Page 26 - World of Animals - Deadly Predators

© Thinkstock 13. Why do

domestic cats

bother to hunt?

Humans domesticated cats
roughly 10,000 years ago to
control pests, and they are
the only domesticated species
in the Felidae family, which
is made up of 37 species.
Domestic cats are natural
hunters and have kept the
natural hunting instincts of
their wild relatives. At the sight
of possible prey, the cat will
enter stealth mode even if they
are not hungry. In this case
they will not eat or kill the prey
but will attempt to catch it.
Some cats will even bring
home their kill. One possible
reason for this is that in the
wild, mother cats will bring
their young dead animals to
eat or live animals to kill to
teach them an important life
skill – hunting.
Despite their small stature,
domestic cats are born hunters.
They have an excellent sense of
hearing to help them to locate
and catch prey and can reach
speeds of up to 48 kilometres
(30 miles) per hour. Their four
canine teeth are used to catch
and hold prey while their ten
premolars and four molars tear
meat until it’s small enough to
swallow. Their tongues are also
covered with tiny spines called
papillae to clean off flesh from
There are over 100 domestic their preys’ bones.
cat breeds in the world

16. How strong are pumas?
14. How Pumas are capable of killing and
high can a dragging prey that is up to seven
caracal jump? times their own weight.

17. How much does a lynx eat?
Caracals have long and
strong legs. This makes One rabbit will feed a lynx
for a day.
for one agile predator,
and although they are 18. Who has the biggest teeth?
only 40 to 50 centimetres Clouded leopards have the largest
(15.7 to 19.7 inches) tall, canines (proportionate to the size
they can jump three of its body) of the wild cats.
metres (9.8 feet) into the
19. Do cats have retractable claws?
air to catch birds. This
would be equivalent to © Thinkstock Cheetahs, unlike most cats, have
a human jumping ten semi-retractable claws, which help
metres (32.8 feet) high! them to grip the ground while
chasing prey.

20. Which cat goes the furthest?
15. Do jungle cats really eat olives? A study in Russia has Jaguars can travel up to ten
kilometres (6.2 miles) a night
found 17% of a jungle cat’s diet is made up of olives. when hunting for prey.

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