DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10658855
title: litter size of Felidae family

description: The motivation behind the creation of this dataset was to find the mean litter size for animals in the taxonomic family Felidae. The species of cat were grouped into their different coat patterns to see whether there could be a link between more camouflaged animals and a higher litter size due to larger predators which feed on the cats. “more camouflaged” was determined as a darker spot/stripe. Other patterns were classed as Light spot/stripe and None, for no visible body patterning. The litter sizes were averaged for each group, however no clear relationship was seen. A possibility for this could have been due to tigers being the only group in “Dark stripe” and they are apex predators with no need to fear larger predators attacking their offspring.

The majority of references were sourced from Google scholar, however some of the more vulnerable cats were difficult to find papers on, so the internet was searched for the more reputable sites that could be trusted. To find the data the most common search terms used were “[Cat species], mean litter size.” And on the IUCN website the Habitat and ecology section in the species profile was most useful.

 

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