Big Cats or Small Cats?

Are big cats really big and are small cats really small? These two are the most important questions that come to one’s mind when he sees the words ‘big cat’ and ‘small cat’ in various books and articles. This division is not a biological division. The family ‘Felidae’, informally called the cat family, contains 37 species including the domestic cat. Among these, only seven species are considered as ‘big cats’ because of their superior size and power compared to other cats, but still two more cats, puma and cheetah, despite being quite large in size, are considered as small cats because they resemble the small cats in their body form rather than big cats. So one should remember the fact that the terms ‘big’ and ‘small’ don’t exactly refer to their body size here. No doubt that the biggest of the big cats is more than thrice heavier than the biggest of the small cats, but there are some big cats which are more than thrice smaller than the biggest of the small cats!

Now let us consider the division of the family Felidae. This family has been divided into three subfamilies, namely Pantherinae (big cats or great cats), Felinae (small cats) and Acinonynae (cheetah or hunting leopard). Earlier cheetah was also included in the subfamily felinae of small cats, but later scientists discovered that the cheetah differs significantly either from big cats or small cats, so they placed it in its own subfamily. Currently, seven species in three genera, which belong to the subfamily Pantherinae, are considered as big cats. Let us take a look at these great cats.

       1) Genus Panthera: This genus contains four species and they are the   only members of the cat family which are able to roar. So they are called ‘true big cats’ or ‘roaring cats’. A flexible hyoid bone and other morphological modifications of their larynx enable them to roar. Tiger, Lion, Jaguar and Leopard (Panther) belong to this genus. They are the supreme hunters in their habitat and undoubtedly the perfect hunting machines designed by the nature. Among them, Tiger, Lion and Leopard are old world big cats whereas Jaguar is the big cat of new world and incidentally it is the largest cat of western hemisphere and the apex predator of new world jungles. Let us learn about these great cats briefly.

a)     Tiger (Panthera tigris): This is the largest extant cat on the earth today. There are eight recognized subspecies of tiger, out of which three are extinct today. Siberian tiger or Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) is the biggest among them; full grown males reaching as much as 11 foot in length and can weigh 300 kg. the average weight is around 230 kg for males and 170 kg for the females. The largest ever recorded Siberian tiger weighed 384 kg. this is a critically endangered cat now, with only about 350-400 tigers remaining in the wild. They have thick fur and paler coats. Since the prey species are very scarce here, the density of tigers in Siberian jungles is very low compared to our Indian jungles. It is possible that only one tiger can be ruling an area as large as 500-600 sq.kms. the second largest is the Royal Bengal tiger. The average weight of these tigers is 205 kg. A tiger named Khali of Corbett national park, though not measured accurately, was estimated by its appearance to be 10 feet long and about 300-340 kg in weight. It’s common for the males to reach a weight in excess of 220 kg. Indo-china tiger or Corbett tiger, South China tiger, Sumatra tiger, Caspian tiger, Bali tiger and Java tiger are the other subspecies of tiger, out of which the last three are extinct now. recently, the Malayan tiger has been placed separately from south china tiger, making the total number of extant tiger subspecies to six.

b)    Lion (Panthera leo): Lion is the second largest extant cat. This cat is unique in having a mane, the hair that grows around the neck and face of males. This big cat exists in Asia and Africa and the African lions are slightly bigger and have denser manes than the Asian lions. Their average length ranges from 9-9.5 feet and weight ranges from 140-180 kg. some outstanding African males can reach 250 kg also. The largest lion ever seen in the wild weighed 313 kg and the largest known lion in captivity weighed 375 kg. they are the most sociable of all cats and they can bring down much larger prey due to their priding habits. In Africa, they can kill huge animals like cape buffalos, giraffes, hippopotamuses and sometimes even elephants also. In India, they are restricted to the gir reserve forest of Gujarat. Only about 400 lions are left there today. Like tigers, lions also have nine subspecies, out of which Barbary lion, the largest subspecies, is extinct now.

