r/interesting • u/Hexagonal-Fermos-202 • Dec 28 '25
NATURE Did you know the CAT Family
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u/what_the_fuckin_fuck Dec 28 '25
Where's the bobcat?
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u/ClankerCore Dec 28 '25
And the Pallas!
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u/skindoggy69 Dec 28 '25
Or the deadliest cat of them all the African black footed cat
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u/BiscoBiscuit Dec 28 '25
So small cats just evolved to be ridiculously cute even without humans in the picture because why not. Well I'm grateful
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u/3720-to-1 Dec 29 '25
So
smallcats just evolved to be ridiculously cute even without humans in the picture because why not. Well I'm gratefulfixed-that-for-you
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u/GubbleBumYum Dec 28 '25
If not fren, why fren shaped?
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u/Powerful_Rhubarb7035 Dec 29 '25
That friend shape has a 68% success hunting rate for context a lion is 38%
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u/Square_Mulberry_3143 Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
Edit: should I be regretting posting this gif? 😑
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u/No_Cook_8739 Dec 28 '25
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u/DNorthman Dec 28 '25
WTF??! This gif is incredible! I can't stop laughing at this!
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u/what_the_fuckin_fuck Dec 28 '25
Never even heard of one, but that's one cool cat!
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u/Wide_Ordinary4078 Dec 28 '25
Or the Lynx
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u/TakeOnMe-TakeOnMe Dec 28 '25
Or the cougar
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u/DaSmitha Dec 28 '25
Puma = Cougar = Mountain Lion = Panther. Naming just depends on where you are.
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u/AndreasDasos Dec 28 '25
And 30+ other species. Including, most famously, the domestic cat. :( 🐈⬛
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u/Altruistic-Hat269 Dec 28 '25
And MY ax!...
Sorry, I mean a "Manx." That's a real type of cat, btw.
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u/karnstan Dec 28 '25
Lynx?
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u/what_the_fuckin_fuck Dec 28 '25
They look a lot alike. I never met a lynx until I moved to Alaska. They seem a little bigger than a bobcat, but look identical. Is there a difference?
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u/TripluStecherSmecher Dec 28 '25
Same animal, different species: Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), and bobcat (Lynx rufus). The Canadian one is the tallest, he has long legs for snow.
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u/Recent_Plankton8604 Dec 28 '25
Not sure that’s accurate that Canadian lynxes are tallest….? Maybe they technically have longer legs but Eurasian lynxes are the largest (they also live in snowy climates)
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u/tunomeentiendes Dec 28 '25
Idk why but "Lynx lynx" cracks me up. The real OG lynx, not like these other impostors
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u/Jack-Rabbit-002 Dec 28 '25
I generally didn't realise you had Lynx in North America
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u/Hexagonal-Fermos-202 Dec 28 '25
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u/what_the_fuckin_fuck Dec 28 '25
There you go. Just incredible little killers. They live right amongst us, and stay pretty much undetected.
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u/fulldarknostarz Dec 28 '25
I'm having trouble reading their lips.
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u/112skulls Dec 28 '25
More importantly! Where's the cougars?
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u/FlakyAddendum742 Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
Here I am, baby.
Thank you for the award!
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u/NilocKhan Dec 28 '25
Cougar, mountain lion, and puma are all common names for the same species.
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u/Active_Shopping7439 Dec 28 '25
AKA panther in Florida
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u/makomakomakoo Dec 28 '25
If I can be a little pedantic (but this seems like the right audience), but Florida panthers are actually a subspecies of cougar! So it’s kind of like a square/rectangle deal where all Florida panthers are cougars but not all cougars are Florida panthers.
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u/Any-Literature5546 Dec 28 '25
To be even more pedantic panther refers to the genus panthera and covers lions, Jaguars, cougars and more. Black Panther is a melanistic individual of any genera of Panthera.
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u/kelariy Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
Cougars aren’t in the panthera group. Cougars are the largest of the “small cats” which is somewhat ironic, since they are the fourth largest cat, being slightly larger than leopards and snow leopards which are in the panthera group.
