Talk:Felidae

Prehistory

The article currently states:

The first felids emerged during the Oligocene, about 25 million years ago. In prehistoric times, a third subfamily, known as Machairodontinae, included the "saber-toothed cats", such as the well known Smilodon.

Wait what? So in prehistory Machairodontinae included saber cats, but nowadays thatsubfamily does not? I'm guessing the intended meaning was to say that Felidae used to include a third subfamily, but now it does not (since Machairodontinae is extinct). Or something - since I'no expert I'm leaving this in your capable hands. CapnZapp (talk) 11:22, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Comparison image

Something that would really benefit this article would be a silhouetted at-scale comparison of the size of some of these cats. — Scott • talk 20:55, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Snow Leopard

Isn't the Snow Leopard now part of the Panthera genus?Pedro8410 (talk) 02:14, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

Right you are, Pedro. Moved to Panthera. Thanks.--Seduisant (talk) 14:03, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

38 species Comment

Per this source [1] there are 38 species of wildcats.

Wild Cats of the World: The Full List of Species

Chinese Mountain Cat, Felis bieti; Wildcat, Felis libyca/silvertris/ornata/catus; Black-footed Cat, Felis nigripes; Sand Cat, Felis margarita; Jungle Cat, Felis chaus; Pallas’s Cat, Otocolobus manul; Leopard Cat, Prionailurus bengalensis; Flat-headed Cat, Prionailurus planiceps; Rusty-spotted Cat, Prionailurus rubiginosus; Fishing Cat, Prionailurus viverrinus; Marbled Cat, Pardofelis marmorata; Bay Cat, Catopuma badia; Asian Golden Cat, Catopuma temminckii; Serval, Leptailurus serval; Caracal, Caracal caracal; African Golden Cat, Profelis aurata; Geoffroy’s Cat, Leopardus geoffroyi; Oncillas Leopardus tigrinus and Leopardus guttulus; Margay Leopardus wiedii; Ocelot, Leopardus pardalis; Guiña, Leopardus guigna; Colocolo, Leopardus colocolo; Andean Cat, Oreailurus jacobita; Eurasian Lynx, Lynx lynx; Spanish Lynx, Lynx pardinus; Bobcat, Lynx rufus; Canada Lynx, Lynx canadensis; Jaguarundi, Herpailurus yagouaroundi; Puma, Puma concolor; Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus; Snow Leopard, Uncia uncia; Clouded leopards, Neofelis nebulosa and Neofelis diardi; Tiger, Panthera tigris; Lion, Panthera leo; Leopard, Panthera pardus; Jaguar, Panthera once.

--CuriousMind01 (talk) 04:11, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

So, I believe what you're actually saying is that you'd like to see the Chinese mountain cat listed here as a full species and the Pampas cat and Pantanal cat listed as subspecies only? There is certainly some debate over the exact taxonomic rank of these cats, although I think we might need more supporting references to confirm the exact status of the debate, and what the most widely recognised scheme is currently. Although I also note that the page on the Chinese mountain cat contradicts with this one, and I'd argue that the two should at least be brought into line (one way or the other). Anaxial (talk) 10:23, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

Error in classification?

In the section "Scientific Classification": Suborder: canidae

Isn't it wrong? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Urquan8 (talk • contribs) 09:02, 17 August 2016 (UTC)

Well spotted; should be fixed now.—Odysseus1479 09:15, 17 August 2016 (UTC)

Merger proposal

I propose that Exotic felines as pets should be merged here. I don't see why it needs a separate article. WannaBeEditor (talk) 17:29, 4 September 2016 (UTC)

This article is small at the moment, but I already asked other people in the field to contribute (e. g. on topics like husbandry and legality). When it is fully developed, it should be comprehensive enough to warrant its own article. --— Preceding signed comment added by Serval5412 (talk) 17:36, 4 September 2016 (UTC)

Serval5412 - I did not say that the article is not comprehensive, I just think that the appropriate place to discuss felines as pets is in Felidae. WannaBeEditor (talk) 20:29, 4 September 2016 (UTC)

I understand. However, I plan to add sections on things like nutrition, housing and legality that would make the content too large for being a subsection of Felidae. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Serval5412 (talk • contribs) 20:59, 4 September 2016 (UTC)

See the discussion above, I would like to merge, original author disagrees, no one else commented. I am not sure how to proceed. WannaBeEditor (talk) 06:12, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

The appropriate next step is to initiate a Request for Comment if the differences can't be worked out. —Hexafluoride ^{Ping me if you need help, or post on my talk} 06:20, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

Serval5412 - Just before I start an rfc as was suggested to me above, I would like to discuss it with you one more time. The page Exotic felines as pets is only 5,000 bytes. Merging it to Felidae which has 33,000 bytes will not result in a too long page per WP:SPLIT. Please explain if you have any other reason not to merge. Thanks, WannaBeEditor (talk) 06:42, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

The reason I am against it is that I planned the article to be much larger and more detailed, as I explained above. I tried to find co-editors in this field, but so far no one has stepped up. However, I will attempt to raise support again and the resulting edits would easily add enough content to warrant a stand-alone article. Merging it now would be just unnecessary work that I would have to reverse later by splitting it up again.