Most zoologists studying Holarctic fauna in Spec were more interested in the dinosaurs, even though some data on other animals was always gathered. Primatologists, on the other hand, were more interested in the small omnivorous or herbivorous primates living in the subtropical or tropical zones. The felimurids were considered by many to be an aberrant twist of evolution that never happened in our timeline. That in itself should have made the felimurids a subject of great interest, but for a long time, they were just labeled as some sort of weird carnivorous pseudolemurs. While «weird» was without a doubt an apt description, none of these spexplorers of the early days really expected what surprises these predatory primates had in store for future scientists.
Eurasian ilve, Felipithecus sinisalonis (northern Eurasia)
It wasn’t until a detailed study of the ilves, the only mainly arboreal primates in the boreal zone, that scientists started to gain a glimpse of the lives of these animals. Felimurids had always been considered solitary animals that avoided contact with each other and were highly territorial. Some peaceful encounters between felimurids had occasionally been observed, but interpreted as chance meetings with mothers and their grown-up young or two related females, perhaps from the same litter. However, a detailed study of ilves in Finland and Sweden showed that in one out of three cases, both individuals were males of different ages. In fact, the most important factor in these encounters seemed to be where they took place. When an ilve met a stranger on its own territory, it would act hostile or at least threaten the visitor, but when two individuals met in an area not controlled by either, the meetings were almost always peaceful and included the animals sniffing each other and often rubbing their anal glands to nearby trees.
This was the first evidence that ilves weren’t quite as solitary as thought. Studying the marked territories and movements of ilves showed that they moved outside their territories quite often, usually when the owner of the neighboring territory was also away. Such behavior had previously been observed in Home-Earth housecats but not before in pokemurids. The animals seemed to also leave «no man’s land» areas between their territories, possibly in prey-poor areas, where all observed meetings were peaceful, and where females often came in spring to leave marks of their readiness to mate instead of leaving these markings on the borders of their own territories. It seemed that the females preferred to draw in all the prospective mates to one neutral place, possibly to protect their own last year's litters, which often followed their mothers to the point of her next pregnancy. After being observed in ilves, similar behavior was also found in tree foxes, although the neutral areas and the associated behavior of the females in heat seemed to be unique to the ilve. However, some of the most revolutionary discoveries were yet to be made.
Ilves had been known to visit carcasses not guarded by larger carnivores, but this was considered to be highly opportunistic, random behavior. However, to the great surprise of specbiologists, they once observed seven satellite-tracked individuals on the same carcass. To better observe such behavior, the scientists set up another carcass with hidden cameras in hopes of better observing the behavior of the ilves in such a situation. After some initial failures, the plan finally succeeded, and for the first time, felimurids were seen not only feeding in the same place in relative peace but also exhibiting signs of some kind of hierarchy among the individuals. Large individuals who held their tails straight up or bending upwards picked the best parts and drove away smaller and younger individuals with drooping or down-bent tails. These lower-ranking individuals were still allowed to eat whatever they found in other parts of the carcass.
Another important finding made during these carcass feedings was that a previously documented but unexplained far-reaching call occasionally made by old males was actually connected to these gatherings. When an old male found a carcass safe to approach, it would remain at a safe distance and make a deep howl that turned into a roar, best described as «uuuuaaoorrh». This seemed to draw in ilves from many kilometers away, and only after other individuals began to appear, the discoverer of the carcass would move in to feed. Only the old males are known to make such calls after happening upon a carcass, which has led to speculation that the individuals answering its call were either sired by it or its previous partners, and calling them to such an ample source of nutrition would serve to protect its genes. This hypothesis is yet to be tested, however.
One other major, still controversial, finding was made during the three-year observation period. This was behavior tentatively described as primitive tool use. Ilves had been known to throw sticks and pieces of bark at snakes when they encountered them on the forest floor or saw them crawling up a tree their nest was built in. However, one encounter turned out much more complex: a female ilve, having seen a black nighviper in the undergrowth, picked a long branch, and started beating the ground near the snake’s head with it. This prompted the nighviper to strike at the stick twice, and the second time it seemed to keep the branch in the grip of its jaws. At that very moment, the ilve leaped into action and delivered a lethal bite near the snake’s neck. The ilve was seen later eating the dead snake, starting from the tail. This was one out of only two observed cases where an ilve had killed a snake. The behavior of this female seemed to hint at surprising mental abilities, but a separate incident could not prove anything conclusively.
However, later ilves were seen raiding nests of ground ants by digging them up with short branches. Not all ilves seen digging up ant nests used sticks or branches, but it appeared that all the offspring of the female-first seen engaging in this sort of behavior used these digging aids. The said female was also once observed enlarging the opening of its winter nest, again using a piece of branch, but this behavior was only seen once and never in other individuals. This would seem to hint that ilves are indeed capable of tool use, even though similar behavior has not been observed in other pokemurids.
The ilves’ tool use has been discussed – and disputed – by many, but at the moment even those that defend the possibility are unwilling to say anything for sure. Certainly, the comparatively large brain, deft hands, omnivorous diet, adaptable lifestyle, and complex social networks of this animal would make it plausible that it might evolve the mental capabilities required for using improvised tools. Tool use as such does not require any of these, but the ways it has been described in ilves have only been observed in the most intelligent animals in our home timelines, such as crows, parrots, apes, and dolphins. Is the ilve their mental equal, in this limited sense at least? More detailed studies and observations in the wild will be needed to say for sure. Certainly, felimurids have changed in the eyes of speczoologists from apparently random freaks of evolution to some of the most interesting mammals in the Spec Holarctic.
Text: Tiina Aumala and David Marjanović.
Picture: Tiina Aumala.