[ Login ]

What is an Ocelot?

Tuesday, 02 December 2008 4:08

categories: Felidae Family!
post photo
post photo

Everyone is celebrating the birth of the Brazilian ocelot kitten (born Oct. 31).  He is a cutie patootie for sure!  I had never heard of an Ocelot before I read about the kitten.  What exactly is an Ocelot?

 

Twice the size of the average housecat, the ocelot is a sleek animal with a gorgeous dappled coat. These largely nocturnal cats use keen sight and hearing to hunt rabbits, rodents, iguanas, fish, and frogs. They also take to the trees and stalk monkeys or birds. Unlike many cats, they do not avoid water and can swim well.


Like other cats, ocelots are adapted for eating meat. They have pointed fangs used to deliver a killing bite, and sharp back teeth that can tear food like scissors. Ocelots do not have teeth appropriate for chewing, so they tear their food to pieces and swallow it whole. Their raspy tongues can clean a bone of every last tasty morsel.

 

Source:  National Geographic

 

tags:
Permalink (0) Comments

I LOVE LEOPARDS!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, 30 November 2008 16:20

categories: Felidae Family!
post photo
post photo

Leopards are graceful and powerful big cats closely related to lions, tigers, and jaguars. They live in sub-Saharan Africa, northeast Africa, Central Asia, India, and China. However, many of their populations are endangered, especially outside of Africa.

The leopard is so strong and comfortable in trees that it often hauls its kills into the branches. By dragging the bodies of large animals aloft it hopes to keep them safe from scavengers such as hyenas. Leopards can also hunt from trees, where their spotted coats allow them to blend with the leaves until they spring with a deadly pounce. These nocturnal predators also stalk antelope, deer, and pigs by stealthy movements in the tall grass. When human settlements are present, leopards often attack dogs and, occasionally, people.

Check out National Geographic for more info:

tags:
Permalink (0) Comments

What exactly is a black panther?

Sunday, 30 November 2008 16:04

categories: Felidae Family! Felidae Family!
post photo
post photo
post photo

A black panther is a black color variant of one of several species of larger cat which are often known by the term panther. "Panther" in North America is most commonly used for the cougar (genus Puma).  In Latin America it is most often used to mean a jaguar and elsewhere in the world it usually refers to the leopard. 

 

Check out Black Panther Animal for great info and images.

tags:
Permalink (0) Comments

The Cougar: (Puma concolor)

Friday, 28 November 2008 22:24

categories: Felidae Family! Felidae Family!

 

The cougar (Puma concolor), also puma, mountain lion, or panther, depending on region, is native to the Americas. This large, solitary cat has the greatest range of any wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, extending from Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes of South America.  The cougar is found in every major American habitat type. It is the second heaviest cat in the American continents after the jaguar, and the fourth heaviest in the world, along with the leopard.

 

tags:
Permalink (0) Comments

The Liger - Half lion, half tiger.

Sunday, 23 November 2008 22:37

categories: Felidae Family!
post photo
post photo
post photo

 

What a fabulous cat.  The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion, and a female Tiger. A liger resembles a giant lion with diffused stripes. Ligers have a tiger-like striping pattern on a lion-like tawny background. In addition they may inherit rosettes from the lion parent (lion cubs are rosetted and some adults retain faint markings). These markings may be black, dark brown or sandy. The background color may be correspondingly tawny, sandy or golden. In common with tigers, their underparts are pale. The actual pattern and color depends on which subspecies the parents were and on the way in which the genes interact in the offspring.They are the largest cats in the world, although the Siberian Tiger is the largest pure sub-species. Like tigers, but unlike lions, ligers enjoy swimming.
There have been several Liger Ambassadors;
 
Hercules
Jungle Island in Miami is home to a liger named Hercules, the largest non-obese liger, who is recognized by the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest cat on Earth, weighing in at 900 lbs. Hercules was also featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper 360, Inside Edition and in a Maxim magazinearticle in 2005, when he was only 3 years old and already weighed 900 lbs at the time.  Hercules seems completely healthy and is expected to live a long life. The cat's breeding is said to have been a complete accident.
 
Sinbad
Sinbad, another Liger, was shown on the National Geographic Channel. Sinbad was reported to have the exact weight of Hercules.
Shasta, a ligress (female liger) was born at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City on May 14, 1948 and died in 1972 at age 24. The 1973 Guinness world records reported an 18-year-old, 798-kg (1,756 lb) male liger living at Bloemfontein zoological gardens, South Africa, in 1888. Valley of the Kings animal sanctuary in Wisconsin had a male liger named Nook who weighed around 550 kg (1,210 lb), and passed away in 2007, at 21 years old.

For more info on Ligers, check out  http://www.liger.org/

Another recent article on Ligers:  Animal sanctuary worker dies after attack by ‘liger’
Peter Getz, 32, had entered the big cat’s enclosure on Wednesday while it was feeding, a violation of standard procedures. The hybrid cat, called a liger, bit Getz on the neck and back before other handlers rescued him and called 911. He was taken to a Tulsa hospital, where he died Thursday night.

 

 

tags: Liger
Permalink (0) Comments

I Love the Family Felidae!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, 21 November 2008 20:16

categories: Felidae Family!
post photo

So people are starting ask me why I only feature housecats when the name of the BLOG is CatsRCool.  Shouldn't that mean ALL cats?  Of course!  I think that Felidae are awesomely beautiful creatures.  So with that said, I am going to include more info on all Felines!


Learn how to identify the BIG CATS at www.bigcats.com

IMAGE CREDIT:  Daniel Byrd

tags:
Permalink (0) Comments