Tuesday, 13 March 2018

I am not counting—but just how many cats have I seen in the wild?


I do not make consolidated lists of mammals, birds, reptiles or amphibians we  have seen in different parts of the world. Listing, especially world listing, can become addictive and, ultimately, pointless. Our aim is at seeing and experiencing where animals live and their various modes of life. However, a few weeks ago I was reading the recent revised taxonomy of the cats and I thought, how many cats have we actually seen in the wild, with the two recently added in China?

Well, here is the list. It began in Kenya in 1991:


Scientific NameCommon Nme
Felis chausJungle Cat
Felis bieti
Chinese Mountain Cat
Felis silvestrisEuropean Wildcat
Felis lybicaAfrican Wildcat
Otocolobus manulPallas's Cat
Prionailurus bengalensisLeopard Cat
Prionailurus javanensisSunda Leopard Cat
Acinonyx jubatusCheetah
Herpailurus yagouaroundiJaguarundi
Leopardus pardalisOcelot
Panthera tigrisTiger
Panthera oncaJaguar
Panthera leoLion
Panthera pardusLeopard


Leopard. Kenya 1991

Cheetahs. Botswana 2001

















Lion. Zambia 2007















Asiatic Lion. India 2015
Jaguar. Brazil 2017

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