Comparing the Big Cats
Using Microsoft Word, create a table comparing the similarities and differences among the big cats. In this exercise, at least 15 characteristics must be examined using the data provided on the blog.
Sunday, 13 November 2016
Creating an e-Journal
Using online sites such as Blogger, you will create an e-Journal on the different types of big cats.Your journal must include relevant information on each of the big cats, as well as, other examples that you much research.
Your journal will be marked as part of the final assessment of this course.
A sample is provided below:
How to create a poster using Microsoft Publisher
Please refer to the following PowerPoint guide to creating a poster using Publisher.
Using Microsoft Publisher, create a poster of your favorite of the big cats. The poster must contain all of the following elements:
- A full sized background image of the big cat of your choice
- The scientific, as well as, common name of the cat
- A short description of the cat
Finished Posters will be graded according to the included rubric.
A sample will be provided as an example:
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| Sample of Poster |
Jaguars
What are Jaguars?
The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas. The jaguar has a compact body, a broad head and powerful jaws. Its coat is normally yellow and tan, but the color can vary from reddish brown to black. The spots on the coat are more solid and black on the head and neck and become larger rosette-shaped patterns along the side and back of the body.
Where do they live?
The mighty jaguar once roamed from Argentina in South America all the way up to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Today, jaguars have been almost completely eliminated from the United States and are endangered throughout their range, which stretches down to Patagonia in South America. The jaguar makes its home in a wide-variety of habitats including deciduous forests, rain forests, swamps, pampas grasslands and mountain scrub areas.
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| Locations where jaguars live. |
Behavior
Hunting
Facts about jaguars
- The jaguar is the largest wild cat in the Americas. Its coat provides excellent camouflage but it is also prized by the fur trade, and this is one reason why the jaguar is now very rare indeed.
- Little is known of the family life of the jaguar in the wild and biologists now trying to study it in its natural habitat are handicapped because it has become so rare.
- The jaguar is often misidentified for a leopard (and vice-a-versa). However, the jaguar has a larger, more powerful looking jaw than the leopard (the leopard’s head is smaller and narrower than the heavier jaguar). Their body outlines are very similar, but the jaguar is more heavily built with a stocky appearance and sturdier legs. Even the jaguar’s distinctive spotted coat is almost the same as the leopards. However, the jaguar’s spots are more defined, darker and larger.
- The jaguar lives in a variety of habitats, from dense jungle and scrub-land to reed thickets and shoreline forests. It even inhabits open country, but needs a reliable supply of water as well as sufficient cover in the form of long grass or rocky outcrops to hunt successfully.
- The jaguar and the leopard are the only big cats which do not roar.
- Jaguars are excellent swimmers and are quite at home in the water. It also hunts successfully in rivers, catching frogs, turtles and small alligators in the shallows, or swiping at passing fish while clinging to an overhanging branch.
- Males are solitary animals until breeding season. However, it is the female who rears the young on her own. The cubs stay with the mother until they are two years old and a year later they will be sexually mature, although the male does not breed successfully until it is four years old.
- All-black colored jaguars are not uncommon in a litter. Mixed litters are often born to mixed parents.
- Amazon Indians have told the story of jaguars emerging from the forest to play with children.
- All subspecies are endangered. Loss of habitat to farming and over-hunting for its fur and to protect live-stock present the greatest threats to the jaguar.
Tigers
What are Tigers?
Where do they live?
Historic tiger range ran from Turkey through South and Southeast Asia to the far eastern shores of the continent. Today, they are only found in South and Southeast Asia, China and the Russian Far East.
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| Locations where tigers live. |
Behavior
Hunting
Facts about tigers
- Tigers are the largest members of the cat family and are renowned for their power and strength.
- The tiger is capable of killing animals over twice its size; it is one of nature’s most feared predators.
- Like its ancestor, the Sabre-tooth cat, the tiger relies heavily on its powerful teeth for survival. If it loses its canines (tearing teeth) through injury or old age, it can no longer kill and is likely to starve to death.
- Tigers live alone and aggressively scent-mark large territories (up to 100 sq km in size) to keep their rivals away.
- They are powerful nocturnal hunters that travel many miles to find buffalo, deer, wild pigs, and other large mammals. A Bengal tiger can eat 21kg of meat in a night and can kill the equivalent of 30 buffaloes a year.
- The roar of a Bengal tiger can carry for over 2km at night.
- Although tigers are powerful and fast over short distances, the Bengal tiger cannot outrun fleet footed prey such as deer. Instead it uses stealth to catch its victims; attacking from the side or the rear.
- Tigers use their distinctive coats as camouflage (no two have exactly the same stripes).
