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| - Let's face it: Cats are a huge part of the human experience. They make things cuter, they complement schemes to take over the world, their ears and tails are often added to the human form, but there's another class of cat altogether. Ever since the first anthropoid was dragged off and eaten by a sabertooth, the large cats have invoked fear and awe in the hearts of humans. They've become the symbols of kings, empires, even gods and demons. Their pelts are gorgeous and carry with them a sense of awe. And, obviously, they have a profound impact on humans and the fiction they produce. There are a number of flavors: Lions: The "King of Beasts" as far as the Western world is concerned. Lions were once the widest ranging large mammal on Earth; you could run across one in Europe, Asia and Africa. However, they went extinct in prehistoric (parts of Asia, Northern Europe) or historic times (everywhere else they used to live, like ancient Greece and the rest of Europe and Asia) and now they're relegated to sub-Saharan Africa and the Gir Forest in India. Their powerful appearance is why the lion is commonly a national symbol in places very far from Africa or India, like England and Scotland (both national coats of arms feature lions), all of the Low Countries, Bulgaria, Sweden, Finland (their € cent coins feature a heraldic lion!) ... Lions are the only social cat , forming prides consisting of one or two males and a number of females. The main reason lions are so venerated is their image, the males are distinctive from the females with their shaggy manes and tend to be larger than said females. They live in savannas rather than jungles as was once commonly believed. Tigers: The largest of the big cats, native to Asia (not Darkest Africa). The largest population is in fact in the jungles of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, but the largest variety, the Siberian Tiger, lives in, well, Siberia. They're one of the few cats still known to eat people, and, as such, in India, people living in the jungles will wear masks on the backs of their head to prevent tigers from sneaking up on them (yet man-eaters are known among lions and leopards as well). Mostly comes in color orange, while other variants are much rarer but confirmed: mainly the famous white, and then "golden tabby", blue, and black colored tigers. White tigers are somewhat common in captivity and almost unseen in the wild; some of this is probably due to the need for camouflage in the wild. The white color is a recessive trait, however, and thus captive white tigers tend to be very inbred, often suffering from eye problems, hip dysplasia, and cleft palates. "Black" tigers are extremely rare and their bloodlines may be extinct. Given the lack of any captive examples, it's unknown whether they are truly melanistic or if they simply have abnormally wide stripes that leave little room for orange fur between them. Many countries considers the tiger to be the King of Beasts instead of the lion , or even a god, symbolizing wrath, war, military generals or kings. Based on a survey of 73 countries, Tigers were also voted to be "The World's Favorite Animal", narrowly beating "man's best friend". Leopards: The most common big cat of the genus Panthera, ranging through most of Africa and Asia, as well as the smallest roaring cat. Often seen as stealthy more than anything else, and with good reason. Also come in the snow leopard or "ounce" variety, and the little-known clouded leopard variety, Although the three are completely different species. Snow leopards are notable for their extremely long, bushy tail (which are almost as long as their bodies), which acts like an extra layer of fur when they curl up to sleep. Clouded Leopards are known for their distinctive fur and incredible climbing skills, and for their particularly long canines as well. A very common mistake is to portray leopards (both the spotted and the black ones) making the same scream of the cougar instead of roaring (this error also happens to jaguars, cheetahs, lynxes and sometimes even to tigers in fiction). See Disney's The Jungle Book again and you'll find we're right. Jaguars: It seems a leopard on steroids, but is more similar to a tiger in ecology and behaviour. The largest cat in the Americas, found from Mexico through northern Argentina. If a writer is trying to accurately write about The Amazon, this is the cat they'll use. The Mayincatec worshipped jaguars, and to this day they're held in esteem South of the Border. More often than not, however, when you hear the word jaguar, they're talking about the car company. As an added note, Jaguars have the strongest bite of all felids and kills not through the neck like other big cats do, but through the bones of the skull with its canine teeth, piercing the brain. After the jaguar has killed its prey, it drags the dead carcass to a secluded area and always feasts on the chest area first, beginning with the lungs and heart. This brutal behavior has aptly earned them a place among Mesoamerican cultures as symbols of power, war, and protection. Amongst the Aztecs, they were used as Animal Motifs among the ocēlōtl, or Jaguar warriors, whose goal was to capture alive enemy soldiers to sacrifice to their gods. Black Panthers: Not a separate species. Both leopards and jaguars can be born with black coats. Expect writers to treat them as a separate species anyway. Often, especially in illustrated media, if a leopard or jaguar is used, it will be a black variant for two reasons. 