The largest cat of the feline family. The largest representatives of felines
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Everyone loves cats. Well, almost everything.
We are in the editorial office site we just adore these graceful and majestic creatures that truly adorn our planet. Today we invite you to get acquainted with rare cats, many of which we have not even heard of. Until this day.
1. Black-footed cat
One of the smallest felines, the black-footed cat, is a native of southern Africa. Its weight rarely exceeds 2.5 kg, and its length with its tail is 50 cm. The lifestyle and habits of these cats are poorly understood, but it is known that they choose abandoned termite mounds and porcupine burrows as their homes.
2. Fishing cat
Unlike most members of the family, the fishing cat swims and catches fish perfectly. Their paws are also not the same as everyone else's - anglers have membranes between their toes, which help them to swim perfectly, but do not allow them to retract their claws. Although their body size is not so large - the length of the male rarely exceeds 1.2 m, these cats have gained a reputation for fighters: once a cat kept in one of the zoos escaped from a cage and killed a leopard.
3. Iberian lynx
The Iberian lynx is one of the most endangered felines in the world. Once these big cats inhabited all of Portugal and Spain, but today their habitat is practically limited to the national park "Coto Doñana". Despite the name, it is distantly related to the common lynx and is half its size.
4. Jaguarundi
The jaguarundi is one of the few felines that leads a diurnal lifestyle. Jaguarundi live in Central and South America, but it is quite difficult to see them in the wild, which is why the animals are little studied. Scientists do not even have data on their life expectancy - it is only known that in captivity they live up to 15 years.
5. Chilean cat
The Chilean cat, which lives in the southern region of South America, spends most of its life in the dense crown of trees, from where it hunts its prey. Among the locals, the Chilean cat is considered a real vampire because of the two punctures from the fangs that it leaves on pets that it cannot kill.
6. Long-tailed cat
The Chilean cat's neighbor in South America, the long-tailed cat, also spends most of its life in the crowns of trees. These cats have an amazing feature: they can jump from branch to branch and climb down from the tree head down - just like squirrels do. In addition, her hind legs are so strong that she can hang upside down on them for quite some time.
7. Rusty cat
The rusty cat is one of the smallest felines, weighing no more than 1.5 kg. These babies live, the population of which does not exceed 10 thousand individuals, only in Ceylon and India, and if "island" cats live in humid jungles, then "continental" - in arid open places. The meow of these cats is very similar to the meow of domestic cats, and it is quite easy to tame them.
8. Clouded leopard
If the length of an ordinary leopard, excluding the tail, can reach 190 cm, then the smoky ones grow no more than 1 m. It is believed that this particular cat became the progenitor of all large modern felines, but its habits are in many ways similar to the behavior of domestic cats. Clouded leopards spend most of their time in the trees, and females also use the hollows as "maternity homes".
9. Oncilla
A miniature copy of the jaguar, the oncilla, is one of the least studied species among felines. Little is known about their lifestyle - despite the fact that they are found in Brazil, Argentina and several other countries, it is difficult to see them in their natural habitat, since their color allows them to hide well in the crowns of trees.
10. Sand cat
In addition to Central Asia, sand cats live in one of the most extreme places on our planet - in the arid Sahara desert. These cats are the smallest representatives of wild cats, whose length is no more than 90 cm, of which almost half is on the tail. Sand cats can live without water for a long time, getting its supplies from food.
11. Forest cat
Despite the significant difference in appearance, the forest cat is the closest relative of the dune cat. But in color, they resemble ordinary tabby domestic cats, and this is not surprising, because it was wild cats that 10 thousand years ago nailed to humans and became the ancestors of our pets. However, modern wild cats do not at all strive for closeness to a person and try to stay away from him.
12. Geoffroy's cat
The dimensions of the Geoffroy cat, which lives in the southern part of the South American continent, are the same as that of an ordinary domestic cat, moreover, they are quite capable of interbreeding with each other. However, unlike domestic cats, Geoffroy's cats know how to swim and can feed on the fish caught with their own hands. In addition, they are able to store food by arranging storage in the foliage of trees.
Among the many interesting facts about the feline family, there is information about who is the owner of the title of "the strongest cat in the world." Since by the word "strong" many mean slightly different concepts, below will be given several criteria for the strength of cats.
The biggest cats in the world
Some wild cats (tigers, lions, cougars, leopards and others) rightfully bear the title of the largest representatives of the feline family as a whole.
Below is a list of the largest cats on our planet..
