Felidae

Felidae is the family of cats. A member of this family is also called a felid.

Living cats belong to the subfamilies:

Cats are obligate carnivores; they must consume meat to survive. Therefore, they are sometimes referred to as hypercarnivores because of the much higher proportion of protein they require in their diet; much more than most other mammals. Of the 13 terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, they are the strictest carnivores.

The first cats emerged during the Oligocene, about 25 million years ago. In prehistoric times, there was a third subfamily, the Machairodontinae, which included the "saber-toothed cats", such as the Smilodon. Other superficially cat-like mammals, such as the metatherians Thylacosmilus and Thylacoleo, or the Nimravidae, are not included in Felidae despite superficial similarities.

Evolution

The 41 known cat species (40 if the Iriomote cat is considered to be only a subspecies of the Bengal cat) in the world today are all descended from a common ancestor. Cats originated in Asia and spread across continents by crossing land bridges. Testing of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA revealed that the ancient cats evolved into eight main lineages that diverged in the course of at least 10 migrations (in both directions) from continent to continent via the Bering land bridge and the Isthmus of Panama, with the Panthera genus being the oldest and the Felis genus being the youngest. About 60% of the modern cat species are estimated to have developed within the last million years.

Felidae (film)

Felidae is a 1994 German adult animated horror film directed by Michael Schaack, written by Martin Kluger, Stefaan Schieder and Akif Pirinçci based on the 1989 novel Felidae, produced by Trickompany, and starring Ulrich Tukur, Mario Adorf and Klaus Maria Brandauer. The story centers on domestic house cat Francis and the grisly feline murders taking place in his new neighborhood.

Felidae became infamous for its gruesome and very violent content and disturbing sequences.

Plot

A green-eyed black and white tomcat named Francis moves in with his owner to an abandoned house in a new neighborhood, and no sooner has he set paw into his new home than he is greeted by Sascha's slain body. Local street cat Bluebeard is convinced that this, and the other three recent killings, must have been committed by a "can-opener" (cat slang for a human).

Francis disagrees, and as he finds out more about the victims, he is sure that not only is the murderer a cat, but that the killings are all connected by one common factor - each of the victims was sexually aroused at the time of death. He is aided in his investigations by fierce, gluttonous Bluebeard, blind but wise Felicity, and the elderly, technology-savvy cat Pascal (who had been recently diagnosed with stomach cancer) secretly known as Claudandus. His sleep is haunted by terrifying and vivid nightmares, which offer insight into the mind of the murderer.

Felidae (disambiguation)

Felidae is the biological family of all cats.

Felidae may also refer to: