Big Cats Are Not Pets!

Big Cats Are Not Pets! — page 1 — Big Cats big cat CUBS Big cat cubs begin life small but grow very quickly for example a lion cub weighs about 2 pounds 0 9 kg at birth it weighs about 100 pounds 45 kg when it’s a year old fully grown though it may be about 30 times the size of a house cat 4 If you visit the zoo you may see big cats such as lions and tigers They can be very cute especially when they’re young You might even wish you could have one for a pet You may dream of cuddling with a tiger cub or riding it around when it’s full grown You may picture yourself training a huge lion you’ve cared for since it was born In the safety of your imagination having a big cat as a pet is fun Real life is quite different though Big cats are wild and dangerous no matter how fuzzy and fun they may look What are

Big Cats Are Not Pets! — page 2 — By the time these cubs are 12 weeks old they’ll be big enough to be dangerous This girl is petting them under the close watch of a zoo official They could still hurt her 5

Big Cats Are Not Pets! — page 3 — Mountain lions aren’t lions They’re cougars They may also be called pumas or catamounts 6

Big Cats Are Not Pets! — page 4 — cat CoUSinS Studies have found proof that big cats are related to each other for You may call your house cat a big cat While your cat may be large it’s not really a big cat The wild animals we call big cats include tigers lions jaguars and leopards Some scientists include the smaller cheetahs and cougars as well example the tiger and snow leopard are sister species This means they were the same species in the recent past The lion leopard and jaguar are also closely related but became different species much longer ago Fossils prove big cats have existed for millions of years Over much time big cats living in different places changed in body and habits For example there are some differences between the lions that live in Africa and those that live in India Therefore these two groups are called African lions and Asiatic lions They’re still the same species though snow leopard 7

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