Below are selected pictures of great cats. More photographs of great cats are available in the country sections found on the left.
Except where noted, all images are the property of Rhett A. Butler, copyright 1994-2004. Contact me with questions regarding use, reproduction, or purchase of any of the pictures.
Big cat refers to the medium-to-large wild felids of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Australia and Antarctica have no indigenous species of big cats. Like the domestic cat, all of the big cats are carnivores and efficient predators.
The term is used to distinguish these large felids from the domestic cat and other smaller Felidae species. One area of distinction is that big cats can roar, but cannot purr whilst inhaling, only while exhaling. (The cheetah is an exception, being able to make both sounds.)
Pictures were taken by Rhett A. Butler, copyright 2008. While these photos are the property of mongabay.com, it may be permissible to use them for non-commercial purposes (like powerpoint presentations and school projects), provided that the images are not altered in any form. Please read this for more details. If you are interested in using an image in a publication please contact me.
