The Largest of the Small Cats

Animals adapt and evolve so that they may survive in their environment.

Due to the rich diversity of topography and climate in the Americas, a wide variety of species in the genus Fells has developed there.

The largest of the small cats, the puma, has been successful throughout all the Americas, while the medium-sized lynx and bobcat found a niche in North America their future is not certain.

In South America, a number of smaller cats evolved. Many of these are similar in size and appearance to the domestic cat, but they are intrinsically wild. None is potentially tamable as the ancestors of the domestic cat.
 
Evolving cat populations became separated when continental drift created landmasses that were surrounded by ocean.

Because this effectively halted the spread of animals to some areas of the world, regions such as Madagascar and Australia have no indigenous cats. The Americas have only one big cat, the jaguar, but a diverse range of small cats in the genus Felis evolved.

Scientists think that many of these cats developed in North America and then migrated south when continental movement brought South America back into contact with North America. In South America, cats successfully diversified into the variety of species that exist today.

The domestic cat's American relatives are of similar size but of shy temperament. Few have been studied in any detail, and very little is known of their biology or social behavior.

Many of these small cats prefer to live in dense underbrush or in trees, where they hunt at night, and these habits make them far more difficult to observe than cats that live on open plains and hunt by day.

Genetic tests of these American small cats have not been performed, but it is very probable that many are closely related to each other.

The ocelot, margay tiger cat, kodkod, and Geoffroy's cat are now all thought to be strains of the species. The bobcat and lynx are often classified as another single species.