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Felinae
The small cats or Felinae are a subfamily of Felidae distinguished by their bony hyoids, which let them purr but not roar. Other authors have proposed an alternative definition for this subfamily, as comprising only the living conical-toothed cat genera with two tribes, the Felini and Pantherini, and excluding the extinct sabre-toothed Machairodontinae. Characteristics The members of the Felinae have retractile claws that are protected by at least one cutaneous Lobe (anatomy), lobe. Their larynx is kept close to the base of the skull by an Ossification, ossified hyoid. They can purr owing to the vocal folds being shorter than . The cheetah ''Acinonyx'' does not have cutaneous sheaths for guarding claws. Taxonomy The term 'Felini' was first used in 1817 by Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim, at the time for all the cat species that had been proposed as belonging to the Genus (biology), genus ''Felis''. In 1917, Reginald Innes Pocock also subordinated the following genera to the Felinae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felidae
Felidae ( ) is the Family (biology), family of mammals in the Order (biology), order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant taxon, extant Felidae species exhibit the greatest diversity in fur patterns of all terrestrial carnivores. Cats have retractile claws, slender muscular bodies and strong flexible forelimbs. Their teeth and facial muscles allow for a powerful bite. They are all obligate carnivores, and most are solitary predators ambushing or stalking their prey. Wild cats occur in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. Some wild cat species are adapted to forest and savanna habitats, some to arid environments, and a few also to wetlands and mountainous terrain. Their activity patterns range from nocturnal and crepuscular to Diurnality, diurnal, depending on their preferred prey species. Reginald Innes Pocock divided the extant Felidae into three subfamilies: the Pantherinae, the Felinae and the Acin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felis
''Felis'' is a genus of small and medium-sized cat species native to most of Africa and south of 60° latitude in Europe and Asia to Indochina. The genus includes the domestic cat. The smallest of the seven ''Felis'' species is the black-footed cat with a head and body length from . The largest is the jungle cat with a head and body length from . Genetic studies indicate that the Felinae genera ''Felis'', '' Otocolobus'' and ''Prionailurus'' diverged from a Eurasian progenitor of the Felidae about 6.2 million years ago, and that ''Felis'' species split off 3.04 to 0.99 million years ago. Etymology The generic name ''Felis'' is derived from Classical Latin meaning 'cat, ferret'. Taxonomy Carl Linnaeus considered ''Felis'' to comprise all cat species known until 1758. Later taxonomists split the cat family into different genera. In 1917, the British zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock revised the genus ''Felis'' as comprising only the ones listed in the following table. Estimated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purr
A purr or whirr is a tonal fluttering sound made by some species of felids, including both larger, wild cats and the domestic cat (''Felis catus''), as well as two species of genets. It varies in loudness and tone among species and in the same animal. In smaller and domestic cats it is known as a purr, while in larger felids, such as the cheetah, it is called a whirr. Although true purring is exclusive to felids and viverrids, other animals such as raccoons produce vocalizations that sound similar to true purring. Animals that produce purr-like sounds include mongooses, kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, badgers, rabbits and guinea pigs. Animals purr for a variety of reasons, including to express happiness or fear, and as a defense mechanism. It has also been shown that cats purr to manage pain and soothe themselves. Purring is a soft buzzing sound, similar to a rolled 'r' in human speech, with a fundamental frequency of around 25 Hz. This sound occurs with notic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machairodontinae
Machairodontinae (from Ancient Greek μάχαιρα ''Makhaira, machaira,'' a type of Ancient Greek sword and ὀδόντος ''odontos'' meaning tooth) is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the cat family Felidae, representing the earliest diverging major branch of the family. Machairodonts varied in size from comparable to lynxes to exceeding that of lions. The Machairodontinae contain many of the extinct predators commonly known as "saber-toothed cats", including those with greatly elongated upper Maxillary canine, maxillary canines, such as the famed genus ''Smilodon'' and ''Megantereon,'' though the degree of elongation was variable, and in some machairodontines like ''Dinofelis'' the length of the upper canines was much more modest. Sometimes, other carnivorous mammals with elongated teeth are also called saber-toothed cats, although they do not belong to the felids. Besides the machairodonts, other saber-toothed predators also arose in the Nimravidae, nimravid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Wildcat
The European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Great Britain, Turkey and the Caucasus. Its fur is brownish to grey with stripes on the forehead and on the sides and has a bushy tail with a black tip. It reaches a head-to-body length of up to with a long tail, and weighs up to . In France and Italy, the European wildcat is predominantly nocturnal, but also active in the daytime when undisturbed by human activities. It preys foremost on small mammals such as lagomorphs and rodents, but also on ground-dwelling birds. Taxonomy ''Felis (catus) silvestris'' was the scientific name proposed in 1778 by Johann von Schreber when he described a wild cat based on texts from the early 18th century and before. In the 19th and 20th centuries, several wildcat type specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, including: * ''Felis silvestris caucasica'' proposed by Konstantin Satunin in 1905 was a skin of a female cat collected ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed wild, terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most widespread in the world. Its range spans the Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta provinces of Canada, the Rocky Mountains and areas in the western United States. Further south, its range extends through Mexico to the Amazon Rainforest and the southern Andes Mountains in Patagonia. It is an adaptable Generalist and specialist species, generalist species, occurring in most American habitat types. It prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking but also lives in open areas. The cougar is largely solitary. Its activity pattern varies from diurnality and cathemerality to Crepuscular animal, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheetah
