Favorite big cat?

They are magnificent, aren't they? Cheetahs for their speed.

Tiger! They're just so beautiful.

Caracal!

The Majesty of the Tiger is undisputed for me. I love their extra edge of danger.
The cheetah is svelte, the lion reposed, calm and noble; but, I love that the Tiger is unreliable, suspicious and dangerous. Lion cubs can be trained with moderate ease into becoming familiar pets; it is overwhelmingly rare to make a young Tiger forget his nature.

I remember an account of a businessman who tried to raise two cubs for the novelty of it, thinking that they would turn out to be lions. But, as they passed two months into three months he realized that he could no longer let them run free in the backyard. Still not wanting to confine them he decided to place them on a running leash in the yard, but by the end of four months they were going after all the children when they thought that they could get at them.
The man realized what he had to do when he saw the tigers going into their stalks repeatedly when the children's backs were turned. Even when the children were getting out of their mother's car and was relatively far from them, the man watched as the two tigers immediately went onto their bellies and tried to move forward under cover.

It was obvious how this tale was going to end and the man immediately got rid of both of them.

It's my understanding that cheetahs aren't true Big Cats (members of genus Panthera), but they sure are small-b big cats, so I'm going to count any big feline. I like clouded leopards.

Albedo said:

It's my understanding that cheetahs aren't true Big Cats (members of genus Panthera), but they sure are small-b big cats, so I'm going to count any big feline. I like clouded leopards.

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I had thought the "big cat"/"little cat" separations were being muddied up considerably in recent years, with DNA studies redefining feline relationships. In my old books, though, cheetah was always lumped in with the big cats, even though it's kind of its own weird thing. (But, then, those books used to consider cougars "little cats" due to the shape of their pupils or something like that...)

And I really don't think I can choose a favorite. They're all cool in their own ways, big or little or in-between. If forced, though, I'd probably have to call it a tie between cougars and jaguars.

Cougars. Their eyes are so... so... gah. Intense.

Baby cheetahs are the cutest ever. Fuzzy manes and solemn little tear-tracked faces.

I love tigers. There is something so majestic and mysterious about them. My fantasy WIP is about tigers!

i admire the way cheetahs begin eating their lunch long before it's dead.

Tom Jones!








What?

Well, okay then, Lavern, Ann Margaret for me then, in "Kitten with a Whip!"

ETA: Actually, Catwoman has her charms, too. See what you've done?