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Big Cat Facts
Big cat refers to large wild felids of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Australia and Antarctica have no indigenous species of cats.
The term big cat is used to distinguish truly large felids, which can weigh several hundred pounds, from much smaller Felidae species. Despite enormous differences in size, the various species of cat are amazingly similar in both structure and behavior. All cats are carnivores and efficient predators.
Wikibooks has more about this subject:
Wikijunior Big CatsThe largest cats are members of the genus Panthera. One definition of big cat includes only the four species of Panthera (lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars). Members of this genus can roar while other cats cannot. Consequently, the ability to roar is sometimes considered a distinguishing characteristic of big cats.
In addition to the genus Panthera, four other species (cheetahs, snow leopards, clouded leopards and pumas), with adult males weighing as much as 150 lb (70 kg) or slightly more, are often considered to be big cats.
Some medium-sized cats like Eurasian lynxes may weigh as much as 55 lb (25 kg), considerably outweighing the domestic cat, but are not considered big cats.
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