---
title: "African Wildcat"
description: "Felis lybica — Mammals. The African wildcat (Felis lybica) is a small wildcat species with sandy grey fur, pale vertical stripes on the sides and around the face."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/african-wildcat
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# African Wildcat

> Felis lybica — Mammals. The African wildcat (Felis lybica) is a small wildcat species with sandy grey fur, pale vertical stripes on the sides and around the face.

- Scientific name: *Felis lybica*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammals)
- Habitats: `grassland` (Fields & meadows), `savanna` (Savanna), `desert` (Desert)
- iNaturalist observations: 1306
- Wikidata: [Q47482585](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q47482585)
- iNaturalist taxon: [371414](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/371414)

## Names

- en: African Wildcat
- de: Falbkatze
- es: Gato salvaje africano
- fr: Chat ganté
- nl: Afrikaanse wilde kat
- pl: Kot nubijski

## Countries with the most observations

ZA (466), NA (107), BW (87), KE (42), IN (37), NE (37), IL (36), TZ (28), BJ (23), EH (20), DZ (17), KZ (16)

## Summary

The African wildcat (Felis lybica) is a small wildcat species with sandy grey fur, pale vertical stripes on the sides and around the face. It is native to Africa, West and Central Asia, and is distributed to Rajasthan in India and Xinjiang in China. It inhabits a broad variety of landscapes ranging from deserts to savannas, shrublands and grasslands.
The African wildcat is the ancestor of the domestic cat (F. catus). Some African wildcats were domesticated about 10,000 years ago in the Near East. Interspecific hybrids between both species are common where their ranges overlap.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_wildcat

## Photo

![African Wildcat](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/african-wildcat/medium.jpg)

Photo: Лариса Артемьева · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54062075

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/african-wildcat?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).