wild cat in Ireland?

Crann na Beatha

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F.R.

Aquila wrote: »

why didnt a wild cat make its way to Ireland?im not talking of feral felines but cats like lynx etc?

They were here about 8,500 years ago but we have only one fossil so there is limited information on them, more info here.

Mickeroo

There is a species of Wildcat in Scotland which is distinguishable from the Domestic Cat but considerably smaller than the likes of Pumas and Leopards. They're quite endangered now with only 400 or so left apparently.



more info here: http://www.scottishwildcats.co.uk/

I'm not entirely sure why don't even have those in Ireland, could have been hunted out of existence i suppose. Scotland does have the advantage of large areas of wilderness and more forests which we don't really have here.

Birdnuts

Mickeroo wrote: »

There is a species of Wildcat in Scotland which is distinguishable from the Domestic Cat but considerably smaller than the likes of Pumas and Leopards. They're quite endangered now with only 400 or so left apparently.



more info here: http://www.scottishwildcats.co.uk/

I'm not entirely sure why don't even have those in Ireland, could have been hunted out of existence i suppose. Scotland does have the advantage of large areas of wilderness and more forests which we don't really have here.

There was plenty of habitat in Ireland up to as recently as 400 years ago - wolves survived here till as late as the 18th centuary after all. I suspect like the weasel they didn't make it as far as Ireland. Though the fact that Brown Bears have recently been proved to have inhabitated this country in early bronze age times suggests we could still find remains that prove otherwise.


PS: The Scottish Wild Cats most distinctive feature that can be used to distinguish from the averge moggy would be its thick bushy tail. This species is still quiet common in many wilder parts of Europe.

Yitzhak Rabin

Are the scottish wildcats completely distinct from domestic cats, or is it a case of domestic cats that went ferral generations ago and evolved from there?

Mickeroo

yekahS wrote: »

Are the scottish wildcats completely distinct from domestic cats, or is it a case of domestic cats that went ferral generations ago and evolved from there?

According to the Scottish Wildcat Association they were in the british isles before the domestic cat evolved:

....the wildcat is a genuine wild species of cat; it was here long before we were and long before the domestic cat had even evolved. Infamously the only wild animal to be completely untameable, even when captive reared.....

Crann na Beatha

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Birdnuts

Aquila wrote: »

Why did bears die out in Ireland?

Its a bit mystery that one - especcially in light of the fact that places like Italy and Spain maintained their populations in the face of bigger human population densities and associated environmental pressures in Ancient times.

Birdnuts

yekahS wrote: »

Are the scottish wildcats completely distinct from domestic cats, or is it a case of domestic cats that went ferral generations ago and evolved from there?

Scottish Wild Cats are completly distinct in that all domestic cats are thought to have evolved from the African Wild Cat in the region of the upper Nile in early Pharoah times