Comparing Cats: A Discussion of Similarities & Differences

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(10-13-2020, 12:35 PM)Luipaard Wrote: Not exactly a shocking result given the fact it was a 15 year old leopard and a jaguar weighing twice as much that would've been in the prime of its life if it were a wild one.

Quote:And there are people who unironically believe a leopard can put up a fight against a lioness or a much larger jaguar.

Because unlike lionesses, jaguars can overlap with leopards in size:

Mexican jaguars:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Mexican jaguars from Yucatán Peninsula:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Belizean jaguars:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Guatemalan jaguars:

*This image is copyright of its original author

"Much larger" jaguar really depends on the context (i.e.jaguar population).

It´s clear, that while lions and leopards don´t overlap in size, jaguars have a lot of size overlapping with pumas and leopards. 

When talking about fights, it´s clear that one good bite to the right spot can end a fight quickly. And if it´s done so, that other one is totally surprised and talking about big male and small female, it´s not a miracle at all, that fight is finished even before it starts.

Leopard is able to fight quite fiercely and I don´t believe, that a prime leopard would be too easy opponent even to a somewhat bigger opponent. In that way this example of a very old and small female leopard against a prime (most probably male) big jaguar isn´t exactly something I would be calling a good example to use in fair comparison. There has been discussion about pumas and jaguars and their interactions and results indicate, that jaguars aren´t dominant species in all areas they overlap. It seems to be more or less mutual respect in many areas. And before someone puts photos of some dead pumas, in these areas mentioned jaguars and pumas are same sized. 

I see it so, that of course size matters, but victories don´t come always easy. In some old video a leopard and a tiger fought quite fiercely and dispersed. If they would have fought to the bitter end, for sure tiger would have been pretty certain winner, but some nasty wounds to snout can make even a bigger cat to think something like "what the hell, not worth it this time". Reply