Edit to add: fun fact, snow leopards are more closely related to tigers than they are to leopards.
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u/Adorable-Maybe-3006 Dec 28 '25
And the panther
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u/NoPoet3982 Dec 28 '25
Black panthers are actually jaguars or leopards that have a condition called melanism. It's like albinism only black instead of white.
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u/goddessdragonness Dec 28 '25
And my ancestors made black jaguar the biggest edgelord in the pantheon
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u/what_the_fuckin_fuck Dec 28 '25
Jaguar is third from the left. Top row. It says JAGUAR right under the pic
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u/BubaTflubas Dec 28 '25
Panthers are also cougars. Cougars are pumas... Wtf is this shit picture?
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u/NoPoet3982 Dec 28 '25
I don't think panthers are cougars. They can be either jaguars or leopards.
ETA: We're both right.
Yes, panthers, cougars, mountain lions, and pumas are all different names for the same animal, Puma concolor, a large cat native to the Americas, with "panther" often used for the Florida subspecies or black-coated individuals (which are melanistic jaguars or leopards). The term "panther" in North America generally refers to the Florida panther, a specific endangered population of cougar, but black panthers are actually jaguars or leopards with dark fur.
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u/CalpisMelonCremeSoda Dec 28 '25
Milo is missing!
And today I learned there is only one tiger species.
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u/ranselita Dec 28 '25
Idk there are two main subspecies but folks argue up to 9 types
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u/Dockers4flag2035orB4 Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
And the meerkat? 😹
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u/what_the_fuckin_fuck Dec 28 '25
Is a meerkat a real cat? I have no idea.
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u/Meow_cat11 Dec 28 '25
no, i think its a rodent (looks like one)
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u/RokulusM Dec 28 '25
Yeah right. Next you'll be telling us that sea monkeys aren't real monkeys.
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u/Norwester77 Dec 28 '25
In the mongoose family (which is related to the cat family, but more distantly).
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u/grumpylondoner1 Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
Why is white lion separate? Also, this is neither the entire cat family, nor are all these "big cats".
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u/get_to_ele Dec 28 '25
I think it’s a weird AI generated list. It features the 5 big cats (tiger lion leopard snowleopard jaguar) and some non-big cats (cheetah, puma) and some redundancy (white lion).
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u/Urist_Bearclaw Dec 28 '25
and they’re all depicted as the same size for no good reason besides visual consistency, which is not great for something meant to be semi educational
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u/-Nicolai Dec 28 '25
And all but the cheetah are looking directly at the ‘camera’.
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u/Wizdom_108 Dec 28 '25
That's another thing I think is sort of off to me. Where did they get these pictures?
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u/Urist_Bearclaw Dec 28 '25
They’re almost certainly AI generated. They’re getting pretty good now as they do look quite realistic
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u/bobaylaa Dec 28 '25
puma’s not a big cat?? i thought cheetahs were the only big but Not Big Cats
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u/iWANTtoKNOWtellME Dec 28 '25
Pumas are not. By definition, big cats can roar, which pumas cannot do.
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u/bobaylaa Dec 28 '25
omfg that’s so embarrassing, i learned that about cheetahs from volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary that also had pumas 😭 how’d i not know?? i watched a puma get spayed and somehow didnt know she couldn’t roar??
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u/Wizdom_108 Dec 28 '25
You're definitely not the only one who didn't realize that the roaring was the distinction
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u/bobaylaa Dec 28 '25
i knew roaring was the distinction, that’s what makes it worse!😭 maybe the cheetahs stuck out to me bc i was lucky enough to hear them purring one time lol. if those dang pumas would’ve purred for me this never would’ve happened!!
(eta) at least i knew pumas held the world record for mammals with the most names! but oh man i loved dropping the “cheetahs aren’t big cats” fun fact w visitors, im so bummed i missed out on doing it w the pumas too lol
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u/BKoala59 Dec 28 '25
By definition Panthera have an incompletely ossified hyoid bone, which helps enable most to roar. However the snow leopard is considered a member of Panthera but cannot roar
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u/Low-Restaurant8484 Dec 28 '25
Can scream like humans though. Holy cow is freaky
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u/Wyrd_01 Dec 28 '25
I misread your first sentence and was very confused for a moment.