Not everyone knows about this representative of the feline family. The liger is a hybrid of a lion and a tiger (specifically, a female tiger and a male lion). Ligers grow throughout their life, because the gene responsible for restraining growth is practically absent in them. The weight of ligers can reach 350-400 kilograms, and the body length is approximately three to four meters.
Place number two in the list of the largest predatory cats is occupied by the well-known handsome tigers. Their weight is about 200-300 kilograms, and their body length can reach 3.6 meters.
In terms of "size" in the family of cats, the king of animals occupies an honorable third place. Adult lions weigh about 200-250 kilograms, and the length of their body usually reaches three meters.
- Jaguar
A large and beautiful carnivore native to America, the jaguar ranks fourth on the list. Its body weight reaches 90 kilograms, and its length is two meters.
- Leopard
The majestic leopard, a "cat" with an incredibly beautiful color, weighs about 80 kilograms and reaches almost two meters in length. In addition, the cat has strong jaws.
Puma is an unusual color animal that weighs about 80-90 kg, and reaches 1.8 meters in length, is in the sixth place of our top
- Snow Leopard
A graceful inhabitant of snow-covered expanses, the snow leopard (also called the irbis), although it does not weigh as much as the previous "cats" (about 60 kilograms), can be two or more meters long.
- Cheetah
This graceful animal that lives mainly in the vastness of Africa, although it is not the largest, is considered the fastest land animal. Its weight ranges from 50 to 60 kilograms, body length is one and a half meters.
Strongest wild cats
So, we learned about which representatives of the feline family are rightfully considered the largest and most powerful in the world. Now it's the wild cats' turn.
Top 10 most powerful wild cats:
- Ocelot
Ocelot is the strongest cat in the world (if we take only representatives of wild cats). Its body weight reaches 17 kilograms, and its length is one and a half meters.
- Chinese cat
A wild cat that lives exclusively in the vastness of China ranks second in the top 10. The animal reaches 1.4 meters in length, and its body weight averages 8-10 kilograms.
- Serval
The so-called "bush cat" weighs about 17 kilograms and is about 1.4 meters long. In addition, servals are flexible and capable of jumping high.
- Mottled cat
This cute cat, known for her fishing skills, weighs about 14 kilograms and reaches a little over one meter in length. A very strong cat.
- Golden cat
The African cat, which is called golden because of its color, has a length of about a meter and a body weight of about 13 kilograms.
- Amur forest cat
In sixth place in the top is the Amur forest cat, a beautiful representative of the family, her weight is only 7 kilograms, and the body length is one meter.
- Swamp lynx
A beautiful cat that lives in damp places, near swamps and reed thickets, weighs about 10 kilograms. Her body is 80-90 cm long.
- Margay
Margai or long-tailed cat is very similar to our pets. Its weight does not exceed seven kilograms, its body length is about 70 cm.
- Pampas cat
Grass cat, otherwise - Pampas cat, weighs about six kilograms, reaches 40 centimeters in length... It is strong enough, although it avoids large predators.
- Pallas' cat
Closes the top 10 Pallas' cat, which is somewhat reminiscent of a leopard in color. Its body length is about a meter, its weight is up to six kg. Its bite is strong enough, despite the small weight of the animal.
Strong domestic cat
The strongest domestic cat we are used to is, of course, the Maine Coon..
Cats of this breed are distinguished by intelligence, sufficiently developed muscles and endurance. Nevertheless, they are beautiful and graceful, move gracefully and look truly luxurious (you can see this in the photo). Moreover, this breed is very expensive.
So, the strongest are Maine Coon cats.
Veterinarian
Everyone knows that cats can be divided into two groups: wild and domestic. The latter you see every day and know about them firsthand. But the representatives of the feline, which can be called "wild cat" ... You probably heard about them relatively little. Today we will study these cats in detail.
1. African wild cat
It inhabits the steppe, desert and in some places mountainous regions of the Anterior, Middle and Central Asia, Africa, Northern India, Kazakhstan and the Transcaucasus. It is very common in its habitats.
2. Bengal dwarf cat
Lives in East and South Asia. It is endangered, but in some places it has already become a rare species.
Lives on the island of Kalimantan. It is a rare and poorly studied species.
Few have not heard of the cheetah. This is the fastest wild cat and, in general, a land animal in the world. In the Middle Ages, cheetahs were distributed throughout Asia, Africa and even Europe. But due to their subsequent mass destruction, today the habitats of cheetahs are only deaf and protected places in Africa.
5. Gobi cat
It inhabits the grassy steppes northwest of the Gobi Desert. Like the Borneo cat, it is a poorly studied species.
