Felis silvestris
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The European wildcat (Felis silvestris) is a small wildcat species that was described in the late 18th century. Its fur is brownish to grey with stripes on the forehead and on the sides. It has a bushy tail with a black tip. Its head-to-body length reaches up to 65 cm (26 in) with a 34.5 cm (13.6 in) long tail, and it weighs up to 7.5 kg (17 lb).
The European wildcat is native to continental Europe, Scotland, Turkey and the Caucasus. It primarily inhabits broad-leaved and mixed forests. In France and Italy, it is predominantly nocturnal, but also active in the daytime when undisturbed by human activities. It preys foremost on small mammals such as lagomorphs and rodents, but also on ground-dwelling birds.
Felis (catus) silvestris was the scientific name proposed in 1778 by Johann von Schreber when he described a wild cat based on texts from the early 18th century and before. In the 19th and 20th centuries, several wildcat type specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, including:
Felis silvestris caucasica proposed by Konstantin Satunin in 1905 was a skin of a female cat collected near Borjomi in Georgia. Felis grampia proposed by Gerrit Smith Miller Jr. in... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a European Wildcat sighting in Pyrénées National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 24th most-seen of the 30 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–May and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a European Wildcat in Pyrénées National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–October and December–January, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most European Wildcat sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Pyrénées National Park, in our data
Pyrénées National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate European Wildcat sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Carnivora
The closest relatives of the European Wildcat that you can see in Pyrénées National Park (order Carnivora, Carnivorans) are Red Fox (about 20%), European Badger (about 10%) and Eurasian Otter (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the European Wildcat is recorded against all the mammals logged in Pyrénées National Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
