Wildcat
Felis silvestris
We currently have three wildcats at the zoo, Rusky, Staffa and Rhu.
Rusky, a male wildcat, was born in 2020 at the zoo. Staffa, born 2019, and Rhu, born in 2022, joined us from the Highland Wildlife Park.
Scottish wildcats live on the edge of woodlands, in the margins of mountains and moorlands. This varied landscape provides a mix of habitats, from forests and for cover and dens, to open areas for hunting prey small mammals.
Scotland’s wildcats are a special and rare type of European wildcat. They might look a bit like pet cats, but they have different features, like blunt, bushy tails and striped fur. It can be really hard to tell a wildcat from a domestic cat or a mix, called a hybrid, without genetic testing.
The Scottish wildcat is classified as Critically Endangered.
Population
Unknown
Diet
Carnivore
Habitat
Forest
Fact file
Scotland's wildcats are a unique and highly threatened sub-population of the European wildcat, Felis silvestris silvestris
Thanks to their un-broken striped coats, wildcats have earned the nickname 'Highland tigers'
As meat-eaters, they spend long hours sleeping and digesting their food during the day, and are most active around dawn and dusk
Saving Wildcats
Sadly, Scotland’s wildcats are on the brink of extinction after hundreds of years of persecution and habitat loss, followed by breeding with domestic cats (known as hybridisation). Now critically endangered in Britain, there are barely a handful left and scientific research has confirmed the species will not survive without help.
The last hope for this iconic species is the Saving Wildcats partnership project, which RZSS is leading in collaboration with NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Nordens Ark and Junta de Andalucía.
Based at Highland Wildlife Park and building on the work of Scottish Wildcat Action (2015-2020), the project brings together national and international expertise to prevent the extinction of wildcats in Britain by breeding and releasing them into the wild.
Find out more about Saving Wildcats