BBC - Earth - Scotland Is Home to Small ‘Tigers’, but Maybe Not for Long
Scottish wildcats are formally known as Felis silvestris grampia. They are a subspecies of the larger wildcat group that prowl through much of the Old World. To Scottish people, they are Highland tigers. Although they are about the same size as domestic cats, they can be twice as heavy.
Wildcats came to Britain via Doggerland, a huge expanse of marshes and tundra that connected Britain to the European mainland during the height of the last ice age around 12,000 years ago. It is sometimes called a “land bridge”, but that is misleading since it was the size of a country.
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