We lecture other countries about not annihilating predators, but what did we do? No more wolves, no more bears, no more lynx, heck, all we have is grumpy tabbies, foxes and pine martens. We could host a lot more here than we think if we kept off green land and stuck to the old brownfield sites around cities.
@Ted H. You're thinking of the Kellas cat. It's just a mix between the Scottish wildcat and house cats. The "Scottish wildcat" really just seems like a glorified domestic tabby to me, really makes me grateful that we at least have bobcats here in the US.
@@sumnimapaneru3814 where are you from and why do you disagree they don’t kill humans and they keep the balance in the natural world biodiversity or are you one of the selfish sport hunters
@@sumnimapaneru3814 Well most of those cats are domesticated and are pets for someone. And even if I see cats everywhere, wild cats are unique, and our biodiversity needs them to hold it together. Plus if we can save any animal we should, no?
Just listened to a piece on the Economist podcast this morning about the initial success that been had in releasing approximatley 40 wild cats into a nature reserve in Northern Scotland! They are doing very well and another 20 set to be released this year! Here’s to a bright future to these Wiley creatures in the whole of the UK!
It's a misdemeanor to be a Scottish wildcat? What's the maximum sentence? Eight months in wildlife rehabilitation? XD (I think he meant "misnomer." Poor guy. He probably watched this later and went, "D'OH!" It's hard, speaking on camera.)
I doubt it, but he might have been saying that it was a metaphorical misdemeanor for the person who calls it a "Scottish" wildcat (as a joke). I seriously doubt that's what he was trying to say, though.
@@ascetic3312 Yeah, that's a bit of a stretch. ;) I bet the guy just misspoke. I'm such a pedant, I would have kicked myself for weeks. I hope he's more easygoing than I. XD
@@LadyhawksLairDotCom - You'd be kicking yourself for weeks? I'd be doing it for years, maybe for life! I already do that now -- I'll randomly remember some misstep I made during my childhood and stress myself out worrying about how stupid everyone must think I am, even though no one obviously knows what the hell I'm on about. The mind sure can be a dangerous (and dense) place, can't it?
My grandmother told me about wildcats she used to see in the forties when she lived in Ecclefecan Scotland. She remembered it’s dark bushy tail and it would never come close to her but just stared and hunkered down. It makes you wonder what sort of landscape supports them, but she was scared of them!
The biggest difference for me is actually their tails, they're very racoon like with the stripes and how bushy it is in comparison to tabby's for example. Also their demeanour is very different, they act move and act a wild tiger would.
@@normanmurray3659 well I don't know about that my friend. After all I'm no expert. I just said that I personally wouldn't have known that it wasn't a domestic cat,but the people making the video say its a wildcat and I'm sure they know more than me
the lynx is not extinct lmao, also its very fitting to use misdemeanor instead of misnomer, as it is a misdemeanor to use misdemeanor in the place of misnomer, and a misnomer to use misdemeanor in the place of misnomer
The Scottish Highlanders used to hunt them to put the furs on their heads and other things. They also ate the chickens and other small animals that the farmers had.
Big W I completely agree with you on loving Scotland and it’s wildcat because you see I am part Scottish because my paternal grandfathers paternal grandmothers maiden name is Murray but I love the wildcats and like if the wildcat goes extinct it sort of takes a a piece of Scotland with it.
I witnessed what looked exactly like a Scottish lynx stalking through a field from a distance. There were horses and rabbit's around then one if this popped it's head up and down a hill in a low crawling position. Me and the wife were very lucky to see it.
For the life of me I can’t pick a single thing different to my new adopted cat’s appearance. He even has the fluffy tail with black rings. He’s very good at catching rats too. I know he’s not one of those, because he’s petite for a male and very affectionate.
There is a video here on how to tell them apart, look for "scottish wildcat identification" here. There are many details, but one which is obvious is the tail. In this video, look at the close up of the tail at around 4, also 6:04, maybe other places. Look at the circles and also the tip of the tail. The circles are clear with no black stripe crossing them along the top of the tail. This line - it's called the "dorsal stripe" goes along the back of the cat, but in domestic tabbies, this line continues till the end of the tail. In European wildcats it stops earlier, and the circles on the tail are not intersected. From pictures and videos I've seen even other subspecies of wildcats with somewhat different look e.g. African also have clear circles. Additionally, the tails of the domestic cats become narrower near the end. In European wildcats, it doesn't, look how bushy the tip is. The video which talked about the differences goes in more detail, but the tails seemed the most obvious difference to me.
