Wildcat

The wild cat has a flesh-coloured nose leather, which is the non-hairy part of its snout. Its ears are relatively small, it has a bushy tail with two to three black rings and a blunt, black-coloured end. The basic colour of the coat is yellowish brown. Wild cats do not differ in body size from domestic cats. Wild and domestic cats can only be distinguished from each other by laboratory samples of hair or faeces. The wildcat has disappeared from large areas of its former range, whereby it only colonised climatically favourable, snow-poor and dry zones in the Alps. The offspring from the Alpenzoo find new homes in reintroduction projects organised by the Bavarian Nature Conservation Association (“Naturschutzbund Bayern”) – in large forest areas such as the Harz Mountains.