Wild Cat Lists ~ Felidae Species Lists ~ Updated Nov 2025

These wild cat lists are based on the 45 species classification of Felidae and are updated annually in November.

Updates November 2025

• Endangered status: 19 updated assessments.
• Taxonomy / naming: African Golden Cat - Caracal aurata to C. auratus - 1 change proposed by ASM.

Updates November 2024

• Endangered status: 3 new assessments and 9 amended assessments.
• Taxonomy / naming: Leopardus genus updated - 2 changes as accepted by ASM.

Updates November 2023

• Endangered status: 5 new assessments and 2 amended assessments.
• Taxonomy / naming: Leopardus genus updated - 5 new species as accepted by ASM*:
  • 2017 - Eastern Oncilla (+1)
  • 2021 - Pampas Cats (+4)
  • 2022 - Uruguyan Pampas Cat Latin name corrected

*American Society of Mammalogists

Updates November 2022

• Endangered status: 6 new assessments.
• Taxonomy / naming:
  • Common name African-Asiatic Wildcat (Felis lybica) to Afro-Asiatic Wildcat.

Updates November 2021

• Endangered status: 2 amendments and 2 new assessments.
• Taxonomy / naming: no changes.

Updates November 2020

• Endangered status: 2 amendments and 3 new assessments.
• Taxonomy / naming: no changes.

Updates November 2019

Common Names:

• Clouded Leopard renamed to Mainland Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) to distinguish from Sunda Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi).
• Leopard Cat renamed to Mainland Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) to distinguish from Sunda Leopard Cat (Prionailurus javanensis).
• African & Asian Wildcat renamed to African-Asian Wildcat (Felis lybica).

Updates November 2018

• No changes.

Updates November 2017

• No changes.

Updates November 2016

• The Wildcat group is now split into the European Wildcat (Felis silvestris) and the African-Asian Wildcat (Felis lybica).
• The Leopard Cats on the islands of Asia are now described as a separate species - the Sunda Leopard Cat (Prionailurus javanensis).
• The spelling of the Pampas Cat has changed from Leopardus colocolo to the more correct Leopardus colocola.
• The global IUCN Red List status of the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) has changed from Endangered to Vulnerable.

References:

• Mammal Diversity Database. 2025. Mammal Diversity Database (Version 2.3) [Felidae]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17033774

• IUCN 2024. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2024-2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. 5 Nov 2024.

• Kitchener et al. 2017. A revised taxonomy of the Felidae. The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group.

Wild Cat List By Common Name

Wild Cat List by Common Name.pdf