How does one tell the difference between a Wild cat and a household cat, which in my case (South Africa) looks pretty much the same as these lovely ones in the video?
Hello! European wildcats are bigger, have a thicker tail, and always have the same sort of coat. A cat without those brown/grey stripes will be a feral. If your cat has the same color and markings, look for the size and tail. A quick google search gave me around 80cm length for domestic, 120cm for wild. While they do look extremely similar, our domestic cats have the African wildcat as an ancestor, not the European one. They have that thinner tail :) Hope this helped!
@Anti Wufei No, they are NOT the same species. Domestic cats are descended from the African Wildcat (Felis Lybica). Also, plenty of animals can hybridize without being the same species, and some rare ones without even being the same genus (ex: Babirusa x Pig hybrids).
Fine video. The most beautiful species, and those whose bodies have value for their coats, tusks, hides, whatever, are, are always the first to be extirpated.💧😿💧 (No disrespect intended, but I had great difficulty keeping up with the gentleman. I'm glad the lovely young lass didn't speak as rapidly as he. Her cadence was PERFECT!) 🌠Milton Moore🌠 Las Vegas, Nevada
In order to release these beautiful creatures back into the wild the UK needs to get on top of it's feral/stray cat problem. With the chances that wild cats will breed with domesticated cats, there's no guarantee that they'll thrive in the wild and increase their population numbers. I also hope to see the Lynx returned to the wild one day.
Because it is a wild cat. That's the species name. The European Wild Cat. The domestic cats were originally domesticated from the African Wild Cat, which is another subspecies of this same species.
If these Cats can't survive in the Scottish Highlands, then how can they possibly live in the English countryside? I suspect they would only be safe on uninhabited islands off the mainland UK.
This is what I've read too. This applies to European wildcat in general which doesn't care for us. This is probably one of the reasons they weren't domesticated, but much friendlier African wildcats. African wildcats are bolder, friendlier, and are very easily tamed, I've read they behave like domestic cats if raised from kittenhood. European wildcats remain spitfire their lives. Fascinating how cats which are so close genetically behave so differently.
who wouldn't if your caged up and feed frozen stuff they need to hunt n exercise muscles n roam free n mate n visit the local pubs for leftovers n cat fights...u know do wat cats do annoy n taunt caged up dogs u know life of a cat..now u have some dude wearing surgical gloves feeding you...life can be so boring 😅😆
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU okay but I mean like how the lynx is bigger than the wildcat like I am concerned that the lynx might think that the wildcat is prey
They each probably hunt different prey, and occupy different ecological niches. I guess it would be possible for a lynx to occasionally kill a wildcat, but they wouldn't really see each other as competition
isnt the definition of a species animals that can interbreed with each other to create viable offspring? so if these cats can hybridize with regular cats, then they aren't quite a separate species but a sub species right? or would it just be a population?
It's not as clear-cut. With plants especially, you can sometimes even breed different genera, and these intergeneric hybrids themselves may sometimes even create fertile seeds. With animals, hybrids are often, but not always, less fertile or infertile (ie some crosses of tiger and lion are fertile, others are not).
Nature doesn't conform to our set definitions. Nature does what nature wants to. You can still have two different species that interbreed and produce fertile offspring, and they'll still be different. It's all based on population genetics. Sometimes, the fertile hybrids can become a third individual species over time, or introduce new, stronger selected genetics into either population, or become a third, separate population. For example, the big bird lineage of Daphne Major in the galapagos. It can get very complex, but can increase genetic diversity and biodiversity overall.
The European Wildcat and the African Wildcat are currently considered two different subspecies of the same species. House cats were domesticated from the African Wildcat.
Sorry to be a spoil sport, but the reality is that the Scottish wild cat is the same species as the domestic cat (Felis catus) . They inter mate freely with fertile offspring, and that is the problem. It is only recognised as a separate species (Felis sylvestris) due to its demographic isolation, a type of natural breeding. It is a bit like saying a breed of dog is very rare, okay, not undermine efforts to protect rare breeds be they induced or in the wild, but a dog is a dog, just as a cat is a cat.
