Cat Types - Characteristics and Examples

Author: Laura McKinney
Date Of Creation: 8 August 2021
Update Date: 20 September 2024
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Generally, we know as felines the members of the felid family (Felidae). These striking animals can be found all over the world, except in the polar regions and southwestern Oceania. Obviously this is only true if we exclude the domestic cat (Felis catus), which was distributed all over the world with the help of human beings.

The felid family includes 14 genera and 41 described species. Do you want to meet them? In that case, don't miss this article by PeritoAnimal about the different types of cats, its features and some examples.

Feline Characteristics

All types of felines or felids have a series of common characteristics that allow them to be grouped together. These are some of them:


  • Mammals placental: their body is covered with hair, they give birth to their puppies already formed and feed them with the milk they secrete through their breasts.
  • Carnivores: within mammals, felines belong to the order Carnivora. Like the rest of the members of this order, the cats feed on other animals.
  • stylized body: All cats have a very similar body shape that allows them to run at great speed. They have powerful muscles and a tail that gives them great balance. On its head, its short muzzle and sharp fangs stand out.
  • big claws: Have strong, elongated nails that are inside a sheath. They take them off only when they use them.
  • Very variable size: the different types of cats can weigh from 1 kg, in the case of the rust cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus), up to 300 kg, in the case of the tiger (tiger panther).
  • predators: all these animals are very good hunters. They capture their prey by stalking or chasing them.

Cat classes

Currently, there are only two felid subfamilies:


  • Felinos true (Subfamily Felinae): includes small and medium-sized species that cannot roar.
  • FORformer (Pantherinae subfamily): includes large cats. The structure of their vocal cords allows them to make roars.

Throughout this article, we review all the types of cats found in each of these groups.

Types of true cats

Members of the Felinidae subfamily are known as true felines. Its about 34 small or medium sized species. Its main difference with the panther felines is in its phonation. Their vocal chords are simpler than a panther's, that's why can't make real roars. However, they may purr.

Within this group we can find different types of felines or strains. Their grouping is based on their genetic relatedness. They are as follows:


  • Cats
  • leopard cats
  • cougar and relatives
  • Indo-Malayan cats
  • bobcats
  • Leopards or wild cat
  • Caracal and relatives

Cats (Felis spp.)

cats form the genus Felis, which includes some of the minor species of all kinds of felines. For this reason, they feed on animals of reduced size, such as rodents, birds, reptiles and amphibians. They also tend to eat large insects such as locusts.

All types of wild cats are characterized by hunt stalking and at night, thanks to a highly developed night vision. They are distributed throughout Eurasia and Africa, with the exception of the domestic cat (Felis catus), a feline that was selected by humans from the wild African cat (F. lybica). Since then, he has accompanied our species as we travel across continents and islands.

The gender Felis It's formed by 6 species:

  • Jungle Cat or Swamp Lynx (F. byes)
  • Angry cat with black paws (nigripes)
  • Desert or Sahara cat (F. margarita)
  • Chinese desert cat (F. bieti)
  • European mountain cat (F. sylvestris)
  • African wild cat (F. lybica)
  • domestic cat (F. catus)

leopard cats

Leopard cats are the species of the genus. Prionailurus, with the exception of the cat Manul (Otocolobus manual). All are spread across Southeast Asia and the Malay archipelago.

These cats are also nocturnal, although they vary in size and behavior. Among them is the smallest type of cat in the world, known as rust cat (P. rubiginosus). It measures just 40 centimeters. The fisher cat also stands out (P. viverinus), the only feline that bases its diet on fish consumption.

In the group of leopard cats we can find the following species:

  • Manul or Pallas Cat (Otocolobus manual)
  • Cat rust or painted rust (Prionailurus rubiginosus)
  • flat-headed cat (P. planiceps)
  • fisher cat (P. viverinus)
  • leopard cat (P. bengalensis)
  • Sunda leopard cat (P. javanensis)

cougar and relatives

In this group there are 3 species that, despite appearances, are very genetically related:

  • Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)
  • Moorish cat or jaguarundi (herpaiurus yagouaroundi)
  • Puma or puma (Puma concolor)

These three species are some of the biggest types of cats. They are very agile predators of daytime habits. The cheetah prefers arid and dry environments, where it waits for its prey, very close to water sources. The cougar, however, is more common in high mountains.

If these types of cats stand out for anything, it's because of the speed they can achieve, thanks to their elongated and stylized body. The fastest animal in the world is the cheetah, which easily exceeds 100 km/h. This allows them to hunt their prey through pursuit.

Indo-Malayan cats

These cats are one of the most unknown types of felines due to their scarcity. They inhabit the Indo-Malay region of Southeast Asia and are characterized by their unique beauty and golden colors. Their color patterns allow them to blend in with the foliage of the ground and the bark of the trees.

In this group we find 3 species or types of cats:

  • Marbled Cat (marmorata pardofelis)
  • Borneo red cat (Catopuma badia)
  • Asian Golden Cat (C. temminckii)

bobcats

The bobcats (Lynx spp.) are medium-sized felids with black spots on the body. They are mainly characterized by have a short tail. In addition, they have large, pointed ears, ending in a black plume. This gives them great hearing that they use to detect their prey. They feed mainly on medium-sized mammals such as rabbits or lagomorphs.

