus mountains and the western border of Russia, or alternative, as well as in ScotlandScotland or in Scottish Gaelic, Alba is a country and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom. Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Scotland took part in a p and TurkeyTurkey (officially the Republic of Turkey Turkish Turkiye is a country located in Southwest Asia with a small part in southeastern Europe. Until 1922 the country was the center of the Ottoman Empire. The Anatolian peninsula, between the Black Sea and the; it is not found in ScandinaviaScandinavia is the cultural and historic region of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Scandinavian countries are Norway, Sweden and Denmark, which mutually recognize each other as parts of Scandinavia. The collective label "Scandinavia" reflects the cultural, EnglandEngland is the largest, the most populous, and the most densely populated of the four " Home Nations" which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). Occupying the south-eastern portion of the island of Great Britain, England and IrelandThe island of Ireland ire in Irish, Airlann in Ulster Scots) is the third-largest island in Europe. It lies on the west side of the Irish Sea, close to the island of Great Britain. It is composed of the Republic of Ireland in the south and Northern Irelan. Its physical appearance is much bulkier than that of the desert cats and domestic cats. The thick fur and the size are a distinguishing mark, so that a Wild Cat normally should not be mistaken for a domestic cat.

Wild Cats were common in the European PleistoceneThe Pleistocene epoch is part of the geologic timescale, usually dated as 1. 6 million to 10,000 years before present, with the end date expressed in radiocarbon years. It covers most of the latest period of repeated glaciation, up to and including the Yo era; when the ice vanished, they became adapted to a life in dense forests. In contrast to domestic cats, they are active in the daytime.

Wild cats are extremely timid. They avoid coming too close to human settlements. They live solitarily and hold territories of about 3 km² each. In most European countries they have become very rare. Although being protected, they are still shot by hunters taking them for domestic cats. In Scotland, interbreeding with feral cats is also a threat to the wild population.