#Mammal

[typhlonectes]

The Scottish wildcat has been wiped out by breeding with domestic cats

After 2000 years of isolation, a few decades of interbreeding have rendered the animal “genomically extinct”

Though it lies in ruins on the northeast coast of England, Kilton Castle was once an imposing stone fortress, home to several noble families, and—it appears—at least eight cats. Archaeological excavations in the 1960s uncovered a well, at the bottom of which lay the bones of several felines dating back to the 14th century. The animals were an odd mix: Some were domestic cats, but other, larger specimens appeared to be European wildcats, a fierce, burly species that has inhabited the continent for hundreds of thousands of years. The two species’ closeness in death was deceptive. A study published today in Current Biology finds that even though European wildcats and domestic cats overlapped in Great Britain for more than 2000 years—including at sites such as Kilton—they appear to have almost never interbred. That changed suddenly about 70 years ago, when domestic cats began to mate with wildcats in Scotland. In the span of mere decades, the genome of the Scottish wildcat—the last remaining wildcat in Great Britain—has become so corrupted that the animal is now effectively extinct, a second study in the same issue finds. The findings could complicate ongoing efforts to save the most endangered mammalian carnivore in Great Britain...

Read more: https://www.science.org/content/article/scottish-wildcat-has-been-wiped-out-breeding-domestic-cats

[sitting-on-me-bum]

African Lion Cub

By Nisha Purushothaman

NBP International Awards

[boobookittenartblog]

Illustration by Meg Sodan

[truedarkhunter]

Aren't they adorable? Anime can't beat them. They are cousins of the Kangaroo Mouse, which has shorter ears and not as colorful a tuft on the tail. You can see where Pokemon got their ideas from, but these little creatures are real.

They have a unique renal system that recaptures water so well that they can survive with just the water present in their food and the bits of frost in the morning. (Well, at least their cousin can, I suspect the Jerboa is quite similar.)

They are cute and quite the survivors living in such arid environments.

Small Five-toed Jerboa (Scarturus elater), family Dipodidae, found in rocky deserts across Asia

photograph by Parham Beyhaghi

[johnnyslittleanimalblog]

Shri Lankanpanther Burgerszoo 3L0A0289 by safi kok

[critter-creature-or-beast]

Submitted for classification by @concentratedconcrete

[spinus-pinus]

Klipspringer and Rock Hyrax Oreotragus oreotragus and Procavia capensis

11/21/2023 San Diego Zoo, California

[bedupolker]

Most bats can actually be sorted into one of four groups. Happy batwatching out there!

(left > right, top > bottom: canyon bat, some sort of generic vesper bat & leaf nosed bat, visored bat & pendlebury roundleaf bat, flying fox)

[fucxingcuties]

[samimarkart]

raccoon stickers are here for patreon this month and they look SOOOO good I’m so excited about them - patreon is in my pinned post and you can get one of these guys if you join this month!!

[typhlonectes]

What Happened to the Other Mesozoic Mammals?

In 2003, a fossil belonging to a mammaliaform was discovered in an ancient lakebed in what's now China. It was an almost complete skeleton the size of a platypus, a find that complicated the history of mammaliaforms. It painted a picture of their explosive diversification, their mysterious disappearance, and how our own ancestors might have survived thanks to a leg up from some leafy allies. *They weren't /exactly/ mammals...

via: PBS Eons

[snailtongue]

[ID: Two photos at slightly different angles of a ribbon seal sitting on an ice floe. The background is of pure blue water with smaller ice floes in it.] via

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Wilder

by Donal Boyd

2023 reFocus World Photo Awards

[boobookittenartblog]

Natural History Museum of Vienna

[johnnyslittleanimalblog]

amurtiger Ouwehand 3L0A3433 by safi kok

[critter-creature-or-beast]

By Hesperian - Own work, CC BY 3.0