They are subspecies, I am really not sure why they decided to call them different species. Domestic cat used to be classified as Felis Silvestris Catus - a subspecies of Felis Silvestris. I am also not clear why they decided to separate African/Asian wildcat into separate species instead of a subspecies. It seems like totally artificial separation. Still, there are differences between wildcats and domestic cats, larger differences that between breeds. For example, wildcats have larger brains, slightly longer claws and teeth and keener senses. European wildcats (and Scottish wildcat is just a type of European wildcat) aren't afraid of water, I've seen a video where an European wildcat kitten caught a fish in a stream. They are more territorial and solitary. European wildcat females only breed once a year in the Spring and keep kittens with them until fall. Also, European wildcats are untameable. African wildcats are different - bolder, friendlier and behave like domestic cats if raised from kittenhood. This is what I read, anyway. So I believe the differences are larger than with domestic cat breeds, but at the same time, in my completely ignorant opinion, they should be the same species.
I hope these cats can be saved.
p
They are 30 years too late I'm afraid.
Not if a farmer who keeps freerange chickens, A shotgun & a tree hive will take these right out, no problem
They can but it will take a captive breeding program going beyond their present level of funding.
Africa has *Lions* .
India has *Tigers* .
South America has *Jaguars* .
And UK has *Scottish Cats* ( but they still are pretty cool though. )
And North America has the bobcat
But also in North America we got Puma aka mountain lion and the Canadian lynx
Scotland used to have lynx
We lecture other countries about not annihilating predators, but what did we do? No more wolves, no more bears, no more lynx, heck, all we have is grumpy tabbies, foxes and pine martens. We could host a lot more here than we think if we kept off green land and stuck to the old brownfield sites around cities.
How can you list-makers of surviving predator species on various continents neglect WOLVES?
I’m so pleased money was raised to support this project. Thank you so much! These cats are beautiful.
They are not pure though so how do you protect them, hybrids can be legally shot because they are not pure they can be treated as feral cats.
Only 35 that hurts my heart sm. They are beautiful
Scottish wildcats are so beautiful, they look just like tabby cats. They really do need to be protected.
My cat looks exactly like these cats.
They're 50% bigger! There's a black version of the Scottish wildcat as well.
@Ted H. You're thinking of the Kellas cat. It's just a mix between the Scottish wildcat and house cats.
The "Scottish wildcat" really just seems like a glorified domestic tabby to me, really makes me grateful that we at least have bobcats here in the US.
@@TedH71 I have seen a melanistic wildcat many years ago probably about 40 years ago.
@@stephenbrand5661 The wildcat is huge compared to a domestic cat, weighing about 35 to 40lbs in weight, about 4ft long plus an 18 inch tail.
They are so beautiful, its sad there are so few left in the UK but at least people are trying to save them
And it is sad that they are the last wild cat species in the UK too, we should still have the lynx
Totally agree
I am not agree because you can see these cats everywhere here , more than million
@@sumnimapaneru3814 where are you from and why do you disagree they don’t kill humans and they keep the balance in the natural world biodiversity or are you one of the selfish sport hunters
@@sumnimapaneru3814 Well most of those cats are domesticated and are pets for someone. And even if I see cats everywhere, wild cats are unique, and our biodiversity needs them to hold it together. Plus if we can save any animal we should, no?
They look just like my pet cat Milo, he's really big and cuddly. He used to be a breeding cat before I got him, and got him neutered.
Just listened to a piece on the Economist podcast this morning about the initial success that been had in releasing approximatley 40 wild cats into a nature reserve in Northern Scotland! They are doing very well and another 20 set to be released this year! Here’s to a bright future to these Wiley creatures in the whole of the UK!
Beautiful cats, we really need to help save them.
It's a misdemeanor to be a Scottish wildcat? What's the maximum sentence? Eight months in wildlife rehabilitation? XD
(I think he meant "misnomer." Poor guy. He probably watched this later and went, "D'OH!" It's hard, speaking on camera.)
I mentally heard that as Misnomer as he said it LOL. But once I looked back at the video you're right, he did say MISDEMEANOR 🤡😿
I doubt it, but he might have been saying that it was a metaphorical misdemeanor for the person who calls it a "Scottish" wildcat (as a joke). I seriously doubt that's what he was trying to say, though.
@@ascetic3312 Yeah, that's a bit of a stretch. ;) I bet the guy just misspoke. I'm such a pedant, I would have kicked myself for weeks. I hope he's more easygoing than I. XD
@@LadyhawksLairDotCom - You'd be kicking yourself for weeks? I'd be doing it for years, maybe for life! I already do that now -- I'll randomly remember some misstep I made during my childhood and stress myself out worrying about how stupid everyone must think I am, even though no one obviously knows what the hell I'm on about. The mind sure can be a dangerous (and dense) place, can't it?