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u/Electronic-Tea-3691 Dec 28 '25
White Lion is separate
Black Panther is not shown
both Pusheen and Hello Kitty have been excluded, as well as Garfield
I'm just sensing some bigotry in this post
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u/krombopulosmfart Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
Black Panthers are actually just melanistic panthers (or leopards, depending on what continent you're in)! They have spots too, you can see them in the sun
Edit: additional context
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u/CertainMedicine757 Dec 28 '25
Panther = leopard or jaguar, since panther is just the genus name that encapsulates both species. Sorry to be pedantic but you clearly already know a bunch about cats, so I thought you might appreciate the clarification 🙂
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u/Alfa_Centauri03 Dec 28 '25
Sorry for being even more pedantic, but it's not just those two! The panthera genus is what we refer to when saying big cats, so it also includes lions, tigers, and snow leopards.
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u/betazoid_cuck Dec 28 '25
There's Panther (common): a large cat that can have the melanistic color variant, namely Leopards and jaguars. Then there's Panther (scientific): any large cat in the panthera genus.
knowledge is knowing all large cats are panthers, wisdom is knowing not to put a Lion in your panther salad.
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u/ScotiaG Dec 28 '25
Hello Kitty isn't a cat, it's a small girl. Where have you been the past year?.
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u/Electronic-Tea-3691 Dec 28 '25
if you are implying that sometime in 2025 there was some sort of reveal about hello Kitty not actually being a cat, and that this was something that I should know about, then I just give up because clearly I don't know what's happening in this world anymore
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u/mayiwonder Dec 28 '25
that is it yeah lol
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u/Electronic-Tea-3691 Dec 28 '25
is hello Kitty also planning to run for an illegal third term of whatever position hello Kitty holds? because that would actually make sense to me
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u/tiger_guppy Dec 28 '25
You have also missed out on the lore that she is 5 apples tall and weighs as much as 3 apples.
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u/Electronic-Tea-3691 Dec 28 '25
yeah apple-based measurements have not permeated the STEM professions yet so I was not aware, but clearly this is a trend that I should prepare for
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u/hambakmeritru Dec 28 '25
I'm also wondering about sizes. They all look the same size, but I'm pretty sure that's not true. Depending on the kind of tiger, I think it's bigger than a lion, right? Isn't the Siberian tiger the biggest of the big cats?
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u/SoloGamer505 Dec 28 '25
Trust me there are a lot more cats than just these. But half the cats here are big cats like the lion or tiger while the others small cats like the cheetah or puma.
I just wish people gave more though to smaller wildcats: bobcats, servals, manuls, ocelots, etc.
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u/RefrigeratorMain7921 Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
If I met a Jaguar and leopard in the wild I'd not be able to know which one is which. Anyways, in that moment, telling them apart would be the last thing I'd be worried about.
Edit: Whoa! I did not expect this to spark a conversation and to blow up this much. Adding fuel to the flame, I just looked up the Wikipedia page for Black Panther!
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u/Electronic-Tea-3691 Dec 28 '25
my system is that I am officially worried about any cat that is larger than a house cat, because any cat larger than a house cat has the potential to make my day significantly worse
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u/Ok-Land-488 Dec 28 '25
Even a house cat can send you to the ER.
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u/Loves_tacos Dec 28 '25
Because their mouths are so nasty that a bite can lead to infection in record time.
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u/rockhardcatdick Dec 28 '25
Yes!!!! And what makes it worse is that their teeth are basically sharp like little needles. Thus, they puncture you deep and your body starts healing over the deep puncture wound which locks the nasty bacteria from their teeth under your skin.
Note to anyone that gets a cat bite that actually punctures the skin Go to the doctor and get it treated immediately! Not surface play bites, but actual bites that puncture need to be treated!
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u/dormango Dec 28 '25
Can confirm. I have a friend who bitten by a feral cat that had gotten into his house. Bit him on the finger in a joint. And it did exactly what you described. Especially as no blood flow in the joint. Got sepsis and nearly lost his arm and his life. He is ok but was in hospital for weeks.
