PSA- Know Your Big Cats

I absolutely detest when I see an article of clothing incorrectly labeled as "leopard", "cheetah", "jaguar", etc. It's kind of maddening how often it happens too. Almost every time I see something marked "cheetah" or "leopard" it's WRONG.

this is not a jaguar, Forever21

I'm not going to feature every single species of big cat, as much as I'd love to it would just take too much time. This is just going to point out some of the cats that suffer from misidentification by the fashion industry.





THE CHEETAH

The cheetah is the fastest of the big cats, as such it is a leggy beast with deep chest and small head. Cheetahs have an extemely distinct look amongst the big cats so I really can't understand why they are the most commonly mistaken for something else.

Cheetahs also have spots that look like dots. They do not have rosettes.



THE AFRICAN LEOPARD

This African big cat is much stockier than a cheetah. Not as heavily built as a jaguar though.


The spots are large rosettes with tan centers.







THE CLOUDED LEOPARD

Smaller than the African Leopard but has the longest canine teeth in proportion to size so don't let their small stature fool you.

The pattern is a distinct cloud shaped rosette. While this cat isn't featured much in fashion it should be because it is fierce as fuck.

THE JAGUAR

This South American cat closely resembles the African leopard. It is a larger and stockier cat, however. The head and legs of the jaguar, compared to African leopard are much larger and heavier looking and offer the best way to tell the difference.

Spots, compared to an African leopard are very similar rosettes. Jaguar rosettes may be larger and have black marks in the center.


THE PANTHER

A panther is not a distinct species. It is a black color morph of a leopard, jaguar or cougar. The cat shown at left is an African leopard.

Faint rosettes may still be visible on black jaguars and leopards.


Tigers, lions, and cougars usually have it pretty easy and don't get called the wrong cat. At least there's that I guess! Hopefully now you can at the very least ID the cat on the Forever21 shirt as a cheetah.