Do the sight of wild cats thrill you? Are you scared till you nerves freeze? Or would you love to take a closer look? The wild cats are magnificent creatures and facts about them thrills you beyond understanding. Look at some of these facts:
Big Cats Facts
- 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).
- An adult lion's roar can be heard up to five miles (eight kilometers) away.
- 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.
- The strongest climber among the big cats, a leopard can carry prey twice its weight up a tree.
- The Amur leopard is one of the most endangered animals in the world.
- In one stride, a cheetah can cover 23 to 26 feet (7 to 8 meters).
- The name "jaguar" comes from a Native American word meaning "he who kills with one leap."
- In the wild, lions live for an average of 12 years and up to 16 years. They live up to 25 years in captivity.
- The mountain lion and the cheetah share an ancestor.
- Cheetahs do not roar, as the other big cats do. Instead, they purr.
- Tigers are excellent swimmers and do not avoid water.
- A female Amur leopard gives birth to one to four cubs in each litter.
- Fossil records from two million years ago show evidence of jaguars.
- Lions are the only cats that live in groups, called prides. Every female within the pride is usually related.
- The leopard is the most widespread of all big cats.
- Mountain lions are strong jumpers, thanks to muscular hind legs that are longer than their front legs.
- Tigers have been hunted for their skin, bones, and other body parts, used in traditional Chinese medicine.
- Unlike other cats, lions have a tuft of hair at the end of their tails.
- After humans, mountain lions have the largest range of any mammal in the Western Hemisphere.
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