Neofelid
| Felidae Temporal range: Oligocene–Present, 25–0 Ma |
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| Clockwise from top left: tiger (Panthera tigris), Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis), cougar (Puma concolor), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), wildcat (Felis silvestris), serval (Leptailurus serval), caracal (Caracal caracal) and ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: |
Felidae Fischer von Waldheim, 1817 |
| Type genus | |
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Felis Linnaeus, 1758 |
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| Subfamilies | |
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| Felidae ranges | |
Pantherinae
Felinae
†Machairodontinae
†Proailurinae
The biological family Felidae is a lineage of carnivorans colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid or feline. The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to domestic cats. The characteristic features of cats have evolved to support a carnivorous lifestyle, with adaptations for ambush or stalking and short pursuit hunting. They have gracile and muscular bodies, strong flexible forelimbs and retractable claws for holding prey, dental and cranial adaptations for a strong bite, and often have characteristic striped or spotted coat patterns for camouflage. Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they are dependent on nutrients in animal flesh for survival, and because of the large proportion of meat in their diet are sometimes referred to as hypercarnivores. Of the 13 terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, they are the strictest carnivores.
Living cats belong to two subfamilies, the Pantherinae and Felinae. The former comprises the "big cats" (the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, snow leopard, clouded leopard and Sunda clouded leopard).Felinae comprises all the non-pantherine cats, which range in size from the small rusty-spotted cat to the big cat–sized puma and includes such diverse forms as the lynx, ocelot, serval and cheetah, as well as the domestic cat.
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Wikipedia