Scottish wildcat.

Part one.

The wildcat is, pound for pound, one of the most impressive predators in the world. The secretive feline used to roam across the UK, just as the lynx and the wolf once did, but today, there are fewer than four hundred wildcats remaining in the sottish highlands. They may look a little like your pet cat but they are tough, untameable and sometimes called the tiger of the highlands. The wildcat resemble a very muscular domestic tabby in appearance, with yellow/ medium-brown fur and black spots or stripes. Most apparent is the beautiful tail , which is thick and ringed with perfect bands of black and brown ending in a blunt black tip. The Scottish form is the largest in the wildcat family, with males typically between 6-9 kgs and females between 5-7 kgs. This is about 50% larger than a domestic cat. A study suggests that current house cats are descendants from a group of self-domesticating wildcats 10,000 years ago, somewhere in Eastern Europe. Fossil remains suggest that the biggest ever wildcat measured 1.2 m from nose to tail and may gave weighed 14 kgs.