Are there are any big cats in the USA?
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Photo by James Keith \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
By big cat<\/a>, we normally mean any of the five species in the genus\u00a0Panthera\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and here the USA does have skin in the game, but only just. Of the five big cats, only jaguars <\/a>are found in either of the American continents, and the US\u2019 southern states were historically the species\u2019 northern limit.<\/p>\n But with habitat loss and persecution, jaguars disappeared from the country in the 1960s. Today, according to the conservation group\u00a0Panthera<\/a>, they are returning, albeit tentatively, crossing the border from Mexico into the states of Arizona and New Mexico. Protected areas such as the\u00a0Northern Jaguar Reserve<\/a>\u00a0in the foothills of Mexico\u2019s Sierra Madre Occidental offer refuge for these rosetted beauties, but it is unlikely the US will ever become a hotspot for them.<\/p>\n What are the most numerous wild cats in the US?<\/p>\n With an estimated population of\u00a0up to 3.6 million<\/a>, the most numerous and wide-ranging wild cat is the bobcat, one of four species in the\u00a0Lynx\u00a0genus and a close relative of the Eurasian lynx. <\/p>\n These are\u00a0small cats<\/a>, with even males averaging just 14kg in weight \u2013\u00a0about the size of a smallish medium-sized dog \u2013\u00a0but they are highly adaptable and thrive equally well in northern boreal forests as they do in the arid deserts of the south-west. <\/p>\n They have long been prized for their beautiful, spotted coats, and they are still hunted today, though scientists say they are\u00a0worth much more<\/a>\u00a0alive for ecotourism than they are dead as furs.<\/p>\n What other cats are numerous?<\/p>\n The only other felid found over a wide area of the US is the cougar<\/a> or mountain lion, a medium-sized cat renowned for its feistiness. It would have originally been found throughout\u00a0the entire \u2018lower 48\u2019<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0all the contiguous states south of Canada \u2013\u00a0but today it is confined to the western half of the country, largely hunted out by European colonisers. <\/p>\n They are still hunted for sport, and only have full protection in California and Florida \u2013\u00a0in the latter state, a small population of 120-130 individuals of a distinct subspecies known as the Florida panther survive in the south-west. Cougars can grow to a weight of nearly 70kg and can be dangerous to humans \u2013\u00a0though attacks are extremely rare. <\/p>\n There are\u00a0occasional sightings<\/a>\u00a0of cougars in Alaska, but this state is generally not considered good habitat for them. The\u00a0Mountain Lion Foundation<\/a>\u00a0says there are unlikely to be more than 30,000 individuals in the USA, and many of those survive in fragmented and increasingly degraded habitat.<\/p>\n OK, what other cats does the USA have?<\/p>\n The bobcat and the cougar are easily the most numerous, but there are a few other species found in particular pockets. Most important is the Canadian or\u00a0Canada lynx<\/a>, closely related to the bobcat and, with its outsized paws and long hind legs, specially adapted to hunting prey such as snowshoe hairs in deep powdery snow. It ranges across most of Canada and Alaska, but also crosses over into some of the US\u2019 most northerly states in small numbers.<\/p>\n Any other wild cats?<\/p>\n Yes, in the southern states, there are occasional reports of small cats more normally associated with rainforest habitats of Central and South America such as ocelots, jaguarundis<\/a> and margays<\/a>. <\/p>\n Of these, the beautiful spotted ocelot, once a prized target for fur traders but now well protected across its range, is the most common, with a population of up to 100 individuals in southern Arizona and\u00a0southern Texas<\/a>. The distinctive jaguarundi, remarkable for its short legs and long tail and sometimes described as\u00a0resembling a weasel<\/a>, may also occasionally make forays into the southern US from Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n What about sightings of other cats not necessarily native to the USA?<\/p>\n There are occasional reports of black panthers<\/a>. Black panthers are not a species, but refer to either melanistic (ie, black) leopards or jaguars. <\/p>\n