Whf — Big cats

home > big cats

Big Cats

On this page:
Tigers
Lions
Leopards
Cheetahs

About Tigers

Tigers Tigers (Panthera tigris) are largest and most powerful of the living cats. The Indian subcontinent is home to more than 80% of wild tigers. Their historical range (severely diminished today) ran through Russia, Siberia, Iran, Afghanistan, India, China and Southeast Asia, including the Indonesian islands. Most tigers live in forests or grasslands, which their camouflage is ideally suited, and where it is easy to hunt prey that is faster or more agile.

Of all the big cats, only the tiger and jaguar are strong swimmers; tigers are often found bathing in ponds, lakes, and rivers. Tigers are mostly solitary creatures that hunt alone and eat primarily medium to large sized herbivores such as deer, wild pigs, gaur and water buffalo. However, they also take smaller prey on occasion. Poaching for fur and destruction of habitat has greatly reduced tiger populations in the wild. In general male tigers weigh between 200 and 320 kg (440 lb and 700 lb) and females between 120 and 181 kg (265 lb and 400 lb). At an average, males are between 2.6 and 3.3 metres (8 feet 6 inches to 10 feet 8 inch) in length, and females are between 2.3 and 2.75 metres (7 ft 6 in and 9 ft) in length. Of the living subspecies, Sumatran tigers are the smallest, and Amur or Siberian Tigers are the largest.

Subspecies of tiger

There are eight subspecies of tiger, three of which are extinct and one of which is almost certain to become so in the near future. The South China Tiger is believed to be the first tiger. These are the surviving subspecies, in descending order of wild population:

The Bengal tiger or the Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) — the wild population is less than 2000
Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) — the wild population varies between 1,200 to 1,800
The Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) — the wild population is 600-800
The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatran) — the wild population is 400-500
The Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) — the wild population is 450-500
The South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) — 59 known in captivity thought to extinct in wild
The Balinese tiger (Panthera tigris balica) — extinct
The Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) — extinct
The Caspian tiger or Persian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) — extinct
The Trinil tiger (Panthera tigris trinilensis) — extinct

About Lions

Our Lions

Lions Lions are the second largest of the big cats. They have always been thought of by man as the "King of Beasts".
A fully grown male lion regularly exceeds 400 pounds in the wild, and can measure up to 10 feet in length, from tail to nose. Females, only slightly smaller, range from 275 to 400 pounds and measure up to nine feet in length.

Subspecies of Lion

The lions are one of the five species of the genus Panthera and are composed of seven subspecies;

Angolan lion (Panthera leo bleyenberghi) — endangered
Asiatic lion of India's Gir Forest (Panthera leo persica) — endangered
Masai lion (Panthera leo massaieus)
Senegalese lion (Panthera leo senegalensis) — endangered
Transvaal lion (Panthera leo krugeri) — endangered
Barbary lion (Panthera leo leo) — extinct
Cape lion (Panthera leo malanochiata) — extinct

The Pride

The lion is the most social of all big cats living in large groups known as a "pride". The pride can vary in size from as few as 3 or 4 individuals to as many as 40 individuals. The pride is normally made up of lionesses, their cubs and a few males who normally have to fight their way to dominance. The members of a lion pride are sometimes scattered in several groups throughout the pride´s range. The size of these groups, called "companionships" or "subprides", is influenced by a number of ecological and social factors including the availability and size of prey.

A pride will range over an area of between 10 and 175 square miles, often overlapping the range of neighbouring prides, depending mostly on the movement and abundance of prey. The Lionesses not only assume the responsibility of hunting for the group but also care for the offspring, who suckle indiscriminately from any or all of the nursing females in the pride.

Male lions are the first to eat with the females with cubs initially sidelined. Pride members get along harmoniously, displaying warm signs of affection by rubbing heads and cheeks when they greet one another and licking one another´s faces after feeding. The resident male lion(s) breed with the females when they are in season, and contribute to the pride by maintaining stability by protecting the entire group from dangerous intruders.

About Leopards

Our Leopards

artem The leopard (Panthera pardus) is the fourth largest big cat in the world with the jaguar, lion and tiger being larger. They range in size from one to just over two metres (6.5 ft) long, and generally weigh between 30 and 70 kg (65–155 lb). Some males may grow over 90 kg (200 lb). Females are typically around two-thirds the size of males. For its size, the leopard is the most powerful feline in the world next to the Jaguar. Leopards tend to be the apex predator in areas where bigger competitors do not occur, especially Lions and Tigers. This explains why the leopards in areas such as the African rainforests or Sri Lanka are larger than leopards found elsewhere.

Most leopards are light tan or fawn with black rosettes and smaller rosettes or spots on the head, but their coat colour varies. It is estimated that there are as many as 500,000 leopards worldwide. But like many other big cats, leopards are increasingly under threat of habitat loss and are facing increased hunting pressure. Because of their stealthy habits and camouflage, they can go undetected even in close proximity to human settlements. Despite the leopard's abilities, it is no match for habitat destruction and poachers, and several subspecies are endangered — namely the Amur, Anatolian, Barbary, North Chinese, and South Arabian leopards Subspecies.

There have been as many as 30 subspecies of leopard suggested; however, most of these are questionable.

African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) — lower risk, least concern
Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) — critically endangered
Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) — critically endangered
Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera) — critically endangered
Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) — lower risk
Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana) — critically endangered
Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri) — vulnerable
Java Leopard (Panthera pardus meas) — endangered
North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis) — vulnerable
Persian Leopard or Iranian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) — endangered
Sinai Leopard or Judean Desert Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi) — critically endangered
Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) — endangered
Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi) — extinct

About Cheetahs

Our Cheetahs

Cheetah The Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is an atypical member of the cat family (Felidae) that hunts by speed rather than by stealth or pack tactics. It is the fastest of all land animals and can reach speeds of up to 70 mph (123 kph) in short bursts of up to 500 yards (457 meters). The cheetah is well known for its amazing acceleration (0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds which is faster than the SLR McLaren, the Lamborghini Murciélago and the F/A-18 Hornet). The cheetah has a slender, long-legged body with blunt semi-retractile claws. Its chest is deep and its waist is narrow. Its coat is tan with small, round, black spots, and the fur is coarse and short. The cheetah has a small head with high-set eyes. Black "tear marks" run from the corner of its eyes down the sides of the nose to its mouth in order to keep the sun out of its eyes and aid in hunting and seeing long distances.

The adult animal weighs from 40 to 65 kg (90 to 140 lb). Its total body length is from 112 to 135 cm (45 in to 55 in), while the tail can measure up to 84 cm (33 in). Male cheetahs are slightly larger than females and have a slightly bigger head, but it is difficult to tell males and females apart by appearance alone. Unlike true big cats, cheetahs can purr as they inhale, but cannot roar. By contrast, lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars can roar but cannot purr, except while exhaling. Cheetahs are still considered by many to be the smallest of the big cats.

Subspecies

For a short time it was thought that there were six subspecies of cheetah, but Acinonyx rex — the King Cheetah — was abandoned after it was discovered the variation was only a recessive gene. The current five sub-species of Acinonyx jubatus are: