Cats that roar cannot purr properly
The LION, TIGER, JAGUAR and LEOPARD can ROAR because of a flexible, stretchy structure in the throat and long vocal folds that produce a deep, loud sound. The same arrangement stops them purring the way a house cat does — they can make a purr-like sound breathing out, but not the continuous two-way rumble.
Smaller wild cats are the opposite. The PUMA, LYNX, OCELOT, BOBCAT, CARACAL, SERVAL and MARGAY can purr but cannot roar, and so can the CHEETAH, which chirps and purrs rather than roaring. A lion's roar can be heard around eight kilometres away, and it tells other lions exactly whose territory this is.
The only cat that lives in a crowd
Lions are the only truly social cats. A PRIDE is usually a group of related females with their cubs and one or a few males. The LIONESS does most of the hunting, often working with others to surround prey, while the males defend the territory; the dark MANE of a male signals his strength and health to rivals and to lionesses.
Every other big cat hunts alone. A TIGER is the largest cat of all, and its stripes are not only in its fur but on its skin, with every tiger's pattern its own. Unlike most cats, tigers are strong swimmers and often lie in rivers and pools to cool off. A TIGRESS raises her cubs on her own for about two years. Wild tiger numbers fell to around 3,200 in 2010 and have since recovered to an estimated 5,500 or so, thanks to protection in India, Nepal and elsewhere.
One cat with a dozen names
The PUMA, COUGAR, mountain lion and catamount are all the same animal, which ranges from Canada to the tip of South America and has more common names than almost any other mammal. PANTHER is not a species either: it usually means a black LEOPARD or a black JAGUAR. In the right light, the spots are still visible in the dark coat.
The CHEETAH is built for speed, reaching around 100 kilometres an hour in short bursts, with a flexible spine, long legs and claws that stay partly out like running spikes. It overheats quickly and a chase rarely lasts more than about half a minute. The jaguar, by contrast, has the strongest bite of any cat for its size, strong enough to crack turtle shells.
Small wild cats
The CARACAL, with its tufted black ears, can leap straight up from standing to swat birds out of the air. The SERVAL, with the longest legs and largest ears of any cat for its size, listens for rodents moving under grass and catches its prey more often than most bigger cats manage. The MARGAY, a small spotted cat of the rainforest, can turn its back ankles right round and run down tree trunks head-first like a squirrel.
Every one of them is a FELINE, from the same family as a pet cat, with the same WHISKERS and the same silent PROWL on padded feet. Our cats page covers the ones that live in our homes.