- If the kill is large, the tiger may drag the remains to a thicket and loosely bury it with leaves, then return to it later.
- As well as game animals, it preys on wild boar, monkeys, lizards and occasionally porcupines.
- Females give birth to litters of two to six cubs, which they raise with little or no help from the male. Cubs cannot hunt until they are 18 months old and remain with their mothers for two to three years, when they disperse to find their own territory.
- Like domestic cats, all tigers can purr. Unlike their tame relatives, however, which can purr as they breathe both in and out, tigers purr only as they breathe out.
- Unlike other cats, tigers are good swimmers and often cool off in lakes and streams during the heat of the day.
Cheetahs
What are Cheetahs?
Where do they live?
Historically cheetahs were found throughout Africa and Asia from South Africa to India. They are now confined to parts of eastern, central and southwestern Africa and a small portion of Iran.
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| Locations where cheetahs live. |
Behavior
Hunting
Cheetahs eat mainly gazelles, wildebeest calves, impalas and smaller hoofed animals. They knock their prey to the ground and kill with a suffocating bite to the neck. They must eat quickly before they lose the kills to other bigger or more aggressive carnivores.
Fun facts on cheetahs
- Cheetahs do not roar like lions, however they do have a range of other meaningful vocalizations such as purring, growling and a variety of contact calls which resemble bird-like chirping sounds.
- Female cheetahs select a lair, either a rocky outcrop or marshy area with tall grass, before giving birth to their cubs. Mothers only leave the cubs to hunt, before returning to nurse the young. Males do not help with the rearing of young.
- Females are solitary, whereas males tend to live in small groups of 2-3 individuals, usually brothers.
- Cheetahs make distinct facial expressions to signal their mood.
- In Native American symbology, the cheetah represents swiftness, insight and focus.
- The cheetah originated over 4 million years ago. That’s long before any of the other big cats of today.
- Cheetahs are caring, affectionate and dedicated mothers. They spend a long time caring for their cubs and teaching them essential survival skills like hunting. Cubs typically stay with their mothers for one and a half to two years.
Lions
What are lions?
The lion is one of the big cats in the genus Panthera, and is a member of the family Felidae. The commonly used term African lion collectively denotes the several subspecies in Africa.They are also the second leading largest cat in the world.
Lions live in grasslands, scrubs and and open woodlands of Saharan Africa.
A small population of Asian lions exists in India's Gir Forest. Asian lions and African lions are subspecies of the same species. Asian lions once prowled from the Middle East to India.
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| Locations where lions live. |
Lions and Prides
- Lions are sociable animals that live in groups called Prides.Prides are family units that usually have three males and multiple females and cubs.
- Reason they form prides are the fusion of subgroups of lions.
- Females defend pride territory, males defend females from other males.
- No recruitment of outside females, all highly related and grow up in pride.
- Young males forced to leave the pride at about three years old.
Lions and Hunting
Lions hunt with the pride especially for bigger preys.They use the sneak attack approach on victims. As well as corner the prey when hunting with pride.
Lions and fights
Lions usually fight when they see or feel a thread from other males or outsiders.They use their mane as protective shields.
- Lion’s are known as king of the jungle, but they really don’t live in jungles.
- A male lion is called a lion.
- A female lion is called a lioness.
- A baby lion is called a cub.
- A male lion has a mane and a female does not.
- A male's mane will begin to grow at 18 months and will continue to grow until they are 5 years old.
- A male lion can weigh between 400-500 pounds and sometimes more.
- A female lion can weigh 290-350 pounds.
- The female lions are the hunters. They usually hunt at dusk or at night.
- The female lion will bring the food back to the pride. The male will eat first than the females and lastly the cubs.
- A lion can runs at speeds up to 50 miles per hour but not for long distances.
- When a lion walks their heels do not touch the ground.
- Unlike other cats lions are great swimmers.
- A lion’s roar can be heard as far as 5 miles away!
- Lions rest for up to 20 hours a day.
- Remember Simba from Disney’s Lion King? Did you know that the Swahili (a language in Africa)word for Lion is Simba!
- A mother lion gives give to 1-4 cubs every 2 years.
WELCOME
In this blog, we will be looking at the types of big cats for General Science. Students will be taught about some of the types of big cats that live in the wild, as well as, using technology in order to create posters, a table of comparison of the the cats and an e-journal.
Below is an introduction to some of the big cats we will be looking at:
Please use the sitemap to be redirected to the appropriate section of the course.
Course Sitemap:
Authors: Avinash Sahadeo; Kristine Ali; Zalayhar Mohammed; Vanessa Rajkumar.
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