What are Felids?
Felids are members of the biological family Felidae, the broader family of cats. The family includes two subfamilies, Pantherinae, also called the “big cats,” (lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards), and Felinae (cougars, cheetah, lynxes, the caracal, and the familiar Domestic Cat). Felids evolved during the Oligocene, approximately 25 million years ago. Up until just about 10,000 years ago, there was another subfamily of cats, the Machairodontinae, which included the famous saber-toothed cats, but they were probably driven to extinction by humans. Today, there are 40 species of felids, all thought to have descended from a common ancestor that lived about 10.8 million years ago. This group evolved in Asia and spread throughout the world via land bridges. At least 10 distinction migrations occurred. Like many taxa of placental mammals, the natural range of felids includes all continents except for Australia and Antarctica. Felids are usually not found in small islands far from the coast unle
