Should You Keep a Big Cat as a Pet?

These are smart, inquisitive animals that will get bored if they are under-stimulated, and boredom may lead to depression and health problems. Circuses, zoos, wildlife rehabilitators, and some other licensed facilities are exempt from the Captive Wildlife Safety Act. This legislation was introduced with the sole purpose of making big cats unavailable to the private citizen pet trade, although it is not an outright ban on ownership. For those intrigued by the intersection of wild and domestic in the feline world, delving deeper into research and exploration is encouraged to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges and controversies surrounding these majestic creatures. One of the most significant questions surrounding hybrid big cats is their fertility.

However, the encounters between these two species are relatively rare due to differences in behavior and habitat preferences. The jaglion exhibited a striking combination of traits, including the jaguar’s rosette-patterned coat and the lion’s mane, although less pronounced. Jaguars primarily inhabit the Americas, from the southwestern United States to South America, while leopards (Panthera pardus) are found in Africa and parts of Asia.

When big cats were first being classified, scientists even judged them based on the sizes of their pupils and what that said about whether they were nocturnal or diurnal! C.A.L., J.F.L., K.D., E.B., T.S.D. and J.C.Z.W. wrote the manuscript, and all authors reviewed the manuscript. While this article provides a glimpse into the world of big cat hybrids, it merely scratches the surface of this intricate subject. The genetic differences between parent species, including variations in chromosome numbers, contribute to these fertility challenges. They tend to have lifespans similar to their parent species, living up to 20 years or more in captivity.

These big cats are among the most beloved and recognizable animals on the planet. For leopards and jaguars it is unknown how many individuals exist in the wild, although it is believed that their populations are declining. Leopards inhabit only 25% of their global historic range in Africa and Asia and the jaguar is believed to have gone extinct in 49% of its former range in the Americas. It is extremely difficult to estimate numbers of snow leopards, due to the landscape where this species occurs in Asia.

The jaguar has a diverse diet, with at least 85 recorded prey species. Lions live and hunt in prides, which typically consists of 1-20 related females, their offspring and 1-9 often related males. Lions are opportunistic hunters, killing anything they encounter, but they have a preference for larger herbivores. They mainly hunt during the twilight or during the night and females do most of the hunting. Much like the common house cat, big cats are prone to feline diseases like distemper and rabies. Most zoos immunize their lions, tigers, and other cats against these conditions.

In deserts low (less than 30 cm per year) and unpredictable rainfall results in landscapes dominated by plants and animals adapted to aridity. Vegetation is typically sparse, though spectacular blooms may occur following rain. Deserts can be cold or warm and daily temperates typically fluctuate. This is because sand does not hold water well so little is available to plants. In dunes near seas and oceans this is compounded by the influence of salt in the air and soil.

Taken together, these impacts provide strong impetus to advance policy and management initiatives that seek to reduce the impacts of free-ranging cats. Since house cats (Felis catus) were domesticated over 9000 years ago, humans have introduced them across much of the world1. Today, cats inhabit all continents, except Antarctica, and have been introduced to hundreds of islands2, making them amongst the most widely distributed species on the planet.

On the other hand, tigers are the largest of all cat species, and they come in several distinct subspecies, each with unique physical traits. As a whole, big cats are under increasing threats from poaching, habitat loss, and other environmental factors. The largest big cat is the Siberian tiger, which can weigh an astonishing 660 pounds and stretch more than 10 feet nose to tail. Tigers have been hunted extensively as trophies and for use in traditional Chinese medicine and are listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List.

Wild tigers can live for 10 to 15 years, while those in captivity can surpass 20 years. However, lions in captivity tend to live longer, often reaching 20 years or more. Each large cat’s unique name is derived from a combination of the names of its parents, with the male’s name coming first. Additionally, some breeders deliberately mate the animals to produce hybrid offspring.