6. Forest wild cat
The habitat of these cats is broad-leaved and mixed forests. Due to deforestation in many European countries, this species has completely disappeared. Today there is a struggle for the preservation of unique forest wild cats.
7. Geoffroy's cat
It inhabits the entire territory from southern Brazil to Patagonia. It is not known whether it has enemies, and scientists are also in the dark about its reproduction. The specific epithet in the name of this cat is given in honor of the zoologist Etienne Geoffroy.
8. Golden cat
It lives mainly in the Congo Basin and in the surrounding areas. Due to the degradation of the forests of Equatorial Africa, in 1996 there were only 10,000 adults in the world. Now in all countries hunting for golden cats is prohibited.
Lives in Central and South Asia. Estimates of the number of this species due to its secretive lifestyle and hard-to-reach habitat are approximate, but it is reliably known that due to poaching, its number decreases annually.
10. Iriomotean cat
It lives only on the island of Iriomote, which is located 200 km east of Taiwan. Due to its small number (less than a hundred) and small habitat, this subspecies of the Bengal cat is listed in the International Red Book.
11. Jungle cat
Distributed throughout Asia. Adapted to living in thickets of reeds and thorny bushes. It was listed in the Red Book of Russia.
12. Caracal
It is found in the deserts of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Turkmenistan. Caracals have excellent hearing and hunt rodents, reptiles and small mammals at night. Asian subspecies of caracals are very rare and considered endangered.
Who does not know the lion - the king of beasts? The males of this species can be distinguished by the long mane that frames its neck. Lions are the only wild cats that do not live alone, but in special groups - prides. Due to their declining numbers, lions are a vulnerable species.
14. Leopard
Lives in Africa and East Asia. The leopard has long been considered a hybrid of a lion and a panther. It is listed in the IUCN and Russian Red Data Book as an endangered species.
15. Clouded leopard
Distributed in the southeast of Asia. Clouded leopards live alone and in thickets. This species is endangered - only three of its four subspecies remain.
Distributed in Central and Central Asia. In different territories, it belongs to rare, extremely rare and endangered animals.
Lives in moist dense evergreen forests of South and Central America. Margas are endangered. Hunting for them is prohibited everywhere.
18. Oncilla
Found in the northeast of the mainland South America. It is not protected, but its number is very small.
19. Pampas cat
Lives in the plains of South America. It hunts mainly rodents, birds and lizards at night.
Lives in the United States and Canada. Four subspecies of cougar are listed in the IUCN Red List.
21. Sand cat
Lives in Western Europe and Central Asia. The total size of their population is not known. Due to frequent hunting and deforestation, where they live, it is listed in the IUCN Red List.
22. Fishing Cat
Found in tropical and subtropical regions of Southeast Asia. Differs in the ability to swim and fish well.
All cats are beautiful, but the big cats of the wild are perhaps the most beautiful animals on Earth. In zoos - the only place where you can easily observe large representatives of the cat family, cages with tigers, lions, leopards are always surrounded by a crowd of spectators. It's hard to say why people are so fond of these ferocious predators. Perhaps for us they are the embodiment of an unattainable harmony of strength, beauty and dexterity.
Cheetahs are very fast animals, but they are not ideal hunters.
Photo: Philip J. Briggs / PantheraCheetah cubs are born in a "mantle" - with a strip of long hair along the back. This helps them hide in the grass.
- Feel proud of your car's powerful engine and the fact that you can jerk off the traffic lights, leaving everyone far behind? This is because a cheetah has never stopped in front of the "zebra" next to you. This animal develops a speed from zero to 64 km / h in several jumps, and accelerates to 96 km / h in just three seconds! The maximum recorded speed of a cheetah in running is 103 km / h.
- Although cheetahs are very fast animals, they are not ideal hunters. Only in half of the cases, the pursuit of a cheetah ends with the capture of prey. To grab the prey, the predator makes the last super-effort, which can last only 20–60 seconds, and if the animal misses, then all that remains is to retreat. Thus, the enormous energy consumption of the pursuit is wasted. In this sense, hunting from an ambush is much more economical and efficient.
- The now extinct fossil cheetah has been found in North America. One of the proofs that cheetahs once lived there is the now-living species of ungulates that lives on the continent. This pronghorn is the fastest of the antelopes, capable of speeds up to 48 km / h. Now such speed of the pronghorn is excessive - none of the current predators is able to catch up with them, and once it saved them from ancient cheetahs.
- Cheetahs are able to be content with a very small amount of water, they can drink only once every three to four days.
