Cats Species

The cats, or the Family Felidae, are supposed to be a prominent part of order Carnivora the carnivores. Zoologist has divided cat family into 36 cat species and each cat specie make prominent to itself with some unique and stunning characteristics. According to Linnaeus’s specie classification, all the cats are classified in general cat specie called Felis within the Felidae family.

But as it seems an unfairness to classify such a big family under single specie, zoologists divide cat family in different groups and each group high-flying itself with different kind of cats. But according to latest researches, zoologist believes that there are just three genera of cats:

- Felis for all the small cats

- Panthera for the big cats (which are defined by their ability to roar)

- Acinonyx for the cheetah.

Most of zoologists believe that the Clouded leopard is intermediate between big and small cats and it is reassigned to the genes which it had previously occupied, Neofelis. Though the number of species is supposed to be unchanged but some previously recognized species are further divided in different subspecies.

According to this division, former Felis and Panthera are grouped into 13 and 4 genera respectively. So there are now four genera means 7 species in the Pantherinae subfamily; one genus in the Acinonyxchinae subfamily; and 13 genera in the Felidae subfamily. Unmark able species among them are Pantherinae and Acinonyxchinae that are so-called 'Big cat Species'.

Regardless of wild cat species, many different cat species have been domesticated since prehistoric times and it was always been an ultimate option to take a cat as a domestic pet because of its harmless nature. Most of the people love to keep those cat species that are rare and charming in their first look as a domestic cat so Persians, Himalayan and Siamese cats are at top among domestic cat species.

Persians may be black, white, or any of colors, including calico, cameo, tabby, and tortoiseshell. The Himalayan breed resulted from the crossing of a Siamese with a Persian cat; these domestic cats have the solid bodies and long Persian like hairs, and mostly with Siamese coloring. What kind of cat you have in your home?

This question might be easy to answer for those who keep a solid knowledge about cat species but not for those who are willing to keep a domestic cat but having no sense of cat species so they can’t explain what kind of cat I have! As there are different kinds of cats and each kind may have sharp line difference with other so someone with no knowledge about cat specie can’t judge and sometime you might be deceived, so be aware in buying a cute cat (including different kind of Siamese cats).