Mammals

Fennec Fox: The Kidneys Are Doing More Work Than the Ears

A 1982 study found the fennec fox's basal metabolic rate runs 39 per cent below prediction, and a 2023 genome study named the exact kidney genes responsible.

African Wild Dog: GPS Data Found a 15.5% Kill Rate, Not 80%

A 2016 GPS and accelerometer study found individual African wild dogs catch prey on just 15.5% of attempts, undercutting the 80% figure conservation groups still repeat.

Fishing Cat: Males Range Up to 10 Times Farther, GPS Data Show

GPS collars on fishing cats in Colombo and in Nepal both found males ranging far wider than females, by a factor of three in one study, ten in the other.

Pallas's Cat: One Drug Cut Kitten Deaths From 100% to 5.88%

Two zoo collections had lost every kitten to toxoplasmosis until a 2014 antibiotic protocol cut first-year mortality to 5.88 percent, a published trial found.

Margay: A Wild Cat Recorded Faking a Baby Monkey's Cry

In 2005, researchers in Brazil watched a margay mimic a baby tamarin's cry to lure a sentinel monkey close. It's the first such case recorded in a wild cat of the Americas.

Wild Cat Species: The Official Count Is Already Out of Date

The IUCN's official species page still says 40 wild cats. Two peer-reviewed revisions since 2021 have already split that number past it, and the two counts have never been reconciled.

Why Do Cats Hate Water? Vets Explain the Real Causes

Penn Vet and Joybound behaviorists explain why cats hate water: fur that stops insulating once soaked, lost control, and an ancestor built for dry land.

How High Can Cats Jump? The Real Numbers

A housecat's standing jump runs roughly five to six times its own body length, and a 2002 hind-limb study explains why. A 2025 Guinness record adds the extreme case.

Only 4 of the 5 Big Cat Species Can Roar

Genus Panthera has five species built to roar, not purr. A 1989 dissection study found one of them is missing the specific tissue that makes the roar happen.

Clouded Leopard: One Name, Two Separate Species

A 2006 genetic study and a matching morphological study split one species into two. A separate study found its skull mirrors extinct sabertooth cats.

Why Do Cats Purr? What Actually Causes It

Cats purr through vocal-fold vibration at 25 to 150 Hz, and a 2023 study found the sound needs no nerve signal at all, challenging decades of assumed neural control.

Maned Wolf: Germination Jumps From 1% to 62%

The maned wolf isn't a wolf, fox, or dog. Its droppings raise its favorite fruit's seed germination from under 1% to over 60%, a real study found.

Dhole: A Wild Dog That Calls in Two Pitches

The dhole isn't closely related to wolves, and its whistle-like call often carries two independent pitches at once, a real bioacoustics finding, not a description.

Why Do Dogs Howl? It Depends on the Breed

Wolves and dogs share the same 150-to-780 Hz howl, but a 2023 study found only some breeds still answer it, tied to how genetically close they are to wolves.

Horse Gait: 1878 Photos Proved Painters Wrong

The real beat counts and speeds behind each horse gait, the 1878 trip-wire photos that proved centuries of paintings wrong, and why horses switch gaits exactly when they do.

Are Dogs Smarter Than Pigs?

A 2019 study raised pigs and dogs under identical conditions, then tested both. Dogs read a pointing gesture on the first try; every pig missed it and did something else instead.

Why Do Cats Make Biscuits on Me? The Evidence

Kneading is a familiar cat habit and a thinly studied one. Experts say much of the explanation is still theory. Here is what each source supports.