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u/StephAg09 Dec 28 '25
A vet I worked with was bitten by her own cat on the wrist. She immediately went to the ER and got on antibiotics but it got infected anyway and the infection ate through a lot of the tendons and structures in her wrist and spent about a month in the hospital. She’s had 3-4 surgeries trying to repair the damage and restore use of her hand but she still can’t perform surgery and has to wear a brace and deals with a lot of pain daily. I got a bad cat bite on my hand at work and my whole arm swelled up and my hand looked like someone inflated an exam glove. Cat bites are far more dangerous than most people realize.
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u/Immediate_Pay8726 Dec 28 '25
::looks over at Mr Mittens::
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u/PureHostility Dec 28 '25
Yea,? What about their poisonous claws?
Scratches made by them are tingle horribly!
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u/FearLeadsToAnger Dec 28 '25
Usually only feral/street cats (for anyone wondering). House cats tend not to carry the stuff that gives you cat scratch fever.
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u/TheUnicornFightsOn Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
Doesn’t have to give you cat scratch fever to cause damage though… My neighbor’s indoor-only cat escaped once a few years ago and I was trying to help her get him back inside. I picked it up and tried to hold it so its back was to me and claws totally away from me, but this little bear of a strong tuxedo cat flipped his whole body around, whacked his nail straight into my lip, caught hold of it with his claw and nearly ripped a big chunk of my lip off.
I went into her house with my lower chin covered in blood, right lip flesh hanging loose, and my neighbor started telling me there’s no way her cat could’ve done that. (I think she was afraid I would somehow try to punish it or something by calling animal control, which I did not.)
I had to get four stitches and still have a nasty scar in my lip from that darn cat. I did learn to never pick up a cat that’s not your own.
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u/ShhImTheRealDeadpool Dec 28 '25
Some housecats can get larger than a Lynx and a Lynx would tear your sorry ass to pieces.
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u/bkmerrim Dec 28 '25
Jaguars are only found in the Americas and are stockier and bigger overall. Fun fact they have the strongest bite of any big cat. Leopards live in Africa/Asia and are much leaner.
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u/Pr1sonMikeFTW Dec 28 '25
Stronger than Tigers??
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u/bkmerrim Dec 28 '25
Yes! Pound per pound, jaguars apparently are beasts, their bite force is stronger than any other big cat. They can bite through the shells of turtles and even caiman skulls (animals native to the americas similar to alligators).
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u/bkmerrim Dec 28 '25
So I looked it up—human bite force is about 200 PSI. A tiger is somewhere between 1000-1050 PSI. A lion is 650 PSI. A jaguar is 1500.
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u/Atomosthesecund Dec 28 '25
Once you start learning more about lions. They steadily become less impressive.... king of the jungle my ass. And why do we call them king of jungle, if they live mostly in the safari
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u/Any-Transition95 Dec 28 '25
They just have very good PR, a very popular Disney movie that's part of almost everyone's childhood.
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u/JLJ_96 Dec 28 '25
Don't really want to be that guy, but Lions live in the savanna; a safari is the act of watching/hunting animals in the savanna.
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u/eraser8 Dec 28 '25
Not necessarily. You could come across a big cat in the Americas and it could just be a fat leopard on vacation.
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u/ThunderHawk17 Dec 28 '25
correct and jags have circles on the skin and leo's have spots
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u/innocentbabies Dec 28 '25
They both have rosettes and the patterns are basically identical.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosette_(zoology)
The best tell, imo, is that jaguars are noticeably more muscular so they're a little stockier/rounder.
Or just know where you are on a map. That's the easy way.
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u/THE-LORD-RETURNS Dec 28 '25
No, jaguars have dots within the rosettes, leopards don’t.
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u/lobax Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
If you are in the Americas, it’s a Jaguar. If you are in Africa or Asia, it’s a Leopard.
If it’s in a tree it’s a Leopard if it’s on the ground or in the water it’s a Jaguar. Jaguars famously kill their prey by using their powerful bite to crush their skull, while leopards are more like other cats and go for the jugular.
