Comparison of Reproductive Strategies in Four Felids.

Comparison of reproductive strategies in the Caracal (Felis Caracal), Eusasian Lynx (Lynx Lynx), Cougar (Puma Concolor) and the Clouded Leopard (Neofilis Nebulosa)

Contents

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Introduction 3

Natural History 4

Shared Characteristics 6

Differences in Reproductive Strategies 8

Conclusion 9

References 10

Introduction

The four chosen species for this essay are as follows: the Caracal (Felis Caracal), Eurasian Lynx (Lynx Lynx), Cougar (Puma Concolor) and the Clouded Leopard (Neofilis Nebulosa). Each of these cats are very distinctive in their morphology and they live in very different habitats and climates, their geographical ranges do not overlap (Estes, 1992; Hansen, 1992; Gaross, 2013; Brown et al., 1995). It was thought to be very interesting to investigate whether these factors contribute to very different reproductive strategies among these four species.

Natural History

The Cougar being the largest of the four with a range size of 29 to 120 kg (Shivaraju, 2003). These cats inhabit most of South America and the western part of North America with a few outlying isolated populations witch shows how adaptive this big cat is climate wise (Hansen, 1992).They prefer to live in areas with densely vegetated mountainous habitats that can sustain large ungulates (Figure 1), but can easily survive on smaller prey (Currier, 1983).

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* Figure 1 Two Cougars feeding on a Mule Deer. (Source: Leesonphoto. Image by Tom and Pat Leeson)

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