Page 15 - World of Animals - Issue #30

Cats: from tigers to tabbies

Lineage: Felis
Species: Wildcat
The wildcat was where
domestic cats began. Lineage: Caracal
Kept by farmers and Species: Caracal Lineage: Bay cat
gradually becoming Species: Asian golden cat
tamed, domestic cats The caracal is often known as The elusive Asian golden
the African lynx, despite not
have only recently cat is found in the forests of
diverged from wildcats. being a lynx at all. The three Southeast Asia. Belonging to
cats of the caracal lineage are the bay cat lineage, it is much
all similar in that they hunt the more closely related to the
same prey. They are found in
different habitats, which avoids smaller cat species than the
bigger panthers.
competition between them.

Lineage: Pantherine
Species: Tiger
The tiger is part of the pantherine lineage,
which is the only group containing cats that can
roar. It is the oldest cat lineage and is thought
to have emerged around 6.4 million years ago.

8 cat lineages

Panthera – Lion, leopard, jaguar, tiger, snow leopard, clouded leopard, Bornean clouded leopard

Bay cat – Asian golden cat, Bornean bay cat, marbled cat

Caracal – Caracal, African golden cat, serval
Ocelot – Geoffroy’s cat, kodkod, oncilla, Andean mountain cat, Pampas cat, margay, ocelot

Lynx – Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx, Canadian lynx, bobcat
Puma – Puma, jaguarundi, cheetah

Leopard cat – Asian leopard cat, fishing cat, flat-headed cat, rusty-spotted cat, Pallas’s cat

Wildcat – Wildcat, sand cat, black-footed cat, jungle cat, domestic cat

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