1) It's easier to draw a solid black panther than a spotted one, and 2) It looks cooler that way. Mountain Lions: Also called cougars, pumas, panthers, catamounts, painters, and about forty other names (and that's just in English). Ranges across the Americas from the Yukon to Tierra del Fuego and, thus, most likely to be used in an American setting. May be used as a source of non-sequitur subplots. They're not actually big cats in the biological sense; indeed, they're more closely related to lynx and caracals than to tigers. That said, they're almost as big as a jaguar, so the reason for confusion is obvious. But they don't roar, and they do purr, oddly enough, because as previously mentioned, they are biologically small cats. Cheetahs: Once believed a big cat, now seems to be a relative of the cougar. Over short distances, it's the fastest land animal on the planet. When you can reach freeway speed with the acceleration of a Lamborghini Murciélago Superveloce, you know you're awesome. Even if you do have a low life expectancy. The cheetah is also well-known for being the most docile and trainable of all the big cats (it was often trained to hunt fast prey by Persians and other Asian peoples, much like a greyhound). The King Cheetah is a much rarer variety with larger, more elaborate spots on its coat. Lynx: Not strictly big cats either, but people tend to lump them together, especially in Europe, where the Eurasian Lynx is indeed the largest wild cat. They look strong and crafty with their intense eyes, their "beard", and tufts on their ears that make them seem more pointed. Legends about their extremely powerful sight abound, and in many languages "having the eyes of a lynx" means being extremely sharp-sighted and (in a figurative sense) being very acute-minded and perceptive. Despite all these alleged abilities, lynxes are not much larger than a tabby cat (except for the Eurasian lynx, which is easily twice the size of other three lynx species, the Iberian Lynx, the Canada Lynx, and the bobcat) and are totally harmless to humans (if not provoked). And they are now one of the most charismatic species in many European environmental projects, with the same prestige as wolves and brown bears. The most common American lynx is more precisely called Bobcat. Interesting to note that the lynx is the only cat (other than, obviously, the lion) to be represented in a constellation. Ocelots: Not nearly as large as most of the cats on this page, being closer in size to the domestic cat (they can apparently be kept as pets - Salvador Dali had one named Babou - though it's not advised like almost all wild felines), ocelots can currently be found in South America, though are now very rare in the US. Nevertheless they do show up every now and then. The smaller Margay from the same locations is often confused with this one. Servals and Caracals: Rather similar to the lynxes (especially Caracals) but with a tropical distribution ranging across Africa and, in the case of Caracals, in Asia as well. They are long-legged and more slender than other cats of similar size. Servals resemble miniaturized cheetahs, while caracals have a more cougar-like look but with lynx-like ears. The latter used to be domesticated in India. Wild cats: There are several subspecies of them across the world, but the prototypal ones are the European Wild cat and the African Wild Cat. The former is one of the three felines native to the European environment and is very rare; the latter is the ancestor of our domestic friend. Both are technically the same species as the domestic cat; all three are subspecies of Felis silvestris. Iriomote Cats: This cat is Japan's only native wild cat and it's highly endangered. Saber-Toothed Cats: Not actually called saber-toothed tigers, but fit the motif. There were a large number of saber-toothed cats throughout the world at various geologic periods (along with scimitar-toothed cats, dirk-toothed cats, as well as Thylacosmilus, a marsupial carnivore that wasn't related to the cat family, but does slightly resemble one. Even an ancestor of mammals, Gorgonops, bore a sort of saber-tooth), but the one most familiar to people is Smilodon, and specifically Smilodon fatalis, a Pleistocene species that ranged down the west coast of the Americas as far south as Peru. Smilodon was about the size of a lion, but much more compact and muscular, kind of like a jaguar. The two enlarged canine teeth allowed the saber-tooth to hunt extremely large prey, but were very fragile and prone to breaking quite easily. If you want to make a present-day cat appear older, or just more Badass, you just need to add some overgrown fangs. Sabertooths were cats, being part of the Felidae family, but they belonged to a different branch of the cat family tree, and left no living descendants. And they're NOT to be confused with the Marvel supervillian of the same name. Ligers: A hybrid of a female tiger and a male lion. Typically gets bigger than either of its parents, especially if the liger is male. Due to a genetic quirk of the hybridization, male ligers never reach true biological adulthood, and thus keep growing for their whole lives (this also renders them incapable of breeding). There are many other big cat hybrids that are possible, but ligers are the most famous and probably the most common, due to their impressive size. Unfortunately, the male liger does not have a mane, nor does a liger of either gender have markings as distinct as a tiger's. Fictional depictions may show them that way anyway, for obvious reasons. See Cool Cat for when this applies to regular cats. Compare Big Badass Wolf for the canine version of this trope. Also note Our Gryphons Are Different, when big cats (specially lions) are mixed with other awe inspiring creatures, the birds of prey. Despite the popular name, the Tasmanian Tiger (more accurately, the Thylacine) is not a cat, but a marsupial. While this trope is about big cats, it should not be confused with Mega Neko, which is about cats that are exceptionally large for their species. Also not to be confused with the metal group Pantera, which is indeed awesome. Examples of Panthera Awesome include:
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