Tag Archives: Big Cats

Animal Picture of the Day:
Sunset Cheetah

by
Cheetah in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa, at sunset. Source

Cheetah in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa, at sunset.
Source

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is well known as the fastest land animal on earth; the cheetah is capable of speeds of up to 75mph for short distances and can go from 0 to 60 in three seconds. The cheetah is also one of the only felines that can not retract its claws.

Unfortunately, the cheetah is a vulnerable species and has unusually low genetic variability. Of all the big cats, it is the least able to adapt to new environments. It has always proved difficult to breed in captivity, although recently a few zoos have managed to succeed at this.

The Snow Leopard and the Dog

by

snow-leopard-and-dog

We love animal odd couples. This one features a young snow leopard, Shanti, and her best friend, Badra the dog. Badra was adopted through an animal rescue and paired with Shanti to give Shanti the social interaction that she is missing due to being a single cub who could not be raised by her mother. Shanti’s mother had a history of violence towards her offspring, so keepers at the Binder Park Zoo separated her from her mother shortly after birth for her own protection. Pairing young big cats with dogs has been very successful with many cat species, but Shanti may be the first snow leopard to have a doggy buddy.

Animal Picture of the Day:
Mountain Lion

by
Radio collared cougar (Puma concolor) in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. Source

Radio collared cougar (Puma concolor) in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
Source

The mountain lion (Puma concolor) is the largest cat in North America and the second heaviest in the New World, after the jaguar. It is probably also the cat with the most names: cougar, mountain lion, puma, panther, painter, mountain cat, or catamount. Its range, from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America, is the greatest of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is found in most American habitat types. The mountain lion is more closely related to smaller felines, including the domestic cat (subfamily Felinae), than to any subspecies of lion (subfamily Pantherinae).

WordPress theme: Kippis 1.15