11 Photos To Have You Feline Fine on International Cat Day

8/7/2018

They always land on their feet. They were worshipped by the Egyptians. They rule the internet with their memes. And they may or may not have nine lives. There’s no denying it, cats are awesome.

But your furry feline friend isn’t the only cat out there. There are more than 35 species of cats in the world, and they’re native to every continent except Antarctica and Australia. All cats are carnivores. They’re skilled hunters that stalk their prey with ease and are good at climbing trees.

August 8 is International Cat Day, making it the purrfect time to spotlight a few members of the feline family found in the U.S. and where you can see them on America’s public lands. Not to mention, the photos are pawsome!

Mountain Lions

Mountain lion kitten with blue eyes extends paws. — Paws up! Researchers took this photo of a baby mountain lion at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The kitten in the photo, from a litter of three females, was found by mapping GPS locations of the kitten’s radio-collared mother. Each of the three kittens was fitted with a uniquely numbered ear tag for future identification, which help researchers track the movements of mountain lions in the park. Photo by National Park Service.

Also called pumas, cougars and panthers, mountain lions are found in the 14 westernmost states and Florida but are rarely seen. They are one of the largest cats in North America, reaching 8 feet long from nose to tail and weighting around 150 pounds (females are smaller). Mountain lions are born spotted, with blue eyes and rings on their tails, but by the time they are adults, they will generally be tawny or grayish in color without spots, have a white underbelly and a black-tipped tail. These solitary animals generally only seek company during breeding, and then female lions will raise their brood of kittens until the young go on their own at 12-24 months. Fun fact: these cats don’t roar, but they’re capable of an unimaginable, penetrating scream. Mountain lions are known to roam around national parks like Rocky Mountain, Big Bend, Bryce Canyon and Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles, where scientists have been studying since 2002 how mountain lions survive in this megacity.

Adult female mountain lion cheek-rubbing to leave her scent on a log with the city’s lights in the background. — Los Angeles is one of two megacities in the world that have big cats living within the city limits. This photo taken with a motion sensor camera set up by researchers with Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area shows an adult female mountain lion cheek-rubbing to leave her scent on a log with the city’s lights in the background. Photo by National Park Service.

Bobcats

Bobcat kitten clings to wood fence. — Bobcats kittens may look like ordinary house cats, but they quickly grow to twice the size of domestic cats. When you see “abandoned” young animals, remember to leave them alone. A parent is probably close by waiting for you to leave. Photo at Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge by Rob Chapman, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Although elusive and nocturnal, bobcats are the wildcats most likely to be seen in North America. They roam throughout much of the continent and thrive in a diversity of habitats -- from forests and swamps to deserts and mountains. It’s estimated that there are as many as one million bobcats in the U.S. alone. Bobcats are one of the smallest wildcats in the U.S., but don’t confuse these felines for a pet. They’re fierce hunters that rely on a stealthy ambush hunting style and can kill prey much bigger than themselves (like deer or a shark -- yes, you read that right, a shark). Bobcats are good swimmers and climbers, with excellent eyesight and hearing. Bobcats have long legs, large paws, and tufted ears, and are brown or brownish red with a white underbelly. They get their name from their short, black-tipped tail, which appears to be cut or "bobbed." Be on the lookout for bobcats in public lands throughout the U.S. -- from South Carolina’s Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico and Indiana’s Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge.

Bobcat leaps from snowbank. — While bobcats tend to be most active during the night, some wildlife watchers are lucky enough to spot them during the day like this one at Yellowstone National Park. Remember to keep your distance -- photos like these are taken with a telephoto lens. Photo by Becky Ross McRae (www.sharetheexperience.org).

Ocelots

Ocelot kitten stares at camera. — Pictured here is a male ocelot kitten found at the first new den site in 20 years. Like other members of the cat family, the kittens are born blind. By three months old, kittens begin hunting with their mother and will remain with her for a year. Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Known as the little leopard, ocelots used to range from south Texas up into Arkansas and Louisiana and as far west as Arizona. They are still occasionally seen in Arizona, but you’re mostly likely to see them at Texas’s Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to a breeding population of ocelots. While there are only an estimated 50 ocelots that remain in the United States, in 2016 researchers found a new ocelot den, giving hope that conservation efforts with public and private partners are showing results. Larger than a house cat but smaller than a bobcat, ocelots have a long, ringed tail that is about the length of their body -- but they’re most recognized by their distinct spots and rounded ears. Unlike other cats, they can turn their ankle joints around, allowing them to literally climb down a tree. What can you do to help ocelots? The majority of ocelot deaths are from vehicles, so be sure to drive slowly, watch for signs that are placed in known ocelot crossing areas and report any sighting to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Mother ocelot with her kittens in background. — Private land owners that work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect ocelot habitat on their own property are also seeing camera evidence of new kittens. This wildlife cam shows a Mother ocelot and two kittens on Yturria Conservation Easement. Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Canada Lynx

