Quadrupeds, What They Are and Where Found: A Book of Zoology for Boys

by Mayne Reid

Africa, from the Cape to the shores of the Mediterranean, and there are three well-marked varieties on that continent. In Asia he is only found in its southern part—that is, in the tropical and sub-tropical regions; and there are also two or three varieties of the Asiatic lion.

With regard to the tiger, he is altogether an Asiatic. There are no tigers in Europe, Africa, and America—of course we mean in their wild state; and the stories of tiger-hunts in Africa and America, frequently to be met with in books and newspapers, are the narratives of mere ignorant travellers, who confound the royal tiger with several species of spotted cats—of which we shall presently speak. We may add that the tiger, although exclusively Asiatic, is not exclusively tropical in his haunts. Tigers are more abundant in the hot jungles of India and some of the larger islands of the Indian Ocean than elsewhere; but they have also been observed far to the north of the Himalayan chain on the great steppes that extend almost to the confines of Siberia.

To continue the monarchical analogy; there are four cats that may be called the princes of the family. These are the Jaguar, the Leopard, the Panther, and the Hunting-leopard or Cheetah. The first of these is exclusively American; the other three, African and Asiatic. They are all four what are termed spotted cats; that is, having black markings on a buff or yellowish ground. I need not add that they are all beautiful creatures. A superficial observer would easily mistake the one for the other; and in common phrase, they are indifferently termed leopards, panthers, and even tigers; but the naturalist, and even the furrier knows that they are four distinct species.

I shall endeavour to point out as briefly as possible some marks that will enable you to distinguish them. In the spots we find a tolerably good criterion of the species. Those upon the body of the jaguar are not spots, but rather what may be termed rosettes. So, too, the black markings of the leopard and panther are rosettes; that is, irregular black rings enclosing an open space of the yellow ground. On the contrary, the spots upon the hunting-leopard are real spots, of a uniform black; and, consequently, this animal is easily distinguished from the other three. He differs from them also in shape. He is longer in the legs, stands more upright upon them, and can run more swiftly than any of the cat tribe. In fact, he has a tendency towards the nature and habits of the dog, and might be appropriately termed the cat-dog, or the dog-cat, whichever you please. It is on account of his canine qualities that he is sometimes trained to the chase: hence his specific name of the hunting-leopard. He inhabits both Asia and Africa.

But how are the jaguar, leopard, and panther to be distinguished from one another? The jaguar easily enough from the other two. His rosettes have a black point in the centre, which is wanting in the rings of the panther and leopard. Besides, the jaguar is a larger and more powerful animal. Humboldt and others have observed specimens of the jaguar nearly equal in dimensions to those of the royal tiger himself; and his feats of fierce prowess, in the forests of Spanish America, are scarce eclipsed by those of his congener in the jungles of India. Human beings are frequently his victims, and settlements have been abandoned on account of the dangerous proximity of the jaguars. His range in America is pretty nearly co-terminal with the Spanish territories—including, of course, Brazil and Guiana, and excluding the country of Patagonia, where a smaller species takes his place. In all these countries he is misnamed tiger (tigre)—hence the anomalous stories to which we have alluded. We may add that there is a black jaguar in tropical America, just as there is a black panther in Asia. In neither case is it a different species: only a variety as regards colour. In all other respects the black and yellow kinds are alike. Even on the black ones the spots are observable in a certain light, being of a deeper hue than the general ground colour of the skin.

Thus, then, it is easy to distinguish a cheetah from a jaguar, or either from a leopard or panther; but with regard to these last two, the distinction is more difficult. In fact, so much are they alike, that the two species are confounded even by naturalists; and it is yet an undecided point which is the leopard, and which the panther! That there are two distinct species is certain. The London furrier knows that there are two kinds of skins, which he distinguishes mainly by the feel; but the learned zoologist, Temminck, has pointed out a difference in the anatomical structure. Both animals are natives of Africa, and both were supposed to exist in Asia; but it is doubtful whether that known as the leopard extends beyond the limits of the African continent. The panther is that one which is a little heavier in the body, more cat-like in shape, and of a deeper yellow in the ground colour; but, perhaps, the truest distinction is found in the tail, which is longer in the panther than in the leopard, and consists of a greater number of vertebrae.

The panther is a well-known animal in India and the Asiatic islands; and, as already stated, there is a dark-skinned variety, commonly known as the Black Panther of Java.

Taking the cat family according to size, the next that deserves mention is the Couguar, or Puma. This is the panther of the Anglo-Americans, and the lion (leon) of the Mexicans and South Americans. His colour is a uniform tawny red, or calf colour; and he is inferior to the jaguar in size, strength, and courage. Notwithstanding, he is a formidable animal, and has been known to attack and destroy the larger mammalia. When wounded, or at bay, he will also defend himself against a human enemy; and there have been instances of hunters, both white and Indian, having succumbed to his strength. His range extends over nearly the whole continent of America; but he more particularly affects the deep shadow of the forests; and, like the jaguar, he is a tree-climber. He has no claim to the title of lion, except from some resemblance in colour; and no doubt it was this that led to his misnomer among the early settlers of Spanish America.

The Ounce comes next. Of all the large cats this is the least known, either to naturalists or hunters. We only know that such a species exists; that it is a native of Western Asia (Persia, and perhaps Arabia); that it is an animal nearly as large as the leopard or panther, but of stouter build and clumsier shape; that it is covered with long woolly hair of a pale-yellow colour, and spotted, not so distinctly as the true leopards, from which it is easily distinguished, both by its form and colour. The name Ounce is from Buffon; but this specific appellation is also applied to the jaguar of America, the Jaguarundi, or lesser jaguar of Paraguay, and even to the Ocelot.