Currently, there are only 7 recognized large cat species – tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, puma, cheetah, and snow leopard. Of these, 5 belong to the Pantherinae subfamily and 2 belong to the Felinae subfamily.

In 2017, the World Wildlife Fund's Cat Specialist Group revised the classification of cats into 2 subfamilies, 8 tribes, 14 genera, 41 species, and 80 subspecies.

Large cats, the English name is Big Cat, the previous standards for classification considered roaring cats, but the most closely related snow leopard does not roar, so the division is obviously wrong. Some people also think that the Pantherinae subfamily is all big cats, and the Pantherinae subfamily includes the genera of leopard and cloud leopard, so some say 'cloud leopard is the smallest big cat, and puma is the largest small cat', which is completely wrong. Puma's weight is 2-5 times that of the cloud leopard, and it's hard to say that the puma with a weight of over 80 kilograms is a small cat.

Therefore, the current recognized classification is based on body size, and body size is most intuitively reflected by weight. Therefore, currently, those with a regular weight of more than 40 kilograms are considered large cats; those with a regular weight between 10-40 kilograms are considered medium-sized cats, with a total of 12 species, with the Eurasian Lynx being the largest; and those with a weight of less than 10 kilograms are considered small cats, with a total of 22 species, with the Asian Leopard Cat being the largest.Below is a brief introduction to the 7 large cat species.

Lions and tigers don't need to be said, no matter how they are divided, they are all large cats. The upper limit is in the range of 250-280 kilograms, and the lower limit of the tiger is lower than that of the lion, and the difference in intra-species variation is greater than that of the tiger. Some

Hunting data is sky-high, such as 389 kilograms of Bengal tiger, 384 kilograms of Northeast tiger, 341 kilograms of South African lion, and 308 kilograms of Asian lion, these exaggerated records have not been confirmed, obviously with low credibility.Let's focus on the other 5 large cats.

Jaguar

The jaguar is the only surviving species from the Pantherinae subfamily from the ice age on the American continent, and it is still not many people distinguish between the jaguar and the leopard. The two species are very similar, and their distribution areas are far apart.

The jaguar's intra-species weight variation is large, with populations in Brazil and Venezuela averaging over 90 kilograms, while populations in Central America average about 50 kilograms, which is closely related to the survival environment.

The jaguar's hunting record is 158 kilograms, which is the picture inside with undigested food. The jaguar has many hunting records between 130-150 kilograms. Since it's a hunting record, it has some water content.

The jaguar's expedition record is 315 pounds (142.88 kilograms), from Brazil's Pantanal. Based on this expedition record, the jaguar occupies the third position of the 'big cat' trio.

Leopard, commonly known as leopard, the documentary often calls the leopard in China 'golden leopard' and the leopard abroad 'flower leopard', which leads many people to think that golden leopard and flower leopard are two species or two subspecies. This division has no necessity.

The most popular subspecies classification of leopard is the nine-part classification, which is the overview of the nine subspecies of leopard in the picture.

The largest subspecies is the Persian leopard, with a maximum weight of 115 kilograms in northern Iran in 2014, which is a record for the leopard's expedition record.Currently, only the Persian leopard, Indian leopard, and African leopard can exceed 100 kilograms in weight, and the snow leopard is difficult to exceed 50 kilograms.Puma

The puma has been 'contending for' the fourth position of the 'big cat' with the flower leopard, and it is generally considered that they are quite similar in terms of body size, but the fans of the flower leopard are much more.

From the expedition records, the puma is obviously inferior to the flower leopard, and if I remember correctly, the puma's expedition record is only 82 kilograms, which is not much different from the average, and it shows that the intra-species variation of the puma is not as significant as that of the tiger and flower leopard.

However, the average weight of the puma's population is slightly larger than that of the flower leopard, with males averaging about 60 kilograms and females averaging about 28 kilograms. The puma has many hunting records exceeding 100 kilograms, with the largest hunting record dating back to 1917 in Arizona, weighing 125 kilograms after removing the intestines, which is unbelievable. In 1958, there was a 92.5 kilogram and 120.2 kilogram hunting record in Nevada.

Cheetah

The cheetah has a slender frame and tall skeleton, but it lacks muscle development, giving a feeling of thinness and weakness. In order to achieve extremely high speed, it abandoned weight, almost pushing itself to the evolutionary dead end.

The average weight of the African Southern Cheetah male is 46.6 kilograms, and the female is 39 kilograms. The East African Cheetah male weighs an average of 44 kilograms, and the female is 37.5 kilograms. The Asian Cheetah is the smallest and the number is the least, and it only exists in Iran, with approximately 50 wild cheetahs.

The Asian Cheetah's upper limit is about 73 kilograms, and in 2014, the Botswana Cheetah Conservation Organisation (CCB) measured a male cheetah weighing 71 kilograms, which is the latest recorded maximum individual. Unfortunately, it was soon killed by poachers.

Snow Leopard

The snow leopard gives a sense of being big, but the smallest of the seven large cats is it. Perhaps the fluffy fur and tail of the snow leopard make it look big.

The records of two males weighing 31 kilograms and 47 kilograms and two females weighing 31 kilograms and 32.5 kilograms are recorded in the 'China Animal Encyclopedia'. The maximum weight of the male snow leopard is 52.5 kilograms, as mentioned by George Shaller in 'Spirits on the Qinghai Plateau'. The 'China Animal Encyclopedia' recorded a female snow leopard weighing 52.5 kilograms, so the male and female snow leopard's weight records are the same.Based on the sex dimorphism and regional difference of the snow leopard, the male and female snow leopard's weight records are the same. Judging from the sex ratio of the snow leopard, the upper limit of the male snow leopard's weight is between 55-60 kilograms.

The weight distribution of the large cats is as follows:

Tiger and lion are in the first tier, jaguar is in the second tier, leopard and puma are in the third tier, cheetah and snow leopard are in the fourth tier. Besides tiger and lion, jaguar, puma, cheetah and snow leopard are difficult to exceed 100 kilograms in weight, and snow leopard is difficult to exceed 50 kilograms.

After the seventh large cat species, there are Eurasian Lynx, Cloud Leopard (Yun Leopard and Mainland Yun Leopard), and Maned Wolf. The Eurasian Lynx has an upper limit of more than 35 kilograms, and the Cloud Leopard has a maximum of about 30 kilograms, and the Maned Wolf has a maximum of about 26 kilograms.

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