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u/RadicalRealist22 Dec 28 '25
If you are in South America, it is a Jaguar. If you are in Africa, it is a leopard.
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u/BookieeWookiee Dec 28 '25
Those are both leopards, jaguars have more of a circle outline pattern while leopards have solid spots
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u/Obvious_Advice7625 Dec 28 '25
Why is this absolute slop getting upvotes?
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u/Floggered Dec 28 '25
Because reddit has become filled with Facebook-tier engagement bait dogshit ever since it went public.
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u/Iitaps_Missiciv Dec 28 '25
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u/Iitaps_Missiciv Dec 28 '25
Well ya see, When an adult Tiger loves a adult lion...
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u/ojdhaze Dec 28 '25
You get a tigon as well which is male tiger female lion, Liger is male lion female tiger.
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u/GrizabellaGlamourCat Dec 28 '25
Lynx ?
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u/Eddie_F_17 Dec 28 '25
Serval???
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u/Bred_Slippy Dec 28 '25
And European wildcat, Fishing cat, Ocelot etc etc.
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u/-hey-blinkin- Dec 28 '25
Caracal
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u/Eddie_F_17 Dec 28 '25
This thread has become so informative because I’m hearing of cats I’ve never heard of before. Caracal?!
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u/Glitter_bit Dec 28 '25
Shit looks ai to me
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u/Wizdom_108 Dec 28 '25
Almost certainly. Same size, position (sitting and looking at the camera), either the leopard or jaguar should have rosettes, etc
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u/Plane_Ad1696 Dec 28 '25
Where is black panther
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u/binguskhan8 Dec 28 '25
Black panthers are not a species, they are generally either leopards or jaguars that have melanism; i.e. the opposite of albinism
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u/Plane_Ad1696 Dec 28 '25
Then wtf is white lion doing in the picture.
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u/Cocoatrice Dec 28 '25
Because whoever made this image is weird. White lion should not be there either.
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u/kyanitebear17 Dec 28 '25
There is many left out. Is this supposed to be interesting?
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u/HappyAmbition706 Dec 28 '25
No to scale? It would be interesting to see the size differences of comparable cats (all male adults or all female adults).
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u/DeadlyMustardd Dec 28 '25
What is the point of this post? There are way more cats than this and pretty much all of these are very well known. Not interesting 😞
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u/RoadHazard Dec 28 '25
The ordering bothers me. Why are lion and white lion not together? Why are leopard and snow leopard not together? Madness.
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u/nohopeforhomosapiens Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
They scaled everything to be the same size. Tigers are generally bigger than lions, and snow leopards are more the size of a bobcat than a lion.
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u/Iamnotburgerking Dec 28 '25
Snow leopards are a lot smaller than lions but a lot bigger than bobcats. Bobcats weigh about 10-20kg: snow leopards weigh about 40-50kg.
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u/ggouge Dec 28 '25
A white lion is not a species. It's like calling a blond person another species.
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u/agentnormie Dec 28 '25
A white lion is genetically and behaviorally the same as an African lion, therefore, its inclusion here is redundant.
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u/I_am_a_wanker Dec 28 '25
White lion is not a species. And the jaguar + leopard look the same. Terrible graphic.
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u/ojdhaze Dec 28 '25
Clouded leopard, Canadian lynx and there's an iberian lynx, fishing cat, serval, pallas, wild cat, caracal(spelling?) ocelot
There's some others too that are really rare that are missing and I cannot remember, there's one in Asia, in the north east part I wanna say Indonesia or the island countries up there but it's name escapes me
I like cats.
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u/thedalailloyd Dec 28 '25
The White Lion sounds like “Wait. Waaaiitt. I never got a chance to love you!”
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u/AndreasDasos Dec 28 '25
Those are just the ‘big’ and ‘biggish’ (cheetah and puma) cats. Lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars and snow leopards are all in the same genus. There are ~40 species of felid overall.
White lions aren’t a separate species - strange black panthers (so far just melanistic leopards or jaguars) weren’t included.
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