Because of this cosmopolitan distribution, cats have disrupted many ecosystems to which they have been introduced3. Specifically, cats spread novel diseases to a range of species including humans4,5, out-compete native felids and other mesopredators6, threaten the genetic integrity of wild felids7, prey on native fauna8, and have driven many species to extinction9,10. As a result, free-ranging cats (i.e., owned or unowned cats with access to the outdoor environment11) are amongst the most problematic invasive species in the world12. We updated any outdated species names and added its complete taxonomy (i.e., phylum, class), denoted whether the study location was on an island or continent, the nearest continent, and classified it according to conservation status in the IUCN Red List60. Note that while no species were recorded on the continent of Antarctica itself, there are islands that are geographically closer to Antarctica than other continents and as such are listed as Antarctic here. In addition, we added data on mean adult body mass for birds61, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians62.

Living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico. Big cats require plenty of intellectual and physical enrichment opportunities, much as they would experience in the wild.

In a world where the majesty of big cats like lions, tigers, and leopards has long fascinated humanity, the emergence of hybrids introduces a new layer of intrigue. Snow leopards eat small and large prey species and are incredibly agile over extremely steep and rugged terrain. They are adapted to cope with deep snow, rugged terrains and high altitudes. Their paws are furry and enormous, giving these big cats inbuilt snowshoes that spread their body weight more evenly across the snow. The giant paws also help muffle the sound of their movement and protect their toes from the biting cold.

Furthermore, cats have evolved to survive only on animal tissue and have a set of specific nutritional adaptations as carnivores. Specifically, cats have a limited ability to regulate enzymes of amino acid metabolism, and an inability to use plant material for conversion to amino acids and vitamins16. Hence, while cats consume plant material17,18, they are dependent on meeting their energetic demands through consuming a high protein diet. As a result of these physiological needs and behavioral attributes, cats are known to depredate and scavenge a wide variety of animals19,20. The paper compiles data from across the globe, but stray felines disproportionately ravage islands where native species evolved in relative isolation. They have terrorized Australia since they were introduced to the island by Europeans in 1788.

Take, for instance, two of the largest “small cats”, the clouded leopard and Eurasian lynx. We normally see these creatures as belonging to a separate classification than their seven other cousins. But according to Director of Small Cat Conservation Science Wai-Ming Wong, some adult clouded leopards and Eurasian lynx have been known to have comparable weights to adult Arabian leopards. Adult Eurasian lynxes have even been known to exceed the size of some adult snow leopards! And as aforementioned, many adult pumas can be bigger than adult leopards, too. Maintaining ecological balance is far more complicated than cats versus birds, predator versus prey.

Coniferous or boreal forest, located in a band across northern North America, Europe, and Asia. Few species of trees are present; these are primarily conifers that grow in dense stands with little undergrowth. The business of buying and selling animals for people to keep in their homes as pets. Humans benefit economically by promoting tourism that focuses on the appreciation of natural areas or animals. Ecotourism implies that there are existing programs that profit from the appreciation of natural areas or animals.

Tigers (Panthera tigris) are the largest of all big cats and are synonymous with power and majesty. One of the key features of leopards is their distinctive rosette-patterned coat, which helps them blend seamlessly into their surroundings. The leopard is said to have mated with the lioness when she went into heat and gave birth to leopon babies. A purported leopard-lion hybrid was displayed at the Regent’s Park Zoo in London. Unlike their more social counterparts, leopards are solitary creatures. They typically have a coat that combines a jaguar’s rosettes with a tiger’s background coloration.

Third, nearly all studies contained many species that were simply lumped as ‘other’ or ‘unknown.’ Fourth, large regions of the globe have not been sampled for cat predation, including many tropical regions, biodiversity hotspots, and other biodiverse locations. Thus, we anticipate that our database is likely to grow markedly in the future and represents only a fraction of the true magnitude of species consumed by cats globally. Such dietary differences across studies are likely in part a reflection of differences among locations in prey availability24. Hence, while widely distributed species are commonly found in cat diets [e.g., house mouse (Mus musculus), house sparrow (Passer domesticus)], this is more a reflection of study location and prey distribution and abundance, rather than diet preference25. However, recent findings suggest cats continue to hunt particular species of prey, even when these prey species become scarce, and that they can exhibit individual variation in hunting behavior26. However, scavenging is not the dominant source of food for cats due to their high energetic needs31.

