Overview

The Scottish wildcat is Britain's only native cat — thick-set, striped, and fiercely independent, it has prowled Highland forest since the Ice Age. Larger and heavier than a domestic tabby, with a blunt tail banded in black, it is virtually impossible to tell from a feral cat except by experts.

Hybridisation with domestic cats has pushed the wildcat to the edge of extinction. Fewer than a handful of pure wildcats may remain in the wild, making Scotland's captive breeding and release programme one of Britain's most urgent conservation projects.

Habitat

Remote Highland forest and moorland in Scotland once held wildcats across the country. Today they cling on in the Cairngorms, Ardnamurchan, and Morvern — rugged country where forest meets open ground.

Countries found

Wildcat in United Kingdom

Interesting facts

01
Scottish wildcats are Britain's last native cat — rarer than the tiger globally.
02
They cannot be tamed — even kittens taken young remain wild.
03
Hybridisation with feral domestic cats is the greatest threat to their survival.

Conservation status

CR — Critically Endangered

Scottish wildcats are Critically Endangered, functionally extinct in the wild as a pure species. The Saving Wildcats breeding programme aims to release cats into the Cairngorms National Park.