News screenshot
This incident spread to China, especially the pet circle, and became the talk of everyone after dinner. Although the whole thing sounds incredible and interesting, what is in the picture? Kitten? It's cute, too, but the news spread to China. I don't know whether it's because of translation or because I don't know anything about wild animals. This girl is mentioned in many articles. Kitten? Some say it's a jaguar, others say it's a puma.
After watching the news, I immediately reacted, is it a Jaguar or a Cougar? Isn't this the cub of the slender waist cat?
Thin-waisted cat
What the Argentine girl found was a kitten with a thin waist, not a puma or a jaguar. The slender-waisted cat originated in the southern part of Texas and the northern coastal areas of Mexico, and later extended southward to most parts of South America east of the Andes, with the southernmost tip reaching northern Argentina. In fact, the distribution range of thin-waisted cats is very similar to the historical distribution range of jaguars, and their habitats overlap greatly.
Although the survey found that the distribution density of thin-waisted cats in various places is very low, their living conditions and population status are not too dangerous because of their large habitat and low degree of poaching, but they may be endangered in some areas. For example, in 2000, when scientists were studying the state of Argentine thin-waisted cats, they found that the thin-waisted cats here were on the verge of extinction.
According to the latest classification of cats, slender-waisted cats are classified into cats subfamily. From the evolutionary history of modern cats, it can be seen that thin-waisted cats have the closest relationship with pumas (no wonder some people think they are puma cubs), followed by cheetahs.
Why many people put the news? Kitten? Mistaken for cougar or jaguar cub, the main reason may be that I am not familiar with this species. What is its English name? Jaguar? Are you online? Jaguar? It means jaguar, its synonym? Puma yagouaroundi？ Medium? Puma? It means puma, so it is not surprising that the translation is wrong.
It is easy to understand that a kitten with a thin waist is called a puma. After all, they are closely related and pumas are widely distributed in the United States. Most importantly, they all belong to felinae.
However, if you are familiar with wild animals, you can easily see that the newborn puma has obvious spots on its body. With the increase of age, these spots fade away until adulthood. This is the most important feature of puma cubs. Although there are some spots on the baby of a slender waist cat, it can be directly distinguished from the baby of a slender waist cat by virtue of this.
As for leopard cubs, it is easier to distinguish them. Unless it is a blackened or albino individual, ordinary leopards, whether cubs or adults, are covered with black stripes, and the overall color of cubs is darker than that of mature individuals. Because the posture of a jaguar is very similar to that of a tiger, its cub looks like a little tiger with stripes, which is very different from this thin waist cat cub in the news.
Jaguar, whether it's a slim-waisted cat or a puma, although their habitats almost overlap on the map, there are essential differences. Jaguar belongs to the genus Panther, which is closely related to lions and tigers. It's an out-and-out big cat, with an average adult weight of 56-96 kg, while slim-waisted cats and cougars are strictly cats? Kitten? .
Jaguar cubs look like this.
Known as? The ugliest cat? Our slim-waisted cat is very distinctive. Can it still be used? Ugly? Describe, its body is very long, 53-77 cm, its tail is also very long, 3 1-60 cm, and its weight is 3.5-9. 1 kg. As can be known from the name, its waist is very thin, and it looks like a big head, shoulders and buttocks from a visual point of view. Simply put, the middle is small and the two ends are big, and the legs are short, which is even more unsightly.
Generally speaking, cats have beautiful hair, such as snow leopards and tigers. They are typical representatives. Because of this, you are coveted by many lawless elements. Thin waist cats seem to be an exception. Not only does it have a bad posture, but also its hair. Its hair is brownish gray, black or chestnut red, without spots, but with white miscellaneous hair.
That's what skinny kittens look like.
Judging from the photos in the news, it may be hard for everyone to imagine that a cute thin-waisted cat as a child will lose so much when it grows up, but it is not without benefits. Recently, there was a lyric circulating on the Internet:? Ugly and live long? A slim-waisted cat is a typical example.
Because its hair is not beautiful, and it feels soft and stinging, people are not interested in its hair, so it has escaped a lot of poaching. Now the number of jaguars has been greatly reduced, and the habitat has been reduced by half. Compared with the historical distribution, the habitat of thin-waisted cats does not seem to have decreased much. They still live well on the American continent.
Chestnut red slender waist cat
Although studies show that thin-waisted cats are more gregarious than other wild cats and have higher tolerance for other predators, they still act alone in the wild, which is their way of life. Unlike most cats, slender-waisted cats are active all day, and they like to stay in trees when resting and underground when hunting. They will eat almost any small animals they can catch, including rodents, reptiles and birds, and even fish. Of course, sometimes thin-waisted cats also kill some larger animals, such as rabbits.
Black slim waist cat
The leopard is an independent species, not a leopard in the strict sense. In this news, there is also a wrong knowledge point, that is, the leopard and the leopard are confused. In fact, these are two different independent species. Strictly speaking, although the leopard has the same appearance as the leopard, it does not belong to the leopard, but as an independent species, it is divided under the leopard.
Strictly speaking, there is only one kind of leopard in the world, namely the leopard, which is also called the leopard in China. Whether it is Far East Leopard, North China Leopard, South China Leopard, etc. , belonging to the leopard, is a subspecies distinguished from living in different regions.
leopard
Jaguar is also called jaguar because its posture is very similar to that of a tiger. It mainly lives in Central and South America, and its habitat extends from Mexico to northern Argentina. Compared with its historical distribution, its habitat has been reduced by more than half. Fortunately, in the unique environment of tropical rain forests in South America, experts estimate that 70% of jaguars in the world are optimistic and have a great chance to survive.
But this doesn't tell us that they live well. In many areas, jaguars are extinct or endangered, such as Uruguay.
Due to the influence of living environment, the weight and appearance of leopards in different regions will be somewhat different. The general rule is that the bigger their weight is in the habitat of Vietnam. For example, the average weight of leopards in Jalisco, Mexico is 50 kg, which is similar to that of cougars, while the male weight of leopards in Brazil and Venezuela is 95 kg, and the female weight is 56-78 kg, which is similar to that of cubs.
Among the leopards in the world, the heavier Far East Leopard is only about 25-48 kg, which is far from the jaguar.
leopard
Extension: The difference between a leopard and a leopard Since we have mentioned the leopard and the leopard, let's talk about how to distinguish them. Apart from the living environment (there are no subspecies of leopards in America, leopards are only distributed in America), the main way to distinguish ordinary leopards from leopards is to look at their posture and details. Simply put, although leopards have the same stripes as leopards, they are more like tigers, shorter in stature, but more muscular.
The difference between a leopard and a leopard
If you are not sure whether it is a leopard as a whole, you need to look at the details. Jaguar's head is bigger and rounder, and there are tumor-like protrusions on the inside of the eye socket. Compared with the leopard, its rose-like stripes are bigger, especially in the back area, with black solid dots in the middle.
The leopard's head is relatively small, which is in harmony with its figure. The rose-like stripes on its body are smaller in shape, but more densely distributed, with a hollow center and no solid points. It is easy to distinguish a leopard from a leopard by this feature.
Small waist kitten
Some people may say that this kind of thing should be regarded as a spectacle, whether it's a thin-waisted cat, a puma or a jaguar, it's just a happy picture, so why take it so seriously? But shouldn't news be serious? Don't confuse the thin-waisted cat with the jaguar. The difference between them is too big. Even if the South China Tiger and the Northeast Tiger are mistaken, they need to be corrected.