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Understand the Lingo

© Josie Shadwell

Ever read an article on cats and wonder just what the person is trying to tell you. If you research various cats, you'll come across various scientific names and terms, that quite simply are a little confusing.

Basically cats, wild or domesticated are one big family. Some are big, some small, but in general appearance they all look like cats. Some members of the dog (canids) family do not look like dogs. Cats all have retractable or partially retractable claws. All cats purr, without exception (even the big cats will purr for pleasure or when taking care of their young). Also wherever the cat lives, he reigns supreme among carnivores in his size class. He has a finely honed stalking and killing ability that is unrivaled by other carnivores. He also kills quickly and cleanly by severing the spinal column of its prey, thus minimizing pain and suffering.

So to try and smooth out the various wording used and give a person the feeling that they understand all the scientific terminology, here's an explanation.

All cats belong to the scientific class mammalia or mammals. Warm blooded animals that give birth to live young. The scientific order is carnivora (meat-eaters). The family is felidae (cats) and the genus is one of three - panthera, the large or greater cats; acinonyx, the cheetah; and felis, the lesser or smaller cats.

The genera (plural of genus) are divided into species. Usually two dissimilar animals belonging to the same genus are considered as belonging to different species, if they do not breed and produce viable offspring. Either they can't physically interbreed, like a mountain lion and a housecat; or would not breed naturally, maybe a jaguar and a leopard (smells and signals don't inspire mating) or finally their offspring would be sterile, say a tiger and a lion. However, if two such animals do interbreed and produce viable offspring, they become the same species even if they weren't to start with. Confused? I am. Basically, if two cats mated and produced babies that could have more babies they would stay with the dominant species. Just for an example lets say a jaguar and a leopard could or would mate, they would become (from my understanding of this) the species with the most dominant traits. If they do have enough differences they could be classed as a separate subspecies.

The different species are usually brought about by isolation. If distance or natural obstruction separates some cats, from the main body of cats, they will eventually evolve into a different species. An example of this would be felis sylvestris, the European Wildcat. He first evolved over 600,000 years (more or less) ago, in central Europe. By the Second Ice Age his domain extended into Africa and Asia. When the ice receded and the seas rose, climates changed, the species became separated by water, deserts, and mountains. These isolated subspecies evolved into the Sand Cat, African Wildcat, Forest Cat, Black-Footed Cat, and the Chinese Desert cat to name a few.

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