Scottish ‘Highland Tiger’ wildcat more endangered than Asian cousin - BBC 

I had one in the 90s aswell hahaha

@Dutch Van Der Linde Yes, as long as we didn’t stoke/pet him. We were only really allowed to do that when he came to us, otherwise he’d bite. He was happy to live in the same house as us, basically.

@@2high83 pics or it didn't happen

@@jjr1728 😂😂😂

My mothers cousin, Rosalyn, had a hybrid, it was mental, she found it by the side of the road on a trip to visit family in Scotland. She brought it back here to the Lake district. It lived under an old armchair (which it would only let Rosalyn sit on) by the fire. Only came out to eat and toilet and when it did we were mortified, we used to run and hide in other rooms. If it was a wild cat you'd be 100% sure. Even this hybrid was fearsome and unpredictable honestly I'd rather of been in a pool with a great white than confined with that beastie.

Funny how you are all for protecting such cats, but at same times do the opposite thing to endangered human species that get wiped out by inbreeding with other races.

All we need to do is just leave nature alone. We don't have to mess with it or guard it. Just leave it alone and it will be fine.

@@CC-vv2ne There's only one human species bro. GTFO with dat racism.

@@K-Viz And there is only one Cat race and one Dog race, yet you acknowledge that genetics matter and behaviour gets inherited

@@CC-vv2ne you cant reduce humankind to simple animals

Well they’re Scottish so it makes sense

No

@@UrbexUK2008 no

KopSince89YNWA GIVE FAVE BACK

No, that's my cat sir.

You tell him kopsince 89 YNWA you tell him mate

You care so much about Scottish cats interbreeding and diluting their gene pool, perhaps you should pay more attention to Scottish PEOPLE doing the same thing.

Hi, American here, why are these cats so important to the culture/ecosystem? I was hoping they would explain in the video.

@@SoLuVaBle299 because you need an equal balance of prey and predators for wood webs to work

@@AssdafflabaffYou know, we are all Homo Sapien. I wish mayocide is real.

The pure breed will go extinct, there just are too few of them and the fact that they breed with housecats, and there are 4,000 hybrids out there that they breed with and under 50 pure Wildcats. If a huge capture and spay / neuter release program happened, it would be expensive and need a lot of people involved, they could possibly cut down on the hybrid breeding cats. It's very noble to try and save them and I wish people luck, but it just seems too late considering that they breed with housecats and all the hybrids out there. In a way, their DNA will live on through those hybrids at least. So it won't be like they're completely gone. Some of them lives on in the hybrids. It's not optimal by any means, but sure better than having them hunted and killed to extinction. A piece of them will continue. If they didn't breed with houscats and hybrids, there would be a chance to bump the population. The only other way to do it would be to find some enormous island out there that doesn't already have cats and bring only the pure Scottish Wildcat to the island. You ever hear of those Cat Islands that didn't used to have cats and are now overpopulated with them? :P It's not totally serious, but in a way having them on an isolated island without other cats would be the only way to grow the pure population. I'm not saying to give up, I love that people are trying, but I do also think they're basically lost already. Some kind of captive or isolated breeding programs are the only way to keep the pure Wildcat alive at this point. Anywhere that doesn't have cats that wants a cool little cat species running around? :D

Mum its go the baby. Just run forget the baby

I mean you have nothing to fear from them as long as you remeber the code, respect and distance. They will come to you if they choose not the other way around. And even if they do you must always remeber they are not domestic cats but wild animals like foxes or wolves.

Lmao 🤣

😂😂😂

Aye because they remained wild so needed to have bigger teeth to kill Deer Calfs and other animals.

3 inch canine teeth on males.

Also the domestic cat caracal lynx bobcat and serval

It will try to rip your face of in the wild

Ahahhahah u came here from that robin guy? No thats kskskskskskska

Not a good ideia, bro don't mess with the kitty

😂😂😂

nope. European and Asiatic wildcats completely lack the genetic disposition for domestication. Many people have tried in the past and even when raised from small kittens, found them utterly impossible, untamed. And not just in a 'no no bad kitty way'. lol It's pretty much agreed that all domesticated cats are descended from wildcat species from the middle east/norteast africa.

