Safekipedia

Pantherinae

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

A wild lion named Snyggve resting on a lava rock in Serengeti National Park, keeping watch over its territory.

What are Pantherinae?

Pantherinae is a special group of big cats. These cats belong to the Felidae family. They were first described in 1917 by a scientist named Reginald Innes Pocock.

Big Cats in the Group

At first, this group only had big cats called Panthera, like lions and tigers. Later, it also included the clouded leopards. All these big cats share a common ancestor. Scientists think the Pantherinae group started to change and develop special traits a very long time ago, between 9 to 4 million years ago.

Special Traits

These big cats have special bones in their necks that help them make loud sounds. They also have a flat area on their faces near their noses. Most of them can roar because of a special part in their throats, but the snow leopard cannot roar.

Pantherinae cats live in many parts of the world and are very interesting to learn about!

Images

A clouded leopard sitting calmly at the San Antonio Zoo.
Map showing where clouded leopards live in the wild
A beautiful Bornean Clouded Leopard sitting in the wild at Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Malaysia.
A majestic jaguar standing and looking directly at the viewer.
A majestic African leopard resting near Lake Panic in Kruger National Park, South Africa.
Map showing where leopards live in the world.
Map showing where lions used to live and where they live today.
A majestic snow leopard standing in its enclosure at Cologne Zoo.
Map showing where snow leopards live in the world.
A majestic Indochina tiger resting in its enclosure at Tierpark Berlin.

Related articles

Felidae

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Pantherinae, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Tap any image to view credits and license.