Big Cats
Here we have the king of the jungle in the African plains. The lion is the second biggest cat in the world after the tiger. Female lions called lionesses tend to do most of the hunting, then let the male lions feed first, then the lionesses and the cubs eat whatever is left. Lions eat antelope, gazelles, springbok, buffalo, wildebeest, and their favourite food, zebras. They rarely attack humans, but have a reputation for being man-eaters in the past such as the famous Tsavo lions which killed Indian railway workers in Kenya in 1898. They are the only cats to have a mane on a male and live in a group called a pride.
Here is the national big cat of Asia and is the biggest cat in the world. Tigers are found in India, Bangladesh, Sumatra and southern China. The biggest of the species live in Siberia, in eastern Russia. They are strong killers, which kill to a bite to the throat and feed on boar, fallow and Sambar deer, wild pigs and elk. However, these wonderful cats are so endangered due to habitat loss and poaching for their beautiful skin. They are also hunted for their bones in Chinese medicine to cure diseases, such as arthritis. Even the Bali, Javan and Caspian Tiger are extinct, because of constant hunting.
Jaguars are the third biggest cat in the world and the biggest cat in the Americas. They are found in the Amazon Rainforest, Brazil in South America where they hunt turtles, peccaries, wild pigs, tapirs and even caimans. They kill their prey with a bite to the head crushing their skull. They are often mistook for leopards (below), but being smaller.
Leopards are another one of the strongest big cat hunters. When they kill their prey they feed on it, then they store it up a tree to protect it from birds of prey, such as vultures, jackals, painted dogs, lions, hyenas and other leopards and store it for later. They mostly feed on gazelle, springbok and impala.
There are candidates for the world's fastest animal. Despite this fact the cheetah is the fastest land mammal. They are fast hunters and run at speeds faster than the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt. They catch impala, gazelles and wildebeest fawns in the African Plains. There are about 7 subspecies of the cheetah.