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the scottish highlands
an ancient land rich in myth and legend
but one of its most emblematic figures
is seldom seen
but has a reputation as a ferocious
hunter
and fearless protector of its brood
known to charge humans without warning
this is not a beast you want to
encounter
this is the highland tiger
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the highland tiger or scottish wildcat
is the rarest cat in the world with a
total pure wildlife population of about
50
which probably explains why they are so
famous for looking constantly pissed
these cats are the original grumpy cats
the scottish wild cats are the last
surviving felids in the british isles
thousands of years ago sabertooth cats
and cave lions roamed these lands but
went extinct at the end of the last
glacial period the eurasian lynx went
extinct during the roman britain era due
to over-hunting for fur
and then there was one
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the scottish wildcats survived but it
kept being persecuted as it was thought
to attack livestock
their range kept shrinking and by the
mid-1800s they could only be found in
the remote and sparsely populated
highlands
so how did this cat outlive its powerful
cousins
by being really good at hiding from
humans and adapting to eat anything in
their environment
like other european wildcats highland
tigers are stockier and about 50 percent
larger than a domestic cat
they're very quiet and can easily hide
in burrows and under vegetation
they usually have a tabby pattern coat
which helps them camouflage in tall
grass
their coats blend in with vegetation in
their prey's eyes
even us with trichonyl vision have a
hard time spotting them in the wild this
is particularly helpful for their
kittens which are born defenseless
they can breed up to twice a year
they usually mate in the winter with
babies born in early spring and
sometimes moms can get pregnant again
with new babies born in the summer
by three months of age they're fully
weaned and they become independent soon
after
but until then mom is there to protect
them furiously
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if you see a highland tiger in the wild
it most likely wants you to see him
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they don't really attack without a
reason but if they feel threatened or
cornered they will hiss stomp and make
themselves appear larger
if this fails they launch themselves at
the threat
this is relatively common for cats
but in some cases their aggressiveness
can border on the legendary
there was a mythical black cat in the
highlands called the kelas cat but of
course after decades of sketchy reports
it was proven to be
true
the callus was known to be an aggressive
beast that killed sheep attacked
civilians and could swim in rivers and
locks to catch fish
in the 1980s the first kellis cat was
captured
since then several other specimens have
been observed including kittens
dna tests showed that some are
melanistic scottish wild cats but most
are hybrids of domestic cats
melanistic scottish wild cats eat the
same as their tabby cousins
small mammals
their diet is determined by their
geography
like most carnivores scottish wild cats
are opportunists
in the eastern part of their range their
main prey are rabbits in the west there
aren't as many rabbits so small rodents
make the bulk of their meals
smaller animals are dispatched with a
bite to the back of their neck
being cats they will catch other animals
given the chance baby deer are an
occasional jackpot and are killed by
crushing their windpipe
hunters have commented on their ability
to kill grouse and other birds and their
preference for eating just the head
cat's gonna cat and wild cats are not
too different from their domestic
cousins
unfortunately in the scottish wildcats
case this similarity is threatening them
feral cats and domestic cats that are
allowed to go outside can breed with
scottish wild cats
the vast majority of cats in the wild
are now hybrids with estimates of pure
wild cats as low as 50 which makes them
functionally extinct
since wildcats don't really care about
genetic purity when it comes to mating
they end up mating with domestic cats
the issue is that domestic cats are
descendants of middle eastern wild cats
which are not used to highland winters
this could have devastating effects when
their gene pool becomes so diluted that
there are no longer any pure scottish
wildcats in the highlands
they also introduce diseases that
scottish wild cats can't fight off so
their effect could be devastating
of course there have been lots of
efforts to understand and protect
highland tigers there's a large number
of initiatives taking place right now
some of the plans include trapping them
to examine them and fitting them with
gps callers to learn about their
behavior
there are also trap camps to identify
areas of activity
and dna tests to see their level of
hybridization
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breeding programs have been created to
release more pure wild cats into the
wild though it's a slow process and
hybrids in the wild breed fast
the current number of feral domestic
cats and hybrid cats in the highlands
can be as high as four thousand
or one pure scottish wildcats for every
80 hybrids
if you live in the highlands or anywhere
really please make sure you vaccinate
and neuter or spay your kitties if they
escape and breed with the local wildlife
it would be really romantic but could
negatively affect the ecosystem
not to mention you may end up with more
unplanned kittens that might overload
already packed animal shelters
i know this is controversial but keep
your cute kitties home
so what should we talk about next please
let me know in the comments and don't
forget to subscribe for new episodes
every week thanks for watching see ya
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you