- The cheetah as a biological species is millions of years old, but its further fate is under great threat. In 1900, there were about 100,000 cheetahs in the world, now only 9-12 thousand are left in the wild, of which about 200 are in Iran.
Cougars masterfully know how to hide, it is very difficult to notice this big cat in nature
Photo: Brad Boner / Panthera 
Photo: Mark Elbroch / Panthera Cougars usually give birth to two to four cubs, which remain with their mother for up to 1.5–2 years.
- This species claims to be the Guinness Book of Records for the number of names - only in English - there are about forty of them. The puma is called the mountain lion, the North American lynx, the ghost cat, the panther, and even the mountain screamer.
- Cougars don't know how to roar. Instead, they emit chirping or lingering, howl-like sounds, and, of course ... gentle purr.
- Cougars hunt from an ambush, often letting prey come within the range of a single, but powerful and accurate jump. Thanks to this tactic, these animals have developed extraordinary abilities. In one jump, a cougar can jump 4.5 meters up from a place, and when jumping on prey, especially from an elevation, cover a distance of 12.5 meters.
- It is not for nothing that they say: there is fish for fishlessness and cancer. The main prey for cougars is deer, but if there is a shortage of them, then they are content with everything that is edible, including insects. It seems that when catching the latter, no less dexterity is needed.
- The population of cougars in the world is quite stable, and only the subspecies that lives in Florida (North America) now numbers only about a hundred individuals.
Jaguars have a unique coloration compared to other big cats in the wild
Photo: Luke Hunter / Panthera Trap cameras are helping scientists study these elusive animals.
- The skin of the jaguar is painted with intricate patterns of spots called “rosettes”. Like rosebuds, such spots have a clear dark edging, a lighter core, on which the leopard has a whole series of smaller dark brown spots.
- Previously, jaguars were found throughout South and Central and North America, but now the narrowing of habitats and hunting have reduced their number to 15,000 individuals. So the jaguar is an endangered species.
- Usually cats don't like water, but the jaguar completely refutes these stereotypes. This big cat in nature just enjoys the water - it swims with pleasure, dives, plays in the water and even catches fish in rivers and streams. There is evidence from naturalists that jaguars submerge their tail in water to lure fish.
- The jaguar has the strongest jaws of all types of felines, the force of their compression is more than 900 kg! This is twice as much as that of a lion, and according to this indicator, the jaguar is second only to the hyena - the record holder among mammals. With its jaws, the jaguar easily bites through the shell of a turtle, not to mention any of the thickest bones.
- Translated from the language of the Indians, the word "jaguar" means "one-jump killing", which testifies to the incredible hunting skill and strength of the animal.
Leopards hunt on the ground, but they feel at home in the trees.
Photo: Laila Bahaa El Din / Panthera 
Leopard spots help them blend in with the variegated background of their habitat.
- Leopards are found throughout Africa and Asia, and are perfectly adapted to a wide variety of environments - from dense jungles and grassy savannas to deserts.
- Leopard females bring their cubs at any time of the year. Usually it is one or two kittens that live with their mother for up to two years, learning to hunt.
- Leopards are not the biggest cats in nature, but they are much stronger than you might expect. The leopard has a stocky, muscular body with strong muscles, and therefore they playfully drag even the largest prey onto a tree in order to hide it from scavengers.
- Leopards are not fussy and are ready to eat anyone who is within jumping distance. So their menu often includes not only wild pigs, but also snakes, monkeys and even porcupines.
- There are nine subspecies of leopards, and each of them is in danger of extinction. The Javanese leopard, which is represented on the planet by only 200 individuals, and the Amur leopard, which has only 20 animals, are in the most critical situation.
Lion is the only social feline
Photo: Neil Midlane / Panthera Male lions rarely take part in the hunt, but they earn their prey right by defending the pride.
Photo: Nick Garbutt / Panthera All Pride females take care of their cubs, regardless of which of them is the biological mother.
- Members of the lion's pride show each other a touching tenderness on vacation, and during the hunt they act as a well-coordinated team to discourage the victim from the herd.
- If conditions are favorable and there is plenty of food, female lions can remain in the pride for the rest of their lives. But the males, having reached puberty, leave the family, driven out by the dominant tribesman. Such loners sometimes stray into "teenage gangs" and roam the savannah in the hope of creating their own pride, which they will protect from outsiders.
- The terrifying roar of a lion is heard at a distance of five kilometers.
- Lions and tigers are very close species, anatomically extremely similar to each other. By looking at their skeletons, only experts will be able to determine where the lion is and where the tiger is.