That’s a felony. Or a feline-ony
My grandmother told me about wildcats she used to see in the forties when she lived in Ecclefecan Scotland.
She remembered it’s dark bushy tail and it would never come close to her but just stared and hunkered down.
It makes you wonder what sort of landscape supports them, but she was scared of them!
They look almost exactly like numerous tabby cats.
Hopefully they can someday thrive again.
@Kahanu Ermeyas-Tulu they are hybrids.
Can't tell what is more gorgeous, The Wildcat or The Narrator/Interviewer. 😍
Its the accent for me
It does look a little bit like a house cat!
A little bit!! To be honest I never would have known that it wasn't a domestic cat just by looking at it
My Tabbi looks exactly the same.
The biggest difference for me is actually their tails, they're very racoon like with the stripes and how bushy it is in comparison to tabby's for example. Also their demeanour is very different, they act move and act a wild tiger would.
@@davidmellish3295 Then it is not a wildcat.
@@normanmurray3659 well I don't know about that my friend. After all I'm no expert. I just said that I personally wouldn't have known that it wasn't a domestic cat,but the people making the video say its a wildcat and I'm sure they know more than me
They look just like my cats @ home! 😍
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU she said looks-wise. Mine looks like it too. We all know they're not the same thing 🙄
@@oct678 exactly.
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU its the same shit
@@andreasl4507 they're two distinct genetic populations. They're not the same
You don't have any cats your waffle
Alternate reality Ron Weasley cares about strange cats.
If I didn’t know any better I would think it was a pet
They look just like my cats at home!
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU I know what it is I'm just saying it looks like a pet.
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU be quite
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU no I didn't if I did I would have 5 likes not 4
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU you are being rude I said I know wasn't a pet and it is like you ignore me
And when he says "misdemeanor", he means "misnomer"? 😅
That was bothering me too.
Yes. Poor guy probably took a ribbing about that.
Hope these cat can ve saved🙏
the lynx is not extinct lmao, also its very fitting to use misdemeanor instead of misnomer, as it is a misdemeanor to use misdemeanor in the place of misnomer, and a misnomer to use misdemeanor in the place of misnomer
They're so cute!
Who would hut them?!
People, we humans destroy everything in nature, such a sin.
housed wild cat☟
ruclips.net/video/VGTircXImL0/видео.html
@@cosmopolitanwonder9675 We humans being introduced to religion was a sin.
Humans are a very dangerous animal
The Scottish Highlanders used to hunt them to put the furs on their heads and other things. They also ate the chickens and other small animals that the farmers had.
@@TedH71 Including lambs.
Looks just like my moggy tabby cat! That species has a beautiful big tail though!
With a permanent grumpy face. :-P
Should be protected at all costs
Oh, how did I missed this video of the European wildcat? My favorite small wildcats species!
literally warrior cats 😂
Beautiful
Yes she was fit 🤤🤤🤤
Cat's eyes have that kind gesture 😍
@@ashdee1206 stop these hox bud
You can really see the power of these cats
A beautiful cat, and a beautiful presenter.
They’re so cool!
Such a regal looking wild cats 🐈
CUTE KITTY
The original grumpy cat, if you ask me! But just because it doesn't look cute doesn't mean we shouldn't protect it.
Lovely cat
That looks like a tired tabby body builder.
That's my cat right there
So I finally find my cat origins
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU kk
Love Scotland and there Wildcats.🙂
Big W I completely agree with you on loving Scotland and it’s wildcat because you see I am part Scottish because my paternal grandfathers paternal grandmothers maiden name is Murray but I love the wildcats and like if the wildcat goes extinct it sort of takes a a piece of Scotland with it.
Reporter is 😍
They look like the local tough Tom cat nobody messes with.
My cat looks just like this.
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU we know. saying they look the same doesn't mean people think they are the same species
I witnessed what looked exactly like a Scottish lynx stalking through a field from a distance. There were horses and rabbit's around then one if this popped it's head up and down a hill in a low crawling position. Me and the wife were very lucky to see it.
Officially there are no Scottish Lynx, if you saw one it must be an escapee, but nobody has reported an
escapee.
God Bless You!!
Beautiful tabby colour.
For the life of me I can’t pick a single thing different to my new adopted cat’s appearance. He even has the fluffy tail with black rings. He’s very good at catching rats too. I know he’s not one of those, because he’s petite for a male and very affectionate.