c)     Jaguar (Panthera onca): This robust cat looks similar to our leopard, but it is stockier and has shorter legs. The rosettes are darker than that of leopards and they have small black dots at the centre of the rosettes which the panther lacks. On an average, they weigh around 60-100 kg and enormously built males can reach 160 kg also, almost as large as a full grown tigress or lioness. It is common for the males to cross 100 kg. they have the strongest bite among cats and stand next only to hyenas among the carnivores. They bite their prey into its head and can split its skull with its powerful jaws, directly piercing the brain of the animal. They are the supreme and apex predators of Amazon rainforests. Melanism is frequently observed in jaguars. Melanistic jaguars are jet black in color, but still their rosettes are visible on closer inspection. They have the shortest tail of any big cats which is just 45-75 cm in length. The main prey of jaguars includes tapirs, peccaries, capybaras, turtles, sloths etc and sometimes even as large and powerful animals as caimans and anacondas also. Numerous subspecies of jaguars were proposed by many biologists earlier but recent studies have revealed just three subspecies.

d)    Panther (Panthera pardus): The words panther and leopard are used interchangeably to this animal. This is the most widespread member of the family, probably with the exception of domestic cat. The average weight of panthers is around 40-70 kg. some large males can reach 90 kg also. A gigantic male named Balaji in Sri Venkateshwara zoological park in Tirupathi weighed 139 kg. probably that could be the largest panther ever recorded, for it is very rare for these cats to reach 100 kg.  being smaller than other big cats, they can easily climb trees and that exceptional ability helps them to protect themselves against other carnivores like tigers and wild dogs. But despite their smaller size, they can easily drag a prey twice as heavy as itself onto the top of a tree to feed on it leisurely. They are much more intelligent, agile and cunning than their larger relatives. If a panther turns into man eater, it’s extremely hard to bring it to book. The infamous case of The man-eating leopard of Rudraprayag can be remembered here. That deadly leopard terrorized the entire north India from 1918 to 1926. The fact that it took eight long and dreadful years to hunt this leopard. The famous big game hunter Gim Corbett hunted it in 1926, ending a nightmare and trail of blood that stretched for eight years. According to the government documents, this leopard had killed and eaten 124 people in this period, but Corbett says that many of the killings that took place there were never reported and the actual number could have been twice or thrice this number. Eight subspecies have been considered to be valid today.

1)    Genus Uncia:

a) Snow leopard (Uncia uncia): This was previously called as Panthera uncia, but later it was placed in        its own genus Uncia,                       because despite having a flexible hyoid bone like other big cats, it can’t roar, because it lacks other morphological modifications that are found in the above mentioned big cats. So the scientists placed it separately from the roaring cats. However      recent molecular studies have shown that this great cat is a close relative of tiger and must be renamed as Panthera uncia. The debate is still hot. They can grow up to 5-7 feet in length, including their thickly furred tail and can weigh between 27-55 kg. Large males can reach up to 75 kg also. Even though they are smaller than the roaring cats, they are capable of killing animals much larger than themselves in size.  This species is limited to south and central Asia.

         3) Genus Neofelis:

a) Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa): This is the smallest of the big cats. The weight range is between 12 to 23 kg. The largest males can reach the size of a leopardess or snow leopardess, with 35 kg, but it is very rare. They have the longest canine teeth of any cat. This is also the most acrobatic of any cat. It has the ability to climb the trees, hang upside down to the branches and is capable of doing many other acrobatic activities which no other cat is capable of doing.

b) Bornian clouded leopard or Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi): For long this animal was regarded the same as the mainland clouded leopard, but recently, in 2006, detailed DNA studies have revealed that it has more than 40 differences in the genes when compared to mainland clouded leopards. So they are regarded as a separate species. In size, shape, habits and appearance they are very similar to mainland clouded leopards.

So, to put it in a nutshell, all the cats belonging to the subfamily Pantherinae are big cats and all those cats belonging to the subfamily Felinae and cheetah are small cats. Puma, also called cougar or mountain lion, which looks very similar to a lioness in appearance, is the second largest cat of Americas after jaguar, but despite its much larger size, it is regarded as a small cat, because its body structure resembles the small cats rather than big cats. So it is regarded as the largest of small cats. An average puma weighs around 50-100 kg, with 136 kg being the maximum weight recorded. So the name ‘mountain lion’ is actually a misnomer for this animal. Similarly cheetah, which is almost the same size of a leopard, is also a small cat owing to its rigid hyoid bone.