How Many Big Cats Species Are There In The World

However a more liberal and extensive definition of the term also includes species outside of Panthera including the clouded leopard cheetah Sunda clouded leopard and sometimes several species of lynx.

How many big cats species are there in the world. From the biggest to the smallest there are 38 cat species found worldwide. Further the international cat association recognizes about seventy-one types of cats. There are 38 species of cats on the planet.

The list does not contain cat hybrids. Biologists around the world consider just six species of feline to be big cats. Cheetah is the fastest land animal.

This is actually the worlds highest registry of cat breeds. This includes leopards jaguars cheetahs lions snow leopards and tigers. There are five species within the Panthera four of which have the ability to.

Although numerous domestic cat breeds exist common household cats derive from a single species called Felis catus. Big cat species that have a wide range and live in a variety of habitats include leopards mountain lions ocelots and jaguars. The definition of which species are big cats varies between different organisations with some considering just the five species in the Panthera genus to be big cats and others including pumas also known as mountain lions and cougars and cheetahs.

In 2007 the free-roaming cats were estimated to be about 158 million. Most scientists recognize 36 or 37 species of cats depending upon how they define a species and the latest knowledge of cat evolution. In 1998 there were over 3 million cats in Australia 7 million in Japan and 76 million in Europe.

There are in fact a number of different ways that people define which of the 38 cat species around the world should be classed as big cats. Some experts recognize as many as 41 species. There are over 75 million cats in the United States.