No. It will run away.

Poor hamish looks like he has problems with teeth..

I support hunting for feral cat hunting in Australia

@@prestons3400 then you are killer

@@leonalexios7392 how

@@leonalexios7392 house cats actually damage the enviroment quite a bit. They kill birds at an alarming rate because there are so many of them.

I'm not sure the cat above is even hunted, it's just that it doesn't have any room anymore. Same with the alpine-eagle which had it's origenall home all over germany but fled to the mountains after humans took over.

Eww

"sexiest men" 🤢

@Rocco Hilly are these going to china for thier dinner?

You talking about tge kilts

@@ce1834 Umm Gerard Butler, James McAvoy, Richard Madden, Sam Heughan, Ewan MacGregor, Calvin Harris and voted most sexiest man of the last century... Sean Connery.

Lmao😂

You can tell that they're Scottish though. They give themselves names like 'Hamish'.

uh oh..here we go!!

@MrAbletospeak its a joke

@MrAbletospeak yeah dude but they said in the video that it's original range was the entire of Britain.

Looks like a normal cat. Breeds with a normal cat. Definitely not a normal cat. Apparently.

@@weswheel4834 a normal cat is a cat most viewed by human society not the wild one. That is what he meant

@@weswheel4834 If you seen one you would definitely know the difference. They are bigger and stronger than normal cats, have slightly bigger teeth, and certainly have a menacing air about them when you get close to one.

@@darkcognitive you wouldn't get close to one.

@@isobelmiddleton6353 I’ve been close to them many times at the Highland wildlife park.

Yes, wildcats were once widespread across Mainland Britain, not just Scotland.

My mothers cousin, Rosalyn, had a hybrid, it was mental, she found it by the side of the road on a trip to visit family in Scotland. She brought it back here to the Lake district. It lived under an old armchair (which it would only let Rosalyn sit on) by the fire. Only came out to eat and toilet and when it did we were mortified, we used to run and hide in other rooms.

@@garywalling4341 omg hahahahha thats hilarious there wild arnt they

Very cute, but look up videos of Black-footed cat which has higher hunting success rate than any cat yet is no bigger than a domestic 3 month old kitten.

Yeah they can be fiercely territorial. At the highland wildlife centre in Kingussy (the one in the video) they have cages with runs that go over your head, and if you get close to them they certainly let you know about it. Amazing little creatures, but i wouldn't want to corner one out in the wild, they are bigger than domestic cats for sure and would leave you with a very nasty bite or scratch.

throw a cat on the barbi in china! damn ,... stop eating cats and dogs china!

Bambi Jerry, Just like you then xx

@@poolpoolification wtf??? no need to be racist.

@@clara-aaliyahogarro5079 that is not a racist statement- The chinese eat cats as a staple- dogs too- do you have covid ? That is not racist- I have no ill will toward any races! Learn what the word racist means..ok? It is a discrimination of a race- I made a stATEMENT ABOUT A GROUP OF FOLKS THAT EAT CATS. this is a fact NOT A RACIST STATEMENT

@@poolpoolification babe i’m black. i know what racist means... the korean people are the ones that eat cats and dogs, & u are assuming that she is korean... if u aren’t being racist u are stereotyping?

Scottish wildcats are actually European wild cats, they just call them Scottish wild cats or highland tigers in Scotland, same cat different colloquialism

Scottish wildcat is a sub species of the European wildcat.@@Raggedyredwood

Because it’s technically a distinct subspecies of the European Wildcat, went through some changes and may have some differences in lifestyle and maybe physique, but are subspecies still.

Sure it was some tough Tabbie Alley Cat that you saw, but not a Scottish Wildcat!

@@stonemarten1400 yeah you most likely right, but that cat did look majestic......