There is a video here on how to tell them apart, look for "scottish wildcat identification" here. There are many details, but one which is obvious is the tail. In this video, look at the close up of the tail at around 4, also 6:04, maybe other places. Look at the circles and also the tip of the tail. The circles are clear with no black stripe crossing them along the top of the tail. This line - it's called the "dorsal stripe" goes along the back of the cat, but in domestic tabbies, this line continues till the end of the tail. In European wildcats it stops earlier, and the circles on the tail are not intersected. From pictures and videos I've seen even other subspecies of wildcats with somewhat different look e.g. African also have clear circles. Additionally, the tails of the domestic cats become narrower near the end. In European wildcats, it doesn't, look how bushy the tip is. The video which talked about the differences goes in more detail, but the tails seemed the most obvious difference to me.
Nice documentary. We need to see more wild cat babies - they are so cute!
Just beautiful cats 😻
Ironically one good thing that came out of WWI the game wardens went to war which saved the wildcats...
Least people are trying to save them.
How does one tell the difference between a Wild cat and a household cat, which in my case (South Africa) looks pretty much the same as these lovely ones in the video?
Hello! European wildcats are bigger, have a thicker tail, and always have the same sort of coat. A cat without those brown/grey stripes will be a feral. If your cat has the same color and markings, look for the size and tail. A quick google search gave me around 80cm length for domestic, 120cm for wild.
While they do look extremely similar, our domestic cats have the African wildcat as an ancestor, not the European one. They have that thinner tail :)
Hope this helped!
I wish you well but with estates and farmers this will be difficult --------England has been horribly sterilised and protection seems to be ignored :)
felines are my favourite groups of animals so take my money!
01:38 - The cat is not a "misdemeanour"... I think he means misnomer as in it's misnamed.
They look like home cats
I like this.
What’d be cool is to know someone 1 million years from now on a different plant in a different star system are watching all these BBC Earth videos
BBC have to discover more about this because there's still millions of these cats walking on the earth
Nature is beautiful ❤️
cats my love
Cross breeding with mainland wildcats is an option to consider for genetic diversity.
I think.. They looks thirsty 😟
So beautiful. Can see the differences from a tabby. I hope you succeed Inshallah.
Wow, is really lovely. 🐈😍😍
They are so beautiful
Yet another reason you should keep your cats at home
@Anti Wufei No, they are NOT the same species. Domestic cats are descended from the African Wildcat (Felis Lybica).
Also, plenty of animals can hybridize without being the same species, and some rare ones without even being the same genus (ex: Babirusa x Pig hybrids).
My golly gosh, my furry baby Par-Par looks exactly like them.
BBC Earth have a nice week 🙌
in Romania there are quite a lot of wild cats in the forests
Do you live there?
@@Solomon0424 in Romania? Yes:(
@@ioana7931 Awesome!
The marking on their face is prominent, which adds to their wilder aspects.
Good man helping Scottish wild kitties.
Looks like a typical house cat
But it is a distinct species.
Cranky looking cranks
Fine video. The most beautiful species, and those whose bodies have value for their coats, tusks, hides, whatever, are, are always the first to be extirpated.💧😿💧
(No disrespect intended, but I had great difficulty keeping up with the gentleman. I'm glad the lovely young lass didn't speak as rapidly as he. Her cadence was PERFECT!)
🌠Milton Moore🌠
Las Vegas, Nevada
In order to release these beautiful creatures back into the wild the UK needs to get on top of it's feral/stray cat problem. With the chances that wild cats will breed with domesticated cats, there's no guarantee that they'll thrive in the wild and increase their population numbers. I also hope to see the Lynx returned to the wild one day.
الحمدلله and Thanks you
My cat 🐢 looks like them just darker stripes and a non bushy tail.🤔
Same but mines fat
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU why? Were just saying they look, not they r.
I have acat exactly like that cat ! I wonder why you call it a wild cat ?
It looks very much a domestic cat .
Because it is a wild cat. That's the species name. The European Wild Cat. The domestic cats were originally domesticated from the African Wild Cat, which is another subspecies of this same species.
@@AnnaMarianne Thanx very much for taking the time for your explanation !
Jaguarundi bro plis
If these Cats can't survive in the Scottish Highlands, then how can they possibly live in the English countryside? I suspect they would only be safe on uninhabited islands off the mainland UK.
I wonder where you will find somewhere in England with few or no feral cats.
The scottish wildcat is said to be the only cat in the world that cant ever be tamed by humans
This is what I've read too. This applies to European wildcat in general which doesn't care for us. This is probably one of the reasons they weren't domesticated, but much friendlier African wildcats. African wildcats are bolder, friendlier, and are very easily tamed, I've read they behave like domestic cats if raised from kittenhood. European wildcats remain spitfire their lives. Fascinating how cats which are so close genetically behave so differently.
