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The Big Cats

An adult tiger can weigh up to 1000 lbs and measure over 10 feet from tip to tip. They can crush the skull of a full grown bull, but more often kill their prey by ripping out the jugular vein.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
3 out of the 8 subspecies of tiger have become extinct in the past 60 years.
An adult lion's roar can be heard up to five miles away, and warns off intruders or reunites scattered members of the pride.
Lions may mate hundreds of times over several days, and then lose interest in one another.
During the reign of Kublai Khan, the Chinese used lions on hunting expeditions. They trained the big cats to pursue and drag down massive animals, including bears and wild bulls, and to stay with the kill until the hunter arrived.
A white tiger named Montecore, age 7 mauled performer Roy Horn onstage Oct. 3, in what proved to be the final curtain for Siegfried & Roy's long-running magic show. The big cat, whose shocking behavior that night has been attributed variously to: a misstep by Roy, distraction by the hairdo of a female audience member and a protective instinct after Roy suffered a stroke onstage.
White tigers are not albinos - they have black stripes and blue eyes. A true albino is pure white with red or pink eyes.
Cheetahs are the easiest of the big cats to tame. The cheetah is the fastest animal on four legs, which races at speeds up to 70 miles per hour in short distances. It can accelerate to 43 mph in two seconds, and cover 23 to 25 feet in a single stride while completing four strides a second. Cheetahs make a chirping sound that is much like a bird's chirp or a dog's yelp. The sound is so an intense, it can be heard a mile away.
There is no single cat called the panther. The name is commonly applied to the leopard, but it is also used to refer to the puma and the jaguar. A black panther is really a black leopard.
Pound for pound, leopards are said to be seven times stronger than humans. You wouldn't want to tangle with one of these!
The bobcat is the most common in the United States. It is present in 48 of the 50 states.
Bobcats get their name from their bob tail. The further north a bobcat lives, the larger it will be.
Servals can grab low-flying birds (they can leap ~ 10 feet in the air).