The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large Felidae, cat and the Fastest animals, fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, with a short snout and black tear-like facial streaks. It reaches at the shoulder, and the head-and-body length is between . Adults weigh between . The cheetah is capable of running at ; it has evolved specialized adaptations for speed, including a light build, long thin legs and a long tail. The cheetah was first Species description, described in the late 18th century. Four subspecies are recognised today that are native to Africa and central Iran. An African subspecies was Cheetah reintroduction in India, introduced to India in 2022. It is now distributed mainly in small, fragmented populations in northwestern, East Africa, eastern and southern Africa and central Iran. It lives in a variety of habitats such as savannahs in the Serengeti, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pantherinae
The Pantherinae is a subfamily of the Felidae; it was named and first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1917 as only including the ''Panthera'' species, but later also came to include the clouded leopards (genus ''Neofelis''). The Pantherinae genetically diverged from a common ancestor between and . Characteristics Pantherinae species are characterised by an imperfectly ossified hyoid bone with elastic tendons that enable their larynx to be mobile. They have a flat rhinarium that only barely reaches the dorsal side of the nose. The area between the nostrils is narrow, and not extended sidewards as in the Felinae. The ''Panthera'' species have a single, rounded, vocal fold with a thick mucosal lining, a large vocalis muscle, and a large cricothyroid muscle with long and narrow membranes. A vocal fold that is longer than enables all but the snow leopard among them to roar, as it has shorter vocal folds of that provide a lower resistance to airflow; this distinction w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acinonyx
''Acinonyx'' is a genus within the Felidae family. The only living species of the genus, the cheetah (''A. jubatus''), lives in open grasslands of Africa and Asia. Several fossil remains of cheetah-like cats were excavated that date to the late Pliocene and Middle Pleistocene. These cats occurred in Africa, parts of Europe and Asia about 10,000 years ago. Several similar species classified in the genus '' Miracinonyx'' lived in North America at the same time; these may have been more closely related to the genus '' Puma''. Taxonomy ''Acinonyx'' was proposed by Joshua Brookes in 1828. Between the late 18th century and the early 20th century, the following ''Acinonyx'' species and subspecies were described: * ''Felis jubatus'' by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1777 was based on earlier descriptions by Comte de Buffon and Thomas Pennant. ** ''Felis venatica'' by Griffith in 1821 was based on a sketch of a cheetah from India. ** ''Cynailurus soemmeringi'' by Fitzi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene followed the Oligocene and preceded the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by distinct global events but by regionally defined transitions from the warmer Oligocene to the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, Afro-Arabia collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, and allowing the interchange of fauna between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans and Ape, hominoids into Eurasia. During the late Miocene, the conn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ossification
Ossification (also called osteogenesis or bone mineralization) in bone remodeling is the process of laying down new bone material by cells named osteoblasts. It is synonymous with bone tissue formation. There are two processes resulting in the formation of normal, healthy bone tissue: Intramembranous ossification is the direct laying down of bone into the primitive connective tissue ( mesenchyme), while endochondral ossification involves cartilage as a precursor. In fracture healing, endochondral osteogenesis is the most commonly occurring process, for example in fractures of long bones treated by plaster of Paris, whereas fractures treated by open reduction and internal fixation with metal plates, screws, pins, rods and nails may heal by intramembranous osteogenesis. Heterotopic ossification is a process resulting in the formation of bone tissue that is often atypical, at an extraskeletal location. Calcification is often confused with ossification. Calcificatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vocal Folds
In humans, the vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through Speech, vocalization. The length of the vocal cords affects the pitch of voice, similar to a violin string. Open when breathing and vibrating for speech or singing, the folds are controlled via the recurrent laryngeal nerve, recurrent laryngeal branch of the vagus nerve. They are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally, from back to front, across the larynx. They vibration, vibrate, modulating the flow of air being expelled from the lungs during phonation. The 'true vocal cords' are distinguished from the 'false vocal folds', known as vestibular folds or ''ventricular folds'', which sit slightly superior to the more delicate true folds. These have a minimal role in normal phonation, but can produce deep sonorous tones, screams and growls. The length of the vocal fold at birth is approximately six to eight millimeters and grows t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