Unlike lions, the other four big cat species are all mostly solitary big cats, which means that they hunt alone. Tigers, like lions, are opportunistic hunters and hunting activity will mostly take place at night and during twilight. There are seven species of felines classified as big cats in the world, yet “big” has a wide range of meaning. The smallest big cat is the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia), which measures five to about nine feet long and weighs between 49 and 121 pounds. On the other end of the spectrum, the largest big cat is the endangered Siberian or Amur tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), which can measure up to ten feet from head to tail and can weigh up to 660 pounds. Pet tigers have been involved in several fatalities and maulings in the U.S. and Canada in recent years, which generally results in the animals’ destruction as well.

But when we look at the big picture, scientific evidence consistently exonerates the domestic cat species of threatening wildlife. For this reason, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has said that “we have no scientific evidence of the impact of cat predation on bird populations that is strong enough to support such a call” to legislate against free roaming cats. New testing showed that there were actually eight distinct cat lineages. These are Panthera, and then ones containing other groups of cat lineages, such as one for bay cats, caracals, lynx, pumas, ocelots, leopard cats and wild cats. Clouded leopards, though considered a small cat, are seen as the link between big cats and small cats with their special genus Neofelis.

Leopons were born at the Hamburg Tierpark in Germany, according to Karl Hagenbeck, who created a variety of hybrids, but none lived to adulthood. Lions are famous for their social structure, living in prides that consist of related females and their offspring. The iconic orange coat with black stripes is a common feature, but Siberian tigers, for instance, have thicker fur to survive cold climates. Hybridization between jaguars and lions remains a rare and poorly understood phenomenon. One of the most famous documented jaguar-lion hybridization cases is the jaglion’s birth at Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary in Ontario, Canada, in 2006. Jaguars and leopards, two of our planet’s most iconic big cats, captivate our imaginations with their power, beauty, and elusiveness.

This database contains all literature that was available through May 2021. Taxonomy of the diet from an exhaustive review of cat diet studies globally (A) and by closest continent to the study area (B). The “Other” category consisted primarily of invertebrates, including, but not limited to, Arachnida, Malacostraca, Chilopoda, and Gastropoda.

There is more interest in the hybrids of these smaller wild cats due to limitations on keeping lions and other large cats. A universal approach to curtailing cat predation probably wouldn’t work either—cultural attitudes toward cats differ widely across the world. Legge says that there’s a lot of support for pet containment in Australia, because the public is relatively well educated about the ecological impact of free-ranging cats and other invasive species. Regional laws that would require owners to keep their pet cats indoors wouldn’t be such a radical step in Australia as they would in the US or Europe, Legge says, where people often feel like cats need the freedom to roam outdoors to be happy. Over the years, scientists have examined the contents of cat vomit and litter box turds, and conducted surveys asking pet owners to report the critters brought home by their outdoor fur babies.

Their enclosures must also be extremely secure because there’s a very real danger of a big cat escaping and attacking people or other pets. All wild cats have sharp claws and teeth, so they can be quite dangerous. Even trained zookeepers who work with these animals everyday risk being attacked if the animal is startled or provoked in some way. Feral cats are opportunistic feedersthey will eat whatever food is easiest to find. Hybrid big cats often inherit dietary preferences and adaptations from their parents. This means their dietary needs can be more challenging, requiring a carefully balanced diet that accommodates both wild and domestic characteristics.

Cats spread across the continent very quickly, and Australian fauna were unequipped to deal with such an undiscriminating predator. Tanya Plibersek, Australia’s minister for the environment and water, declared war on feral cats in September 2023. “We have the biggest mammal extinction record of modern times by a country mile, and cats are responsible,” says Sarah Legge, a professor at Australian National University and member of the country’s Biodiversity Council, who was not involved in this study. As the studies of genetics and taxonomy have evolved over time, corrections have been made to these flawed categorizations of cats. First of all, the snow leopard had to be added to the “big cats”, as it is actually of the genus Panthera (Panthera uncia).

For example, the “tigon” is a hybrid between a tiger and a lioness, and the name is derived from the Hindu deity Durga. Because of this, several naming conventions have been proposed and used to categorize and name big cat hybrids. For instance, the endangered Amur leopard, with a dwindling population, has benefited from Carnivorous animals crossbreeding with closely related species to bolster its numbers. Hybridization can introduce new genetic material in captivity, where many big cat populations suffer from inbreeding due to limited gene pools. One of the key arguments in favor of big cat hybridization is the potential to increase genetic diversity.