Lynx kittens huddle together in group on ground. — Lynx kittens are born from late April to mid-June. Litter sizes (which range from 1-6 kittens) and survival depends on the abundance of hares, the lynx’s major food source. Photo by Nate Berg, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Canada lynx are highly specialized forest-dwelling cats of northern latitudes. Their range extends from Alaska throughout much of Canada and into the boreal forests in the northeastern U.S., the Great Lakes, the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Mountains. Lynx have long tufts of black fur on the tips of their ears, a ruff of long hairs that frames the face, and a short, black-tipped tail -- distinguishing it from its smaller relative, the bobcat. Canada lynx fur varies from yellowish to rusty to reddish-brown, muted with silver and tipped with white -- an ideal coloring for an animal active in the shadow hours of dawn and dusk. With large paws and long hind legs, lynx are highly adapted to hunting their primary prey (the snowshoe hare) in deep powdery snow. While prominently solitary, females and their cubs have been known to work together in hunting, one lynx scaring prey out of hiding while the others attack. Lynx have been documented to live up to 16 years in the wild. Lynx are known to live around Alaska’s Denali National Park and Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, Montana’s Glacier National Park and Maine’s Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge. Learn how conservation efforts are helping the cat rebound in Maine.

Lynx sits on ground looking into the distance. — Canada lynx require large hunting areas -- home ranges in the United States can be between 12 and 83 square miles depending on the density of prey. Adult Canada lynx generally avoid each other except during mating season. Photo of a lynx at Denali by National Park Service.

Florida Panthers

Three panther cubs sit on ground looking at camera. — Florida panther kittens are gray with dark brown or blackish spots and five bands around the tail. The spots gradually fade as the kittens grow older and are almost unnoticeable by the time they are six months old. Photo by David Shindle, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Our list of wild cats isn’t complete without highlighting the Florida panther. A subspecies of the puma (or mountain lion), Florida panthers are the only known breeding population of pumas in the eastern United States. Like their mountain lion cousins, Florida panther kittens have blue eyes and spots, but as they age, their eyes turn yellow and their spots gradually fade. Adult Florida panthers are typically tan in color, but may be darker brown to rust-colored along the midline of the back. Their underside is dull white or buff-colored, and they have black fur on the tip of the tail, back of the ears and sides of the muzzle. Full-grown males weigh 102-160 pounds and measure nearly 7 feet from nose to the tip of the tail. Females are considerably smaller, with a weight range of 50 to 115 pounds and measuring about 6 feet. Once known to range across Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and parts of Tennessee and South Carolina, today, they are only found in southern Florida at places like Everglades National Park, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Big Cypress National Preserve. Since 1967, scientists at Interior have been working closely with public and private partners to help the Florida panther populations recover. If you see a Florida panther, please share the information with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to help scientists with their conservation efforts. Watch this video about the current status of the Florida panther and how communities are hopeful about its shared future.

Panther sits high in tree branches and looks down at ground. — Florida panthers roam large territories and pick their habitat based on the availability of prey. Dense vegetation in forests, swamps and prairies provide some of the most important feeding, resting and denning cover for panthers. Photo by Mark Lotz, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Jaguars

The largest species of cat in the Western Hemisphere, jaguars roam from Mexico to South America. While jaguars are now a rare sight in the United States, three male jaguars have been spotted in southern Arizona since 2012. The most recent sighting was photographed in July 2017 by a trail camera in the Dos Cabezas Mountains. Jaguars tend to be best known for their yellow, orange and tan coats, but can sometimes have a range of color variations that include red, brown, white and occasionally black. They have big heads, large bodies and a long tail, and look similar to leopards, which live in Africa and Asia. While jaguars are nocturnal animals, they can be active during the day. They are good swimmers and will rest or hunt from trees. Jaguars can live to be 12-15 years old.