Very cute.
The image of a kitten here looks more like a domestic cat of the similar fur. Neotenic effects through domestication (subspecies though)?
Nice Video
🎊🎊🇮🇳🎊🎊
Bili
1:37 I’m pretty sure he meant to say ‘misnomer’ and not misdemeanor.
what to worry , we can always make any tame house cat go wild again ... wild and traumatised
It look very angry ^^
ruclips.net/video/RFaekG7AODc/видео.html
who wouldn't if your caged up and feed frozen stuff they need to hunt n exercise muscles n roam free n mate n visit the local pubs for leftovers n cat fights...u know do wat cats do annoy n taunt caged up dogs u know life of a cat..now u have some dude wearing surgical gloves feeding you...life can be so boring 😅😆
Aww
Wow 😮😮❤️❤️❤️
The first time I watch your channel and i love it ❤️❤️❤️❤️
🐱I love🤝 it.🏅 Car 🐱
Please save them
I have a question but if the lynx is reintroduced to the uk would that cause a problem for the Scottish wildcat
@KAHANU ERMEYAS-TULU okay but I mean like how the lynx is bigger than the wildcat like I am concerned that the lynx might think that the wildcat is prey
Lynx and wildcats live in the same habitats all over Europe.
Oh okay
They each probably hunt different prey, and occupy different ecological niches. I guess it would be possible for a lynx to occasionally kill a wildcat, but they wouldn't really see each other as competition
@@Bunny-ns5ni oh okay that’s good to know that they won’t see each other as competition
isnt the definition of a species animals that can interbreed with each other to create viable offspring? so if these cats can hybridize with regular cats, then they aren't quite a separate species but a sub species right? or would it just be a population?
It's not as clear-cut. With plants especially, you can sometimes even breed different genera, and these intergeneric hybrids themselves may sometimes even create fertile seeds. With animals, hybrids are often, but not always, less fertile or infertile (ie some crosses of tiger and lion are fertile, others are not).
Nature doesn't conform to our set definitions. Nature does what nature wants to. You can still have two different species that interbreed and produce fertile offspring, and they'll still be different. It's all based on population genetics. Sometimes, the fertile hybrids can become a third individual species over time, or introduce new, stronger selected genetics into either population, or become a third, separate population. For example, the big bird lineage of Daphne Major in the galapagos. It can get very complex, but can increase genetic diversity and biodiversity overall.
The European Wildcat and the African Wildcat are currently considered two different subspecies of the same species. House cats were domesticated from the African Wildcat.
That cat reminds me of Korean wild cat 삵.
Thumbs down for no-option subtitles.
When I need some money from my dad
Dad : 1:14
Tommy, Is that you?
Nah there's a stray in my yard, looks the same
🐱!👍
If you believe in Reinkarnation it could be highly probable that William Wallace could have reincarnated as a wild cat !
Sorry to be a spoil sport, but the reality is that the Scottish wild cat is the same species as the domestic cat (Felis catus) . They inter mate freely with fertile offspring, and that is the problem. It is only recognised as a separate species (Felis sylvestris) due to its demographic isolation, a type of natural breeding. It is a bit like saying a breed of dog is very rare, okay, not undermine efforts to protect rare breeds be they induced or in the wild, but a dog is a dog, just as a cat is a cat.
They are subspecies, I am really not sure why they decided to call them different species. Domestic cat used to be classified as Felis Silvestris Catus - a subspecies of Felis Silvestris. I am also not clear why they decided to separate African/Asian wildcat into separate species instead of a subspecies. It seems like totally artificial separation. Still, there are differences between wildcats and domestic cats, larger differences that between breeds. For example, wildcats have larger brains, slightly longer claws and teeth and keener senses. European wildcats (and Scottish wildcat is just a type of European wildcat) aren't afraid of water, I've seen a video where an European wildcat kitten caught a fish in a stream. They are more territorial and solitary. European wildcat females only breed once a year in the Spring and keep kittens with them until fall. Also, European wildcats are untameable. African wildcats are different - bolder, friendlier and behave like domestic cats if raised from kittenhood. This is what I read, anyway. So I believe the differences are larger than with domestic cat breeds, but at the same time, in my completely ignorant opinion, they should be the same species.
@@jewelmarkess Thank you for your detailed and helpful reply.