- Since the 1950s, the lion population has declined by half, and now these big cats have disappeared by 80% of their historical range. According to the latest data, less than 30 thousand lions live in Africa today.
Snow leopards can cover record distances
Photo: Christian Sperka / Panthera Snow leopards live in the extreme conditions of the cold, barren mountains of Central and South Asia.
- In snow leopards, the front legs are shorter than the hind legs, and the legs on them are larger. This unique body structure allows leopards to maintain balance and move easily in mountainous terrain. Thanks to their long and strong hind limbs, leopards make dizzying jumps - up to 14 meters long - along rocky ledges, chasing equally nimble prey.
- Snow leopards cannot roar like a lion. The sounds they make are similar to hiss, meows, puffs and growls.
- Snow leopards are relatively small in size, weighing only 27 to 54 kilograms, but can catch prey three times as heavy as themselves.
- Snow leopards travel great distances. A record of one cat has been recorded, having covered more than 43 kilometers in one night and 150 kilometers in five days. This amazing endurance helps leopards move from one area to another in search of prey, which are quite rare in the cold mountainous areas where leopards live.
- There are between 3.5 and 7 thousand snow leopards left in the world. It is difficult to give a more accurate figure because of the extremely secretive lifestyle that these animals lead. But secrecy, unfortunately, does not help them - the destruction of natural habitats, human intervention in nature and poaching inexorably reduce the number of the species.
Tigers are solitary and are the largest cats in the wild.
Photo: Nick Garbutt / Panthera Larisa Solodovnikova
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The biggest cats in the world
All cats, including the largest, are members of the feline family (Felidae). Originally the term "big cat" was used to refer to four large feral cats belonging to the genus Panthera that are capable of roaring.
The extended definition of big cats includes other large cats that do not roar. Find out which 5 cats are in the TOP 5 largest cats in the world.
Fifth place - Puma (Puma)
Other names for cougars are mountain lion, cougar, panther. Puma belongs to the genus Puma. It is found in the Americas. Lives in bushes, swamps and forests. Mountain lions are solitary and territorial animals, with ranges ranging from 250 sq. km up to 950 sq. km. The cougar has yellow-brown hair, straight ears, and a long tail. An animal is born with spots that disappear as it grows.
Males weigh on average from 50 to 100 kg, females - 30-65 kg... Cougars have large strong legs and proportionally the largest hind legs in the feline family. This physique helps jump long distances (4-12 meters) and run fast (60-80 km / h).
The puma does not roar, makes sounds of hiss, growls, whistles, screams. Mountain lions are active at dusk, night and dawn; they are predators that eat prey of various sizes - from insects, rodents to medium and large ungulates (especially deer).
The total population of the mountain lion is estimated at less than 50,000. The average life expectancy in the wild is 8-13 years, in the zoo it is about 20 years.
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Fourth place - Leopard (Panthera pardus)
The fourth largest wild cat is the leopard. There are 9 subspecies of the leopard (African, Indian, Javanese, Arabian, Anatolian, Amur, Indo-Chinese, Sri Lankan), which are found in Africa, East and South Asia. These cats live in rainforests, deserts, savannas, grasslands, mountains, coastal areas, shrubs, and swampy areas.
Leopards spend a lot of time in trees and are active mostly at night. Leopards have a muscular flexible body, they run at a speed of 60 km / h, jump 6 meters in length and 3 in height. Like the cougar, leopards are solitary, territorial, predatory animals. Leopards roar, growl, meow. Their roar is associated with wood spraying.
The leopard's fur ranges in color from pale yellow to tan or gold. There are dark spots on the body, which are called "rosettes" because they are in the shape of a rose. Males are larger and heavier than females: 40-90 kg versus 30-60 kg.
Leopards are endangered. The rarest subspecies, the Amur leopard, is found in the Far East, Korea and northeastern China; their number in the wild is only 30 individuals. The average life expectancy is 12-17 years in the wild and up to 23 years in zoos.
Third place - Jaguar (Panthera onca)
The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas and the third largest in the world. Preferred habitats for jaguars are swamps and wooded areas; but they also live in bushes and deserts. The largest population of the jaguar is in the Amazon rainforest. Jaguars roar, they have a powerful jaw, sharp and strong fangs, which give a high bite force. The coat is usually yellow-brown, but the color sometimes changes from reddish brown to black. Black jaguars, leopards and cougars that exhibit melanism are called "black panthers" or simply "panthers".
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A jaguar has dark rosette spots on its body, in the center of which, unlike a leopard, there are black dots. Along the midline of the back, there are a series of long black spots that sometimes merge into a strip.