8 Species Of Felines

This family of carnivorous mammals have a slender body, keen hearing, exceptional eyesight, as well as being stealthy and feeding on live prey. Likewise, they can retract their sharp claws when they are not using them (with the exception of the cheetah), and they live all over the world except in Oceania and Antarctica. In the following article we will inform you about some species of felines.

Cat species: big, fast and strong

If you have a kitten at home, you will surely want to know about the enormous variants of your pet’s family. The best known feline species are:

1. Tiger

It belongs to the genus Panthera and only lives on the Asian continent. It is considered, along with the lion, as one of the two largest feline species that exist. It usually lives alone, it is very territorial and it lives in forests or savannas.

In addition, it hunts medium or large animals, is an excellent swimmer and has the ability to roar. The worst enemy of the tiger is man due to hunting for its precious fur.

2. Leon

It lives in scattered populations in Sub-Saharan Africa and northwestern India. For their part, females have a life expectancy of 14 years, while that of males is only eight years. The male gender is very easy to distinguish due to its mane around the head.

It has a powerful jaw and large teeth to kill large prey.  Regarding reproduction, they mate at any time of the year and gestation lasts 110 days; the litter can be made up of a maximum of four puppies.

3. Jaguar

Also called Yaguareté, it is one of the species of felines that lives in America. The jaguar is the third largest in the world,  and is similar in appearance to the leopard, but is larger in size and prefers humid forests.

It is solitary, hunting through ambushes and biting the temporal bones of the skull of its prey, which are diurnal mammals. On the other hand, the young are born blind after 100 days of gestation and are completely dependent on the mother, whom they accompany until they are two years of age.

4. Leopard

It is another of the feline species that has the ability to roar and, as a curiosity,  in ancient times there was a belief that it was a cross between a lion and a panther. With regard to its habitat, it develops in different ecosystems, except for deserts, and looks for places where it can hide.

All its claws are retractable, it has four toes on the hind legs and five on the forelegs. It is solitary, except in the breeding season, in which gestation lasts three months and the female can give birth to up to six cubs.

5. Snow leopard

This feline lives in the mountains at more than 6,000 meters above sea level and, therefore, not much is known about them. It has a tail almost as long as its body that allows it to keep warm. As for hunting, it is practiced during the day and any type of wild animal is worth it as prey.

Gestation in this leopard lasts 100 days, up to five young are born and the cubs remain with the mother for up to two years. It is the only species of the Panthera that cannot roar.

6. Cheetah

It is also called cheetah and, although atypical, it is a member of the felidae family. It is the fastest animal that exists (it reaches 115 km / hour), and it also stands out for its precious sight. Its main prey is the gazelle, although it also eats impalas, wildebeest and zebras.

If we look at their way of reproducing, it should be noted that they are polygamous,  that gestation lasts three months and that each litter has a maximum of four young, whose mortality rate up to three months of age is quite high. It cannot roar or retract its claws.

7. Puma

This big cat lives mainly in America, especially in Canada and the Argentine-Chilean Patagonia. The puma is the fourth largest in its family, it lives for approximately 10 years and its main food is deer and guanacos.

Prefers heavily vegetated habitats to stalk undetected, although it also lives in open areas. It is very territorial, a great predator and only the females are responsible for raising the cubs.

8. Wildcat

The wildcat lives in Africa and Eurasia, can live up to 12 years and has several subspecies: European, Asian and African. On several occasions it has been crossed with domestic cats.

Small in size, as it only weighs up to six kilos, the coat is gray with yellow tones. In addition, it reproduces once a year, and the females use empty caves or burrows to give birth and protect their young.