Random Thoughts

Firstly,They're all members of the cat familiar. Second they're all fairly large with the jaguar being the largest and strongest, followed by the leopard, the puma and finally the cheetah. The Puma is a tawny creature found in both the Americas, varying in size according to climate, with the largest recorded ones in the colder parts of Argentina. In North America it is sometimes called a Cougar. It bears a superficial resemblance to its larger cousin the Lion and is sometimes found in mountainous areas, hence the name Mountain Lion. The Jaguar is found in South America and like the Leopard and the Cheetah, it is spotted. However the Jaguar is larger and stronger than either of these, in fact it is the only cat able to kill with a single bite, having the strongest jaws in the Cat family, while only Lions and Tigers are larger in terms of both size and mass. The leopard is the most successful of all feline predators in that its generalist diet, supreme intelligence and absolute stealth makes them able to take on even human adversaries. In India and Africa, people fear the Leopard far more than the Tiger or Lion respectively as a result. The Cheetah, the third of the large spotted cats, is native to Africa and Asia, but most commonly associated with the African savanna and is the fastest of all land animals, being the only cat whose claws cannot retract and appears therefore to be more doglike. It even chases down prey more often than stalking it. Cheetahs are easily tamed and were once used to accompany Moghul kings on hunting trips.The above three cats differ from each other in habitat, prey species, behaviour and colouration. A jaguar inhabits the jungles or rainforests of South America, while both Leopards and Cheetahs prefer the plains of Africa and Asia. Both Jagaurs and Leopards have been known to climb trees to rest and keep their prey safe from other roving predators such as wild dogs, hyenas and lions. Confusingly they're both referred to as Panthers in literature, added to by the fact that both can have black mutations (only possible if both parents are black). Jaguars (like Tigers) enjoy swimming and have shorter tails than Leopards who prefer the Savannas and need the tails to aid in balance while running down their prey. Jaguars also have more muscular bodies. Cheetahs can be thought of as the sprint athletes with thin bodies and individual black ,dots as opposed to Jaguars and Leopards with their black circles witj brown centres and heavyweight boxer or wrestler build. The Cheetah' s head is smaller and has a black line running along the nose. Finally the mutation that one finds in Cheetahs is called the King Cheetah and results from the spots fusing into 'lines' or 'stripes', in my opinion a relic from the days when they were creatures that needed to do more stalking.