In this type of felines are included 4 species:

  • American Red Lynx (L. rufus)
  • Lynx of Canada (L. canadensis)
  • Eurasian Lynx (L. lynx)
  • Iberian Lynx (L. pardinus)

wild cats or leopards

We commonly know as wild cats the felines of the genus Leopardus. They are distributed throughout South and Central America, except for the Ocelot, which has populations in southern North America.

These types of cats are characterized by having dark spots on a yellowish brown background. Their size is medium and they feed on animals such as opossums and small monkeys.

In this group we can find the following species:

  • Andean cat the cat of the Andes Mountains (Jacobite L.)
  • Ocelot or Ocelot (L. sparrow)
  • Maracajá or Maracajá cat (L. wiedii)
  • Haystack or Pampas cat (L. colocolo)
  • Southern Tiger Cat (L.guttulus)
  • Northern Tiger Cat (L. tigrinus)
  • Wild cat (L. geoffroyi)
  • Chilean cat (L. guigna)

Caracal and relatives

In this group of cats are included 3 species genetically related:

  • Serval (Serval Leptailurus)
  • African golden cat (aurata caracal)
  • Caracal (C. caracal)

All of these types of cats live in Africa, except the caracal, which is also found in southwest Asia. This and the serval prefer arid and semi-desert areas, while the African golden cat inhabits very closed forests. All are known to be stealthy predators of medium-sized animals, especially birds and large rodents.

Types of Panther Cats

Panthers are members of the subfamily Pantherinae. These carnivorous animals differ from the rest of the types of felines that exist by having long, thick and strong vocal cords. Its structure allows them make real roars. Although it is its main feature, some of the species we will see cannot roar.

This subfamily of felines is less diverse than the previous one, as most of its species are extinct. Currently, we can find only two strains:

  • panthers
  • big cats

panthers

Although they are commonly known as panthers, these animals do not belong to the genus. panthera, but to neofelis. Like many of the cats we've seen, panthers live in South Asia and the Indo-Malayan Islands.

This type of cat can grow to a very large size, although not as large as its closest relatives. They are fundamentally arboreal. Climb trees to hunt primates or jump out of trees to capture medium-sized land animals.

The gender neofelis includes 2 species acquaintances:

  • Cloudy Panther (N. nebula)
  • Borneo Nebula Panther (N. diardi)

big cats

The members of the genre panthera they are the biggest types of cats in the world. Their robust bodies, sharp teeth and powerful claws allow them to feed on large animals such as deer, wild pigs and even crocodiles. The fights between the latter and the tiger (tiger), which is the biggest feline in the world and can reach 300 kilos, are very famous.

Almost all big cats live in Africa and South Asia, where inhabit the savannah or the jungle. The only exception is the jaguar (P. onca): the biggest cat in America. All are well known, except for the snow leopard (P. uncia) who live in the most remote mountainous areas of Central Asia. This is due to its particular white color, which serves to camouflage itself in the snow.

within the genre panthera we can find 5 species:

  • Tiger (tiger panther)
  • Jaguar or snow leopard (panthera uncia)
  • Jaguar (P. onca)
  • Lion (P. leo).
  • Leopard or panther (P. pardus)

extinct felines

It seems that today there are many types of cats, however, in the past there were many more species. In this section, we'll tell you a little more about extinct cat species.

saber tooth tigers

Saber-toothed tigers are the best known of all extinct felines. Despite their name, these animals are not related to today's tigers. In fact, they constitute their own group: the subfamily Machairodontinae. All of them were characterized by having very big teeth out of their mouths.

Saber teeth were distributed almost all over the globe. The last species became extinct in the late Pleistocene, just about 10,000 years ago. Like today's cats, these animals had very variable sizes, although some species could have reached 400 kg. It is the case of the Smilodon populator, a South American saber tooth.

Other examples of machairodontinae felines are:

  • Machairodus aphanistus
  • Megantereon Cultridens
  • homotherium latidens
  • Smilodon fatalis

Other extinct felines

In addition to the machairodontinae, there have been many other types of felines that have gone extinct. These are some of them:

  • short face cat (pratifelis martini)
  • martellis cat (Felis lunensis)
  • european jaguar (Panthera gombaszoegensis)
  • american cheetah (Miracinonyx trumani)
  • giant cheetah (Acinonyx pardinensis)
  • owen panther (cougar pardoides)
  • tuscan lion (Tuscan Panthera)
  • tiger longdan (Panthera. zdanskyi)

Many subspecies or varieties of felids that currently exist are also extinct. This is the case of the American lion (Panthera leo atrox) or the Java tiger (Panthera tigris probe). some of them were extinct in the last decades as a consequence of the loss of their habitat and hunting discriminated by humans. Because of this, many current subspecies and species are also endangered.

If you want to read more articles similar to Cat Types - Characteristics and Examples, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.