Do Lions and Tigers and All the Big Cats Purr as Domestic Cats do?
Just a little searching reveals the real answer. I’m guessing that the National Wildlife Federation is a little more up on this stuff than anyone as shown here… Only the smaller cats – not just house cats, but also bobcats, ocelots, lynxes and others – have what it takes to purr. The relevant apparatus is a tightly connected linkage of delicate bones running from the back of the feline tongue up to the base of the skull. When in a purring frame of mind, a cat vibrates its larynx, which in turn sets the twiglike hyoid bones to resonating. No one is sure why cats evolved this ability, but one possibility is that a mother’s purr helps camouflage the mewling of her vulnerable nursing kittens, a sound that might otherwise alert and attract predators. All purring cats can make the distinctive sound continuously, both breathing in and breathing out. In big cats – lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars – a length of tough cartilage runs up the hyoid bones to the skull. This feature prevents purrin
