The Spotted Felines

What is feline?

Feline means the biological family of cats ranging from our domesticated cats to tiger and lion.

Yes. I am going to talk about cats, but not any ordinary cats. It is going to be several big cats with spots, the spotted felines.

I am going to focus on 3 species of spotted felines. They are Jaguar, Leopard and Cheetah.

Why did I choose this topic?

It all started with my children and their friends playing with the plastic animal replica. They each claim that a particular spotted feline belongs to one species over the other.

Many times, as I observed even we the adult are embarrassingly caught off-guard without knowing the answer.

Largely we are confused by the likeness of their appearance.

To make sure that we adult won’t be murmuring some confusing answers, please let me share some tips with you on how to distinguish them based on their physical differences, their distinctive skills, and their respective roaming grounds.

I will start with their physical differences in the order of size and appearance.

In term of the differences in physical size, a jaguar is usually larger and of sturdier build than a leopard. A leopard in turn is larger and much more muscular than a cheetah. Cheetah however stands taller than leopards and jaguars, with smaller head and longer tail.

Next in term of the differences in physical appearance, they all look alike as their furs are mainly yellow or tawny with dark spots. However, there is a subtle yet discernable difference among them- that is the pattern of their spots.
The cheetah’s spots are small and solid black, evenly spread; the jaguar and the leopard have rings or clusters of spots called rosette.

The rosettes on a jaguar's coat are polygonal and larger but fewer in numbers. The jaguars’ rosettes have thicker lines with one or two small spots in the middle that the leopard lacks.

In contrast, the leopard's rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and do not have central spots as the jaguars do.

Let me now turn to the second aspect – their distinctive skill sets. The jaguars, like the tigers, are exceptionally good swimmers. They love water and often hunt fish, frog and turtle.


As for the leopards, they possess an unequaled ability to climb trees even when carrying a heavy carcass. No wonder they often eat on the tree.

As for the cheetah, they do not climb tree. Cheetah is known to be the fastest land animal. Its top speed could reach 120 km/h. It has the ability to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3 seconds faster than most sports cars, a Ferrari Enzo that costs HKD 5 million takes 3.4 second.

The third aspect is the question where do they live? There are two elements to this question, one refers to the geography and the other refers to the habitats.

Jaguar is native to the America Continent. The jaguar's present territorial range extends from Mexico across Central America and south to northern Argentine. Regarding the habitat, they prefer the dense rainforest like the Amazon.

Leopards are chiefly found in sub-Saharan Africa; there are also fragmented populations in South Asia, China and Indochina. Its habitat ranges from the rainforest to the desert terrains and even to the snowy mountain range.

As for the Cheetah, they are distributed in sub-Sahara Africa and Northern Iran. The cheetah likes to live in an open grass land with many elevated points to give them a good look-out.

Obviously they all do live in the zoo now.

Let me recap. Jaguar is American. It is bigger in size and stockier in build, very good at swimming, with a small spot in its rosette.

Leopards could be either African or Asian. It has smaller rosettes without the central spot. They are excellent at tree climbing. Together with the jaguars, they both roar, whereas cheetah purrs like our cats.

Cheetah is mostly African. It is the smallest of the three with simple spots on its coat. It is the land fastest splinter. One further very helpful distinction is that the cheetah has "tear-mark" lines that run from the corners of its eyes down the sides of its nose to the edge of its mouth.

Ladies and gentlemen, armed with this knowledge with the children in mind, I am confident that you will soon be their favorite.

Lastly, I would like to share with you some words of wisdom in the context of spotted felines.

You may have heard of black panther. They are actually jaguar or leopard that develops skin condition calls melanism that make them appear black or very dark. They are thus not a different species.

The interesting scientific fact is that their spots are still visible on close examination.

The fact that a black panther doesn’t lose its spot is a useful reminder that there are things in life that cannot change their innate nature. It is appropriate I conclude with the proverb – a leopard cannot change its spots.