Facts About Big Cats

Here is some really interesting facts about big cats, that you might didn’t knew.

The cheetah is the world’s fastest land mammal. It can run at speeds of up to 70 miles an hour (113 kilometers an hour). Cheetahs do not roar, as the other big cats do. Instead, they purr. In one stride, a cheetah can cover 23 to 26 feet (7 to 8 meters).

An adult lion’s roar can be heard up to five miles (eight kilometers) away. In the wild, lions live for an average of 12 years and up to 16 years. They live up to 25 years in captivity. Lions are the only cats that live in groups, called prides. Every female within the pride is usually related. Unlike other cats, lions have a tuft of hair at the end of their tails.

Long, muscular hind legs enable snow leopards to leap seven times their own body length in a single bound.

A tiger’s stripes are like fingerprints—no two animals have the same pattern. Tigers are excellent swimmers and do not avoid water. Tigers have been hunted for their skin, bones, and other body parts, used in traditional Chinese medicine.

The strongest climber among the big cats, a leopard can carry prey twice its weight up a tree. The leopard is the most widespread of all big cats.

The Amur leopard is one of the most endangered animals in the world. A female Amur leopard gives birth to one to four cubs in each litter.

The name “jaguar” comes from a Native American word meaning “he who kills with one leap.” Fossil records from two million years ago show evidence of jaguars.

The mountain lion and the cheetah share an ancestor. Mountain lions are strong jumpers, thanks to muscular hind legs that are longer than their front legs. After humans, mountain lions have the largest range of any mammal in the Western Hemisphere.