All tabbies have 'M' on their forehead including domestic ones. There are other ways to tell the difference one of which is clear circles on the tail with no black stripe on the top of the tail. The stripe along the back is called the dorsal stripe. In domestic cats, it goes till the end of the tail, in wildcats it stops at the base. They also have bushy tails which don't get thinner. There is a video here explaining how to tell a Scottish wildcat apart from a hybrid and from a domestic tabby. BTW - the kitty in the video may be a hybrid as there is white around his muzzle.

fried china tidbits huh?

"Domestic" cats began self-domesticating and brainwashing humans into serving them with their charms 9,000 years ago and they've changed very little genetically over that time. It's why this "species" of cat can interbreed with "domestic" cats. There's little to no genetic difference. This is just forcing a "species" to continue living a harsher existence for the sake of human vanity. We lost the war thousands of years ago. Just raise the white flag, get in the car, and buy this "wild" cat it's favorite kibble.

In a videogame, but not in real life. I doubt you can find real Scottish wildcats on farms, they don't care for humans, they live in the woods. Hybrids - maybe. They are endangered. Now, African wildcat would be a different story, they are bolder and are more easily tamed.

​@@jewelmarkess ah good to know, yeah I just noticed the cats while playing the game and wanted to see the real thing. Actually according to the developers they are "based off of the Scottish wildcat breed" so hybrid is probably right.

@@dazzylives7452 Probably. Besides, it's a game, it doesn't need to be accurate. It's a species (or subspecies depending on classification) rather than breed, but game developers don't need to know biology. There are a few videos here of these guys including the one where they explain how to distinguish a Scottish wildcat from a hybrid or a domestic tabby.

Wildcats never made it to Ireland so I don’t think that’s a good idea. But those areas in Wales and Scotland could likely benefit both them and the ecosystem.

@@Kingsaxxy3872 Yeah I didn't think about all the stoats they have in Ireland, but if they are only on some of those islands, maybe it would be ok 👌

Nah don't! This cat will make a complete butcher of you.

I thought it was David Tennant to start with.

@scarletgoat173 Surely it doesn't matter if the wild cats are all replaced and go extinct, after all they're all cats. Anthropology also says Pigmies, Aborigines and Europeans are all the same species. Are you the same species as a Chinese person?

@scarletgoat173 Does it matter if the Highland Tiger goes extinct?

You want some lovely scars? These guys are untameable even when brought up from kittenhood. This is likely the reason our domestic cat originated from African wildcats who are bolder and easily tameable. You'll have better luck traveling to some African preserve - there are videos here of one - and petting African wildcats.

If it's a sanctuary, it's not wild anymore

Haha

“Hello there”

I was thinking the same. I wonder if there is a way to distinguish between the domesticated cat and the highland tiger?

@@alishasimms2846 The face and the tail are the biggest differences between Scottish wildcats and domestic cats. You can get domestic cats with a face like that (un-neutered males get those big puffy cheeks) and of course the occasional cat will have a similar build, but Scottish wildcats tend to be chunkier/stockier, a bit larger, are always tabbies, and will always have an incredibly bushy tail with a thick tip rather than a tapering tail that has a thin tip.

@@aim-to-misbehave5674 Great! I thought the head was a bit bigger and a lot more round. Thanks!

Learn some biology. All humans are of the same species - Homo Sapiens. There are no subspecies of humans, we are all Homo Sapiens. Ethnic origin is not the same as species, and a race is more of a social concept. (edited to add) If you want to compare to animals, think in terms of cats' breeds e.g. Persian or Siamese, etc. and also think about the fact that mixed cats are healthier than purebreds. Genetically, the differences between different human races are no more than those between cats of different colors or breeds, they aren't those of different species. Different species would be humans vs chimpanzees. To add - humans share 99.9% of their DNA, the 0.1% of differences are cosmetic, similar as I said to domestic cats of different breeds or fur color and nobody cares about their uniqueness except for some breeders.