What Animal Lives Where

Where has the wildcat been recorded?

Felis silvestris occurrence evidence comes from 7,195 records in 59 countries and territories, from 1729 to 2026. Most records come from Luxembourg.

wildcat
wildcat — Photo (display-sized rendition): Lviatour · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
MammaliaCarnivoraFelidaeFelis

Observation evidence passport

Evidence found

7,195 records across 59 countries and territories, 1729–2026.

Felis silvestris · GBIF taxon key 7964291

Source coverage

CC0 GBIF Animalia occurrence facets, including country, month and year summaries.

Refreshed 2026-09-20. Inspect the taxon on GBIF.

What this means

The species has been recorded in the listed places in the stated source universe. Peak month: March.

8 months reach at least 10% of the peak facet count.

What this does not mean

repeated describes the record pattern, not a formal range, residency, abundance or conservation assessment.

A single record remains evidence of a recording, not proof that a population lives there.

Compare this animal’s observation pattern

When it is recorded

JFMAMJJASOND

Peak month: March. Records cluster in the months an animal is present and being looked for, so a summer peak can reflect observer effort as much as the animal.

Records over time

17292026

Recording effort has risen steeply almost everywhere since the 1990s, so a rising line usually shows more observers rather than more animals.

Where wildcat has been recorded

The countries below show where occurrence evidence exists for wildcat. They do not define a complete habitat range: survey effort differs by place, and historical or one-off records can appear alongside repeated presence.

PlaceRecordsShare
Luxembourg 5,877
Germany 629
France 89
Spain 84
United States 63
Belgium 59
Sudan 47
Austria 33
Namibia 33
DR Congo 25
Botswana 24
Egypt 23
Benin 22
Romania 18
Montenegro 15
Iran 13
Mexico 13
Israel 11
Uganda 10
Mozambique 8
Zambia 8
South Africa 7
Burkina Faso 6
Mauritania 6
Ethiopia 5
Kenya 5
Chad 5
United Kingdom 4
Peru 4
Afghanistan 3
Switzerland 3
Colombia 3
Iraq 3
Netherlands 3
Saudi Arabia 3
Bulgaria 2
Chile 2
Western Sahara 2
Georgia 2
Greece 2

Showing the top 40 of 59 places.

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Record pattern: repeated
Repeated records across many years and months. This is inferred from how many years and months the animal appears in, not from a range map — treat it as evidence, not a formal assessment.