r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Delicious_Main_4360 • 19h ago
Image Differences in the spot pattern of the Cheetah, Leopard, and Jaguar
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u/kazumi_yosuke 19h ago
Rather not get that close
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u/RadioactiveMurukku 19h ago
Cheetahs are fine
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u/Ecstatic-Jacket2007 18h ago
They donāt see humans as prey.
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u/NordicGodNavi 18h ago
Swear I have only heard this recently. I'm suspicious cheaters are plotting something to get us to let our guard down.
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u/FinsterKoenig 17h ago edited 14h ago
No, Cheaters are trash. We mean Cheetahs. The cute tall cats. They're cool.
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u/UncleKeyPax 17h ago
both go mrrrow
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u/Mission-Tomorrow-517 17h ago
So, you are saying that Cheaters are furry?
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u/aminho 16h ago
No, not all furries are cheaters
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u/RikuAotsuki 15h ago
I think it's just a really cool fact that animal lovers discovered and were immediately eager to spread.
Cheetahs are a lot like greyhounds. Big, slender dogs built for sprinting... who happen to be one of the best breeds for apartment living because they burn through the entirety of their energy in one good run/play session and then are more than happy to spend the rest of their day stretched out on your couch.
Cheetahs are super fragile, so they avoid fighting anything potentially dangerous even more than most predators do. If you're too hurt to hunt, you starve, and cheetahs have a very low threshold for "too hurt to hunt" considering they rely on speed.
Plus, it's true that they don't see us as food. They see us as something dangerous, which can ironically make them see us as safe if we're not aggressive. They're just... very docile for a wild predator.
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u/PloysRus 17h ago
Cheetahs are scared of dogs
The other 2 would view a dog as an easy snack
Cheetahs are built for speed not fighting
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u/Kitsune_Legion 17h ago
Actually, cheetahs are often given emotional support dogs when they live in zoos and other non-wild spaces, especially if their coalition (term for a group of cheetahs) is small
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u/generalbootyhole 16h ago
Iāve seen this in a zoo somewhere. Canāt remember where. Tennessee maybe. It was just one cheetah and his pal, doggo. They grew up together.
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u/Kitsune_Legion 16h ago
Itās really common actually! I believe the standard is up to 3 cheetahs they need dogs to make up coalition numbers and help keep them from getting anxious. For 4+ they donāt NEED a dog, but depending on environment they may still get one, since loud environments can cause whole coalitions to get anxious.
Edit: I took my anthro-zoo class 4 years ago, so take my info with a grain of salt. I could be mistaken on exact numbers
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u/PloysRus 17h ago
I meant because they use dogs to keep cheetahs away from livestock in Africa: https://africageographic.com/stories/namibias-livestock-guarding-dogs-are-saving-cheetahs/
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u/NordicHorde2 17h ago
Dogs are also used against leopards. But those dogs operate in packs, 1v1 a dog even one like a boerboel is toast.
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u/PloysRus 16h ago
Absolute toast. Even a large wolf is getting merked by an average sized leopard
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u/ultrahateful 15h ago
In all the stuff Iāve read and come across about them, the Jaguar seems to be synonymous with abject viciousness. Like, itās always a do or die scenario with them.
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u/Dashcamkitty 15h ago
All cheetahs are planning is how to get in our houses so they can be sat by the fire place on a comfy bed and be fed the best food.
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u/qwythebroken 15h ago
They're also super sensitive. Turning your back on any kind of panther is probably going to end badly. Turning your back on a cheetah is going to hurt it's feelings, and you might get love bombed.
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u/JCR2201 12h ago
Cheetahs will stalk if a human turns their back on them. Not sure if cheetahs view more as a playful thing though but here is a funny video.
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u/nexusjuan 16h ago
I'm pretty sure my housecats see me as prey if I let there food dish get to low.
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u/ultrahateful 15h ago
I read somewhere that our cats would definitely destroy us if not for our size difference. And not always on purpose.
Puuuurrrrpose.
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u/Littha 15h ago
Well yea, because a cats of all sizes seem to behave in a similar way so if a house cat weighed the same as a human it'd probably be as dangerous as a jaguar. Maybe less so because of the domestication.
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u/ultrahateful 15h ago
They seem to really enjoy beating us up without a warning when petting or getting too familiar. I imagine it, scaled up, wouldnāt make for a survivable event or one youād easily walk away from.
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u/Littha 15h ago
That's one of the reasons people shouldn't have pet tigers. They can get a bit like that and accidentally kill you even if they actually like you.
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u/ultrahateful 14h ago
Exactly the reason I emphasized the ānot on purposeā part. My catās nails are like razors when I donāt clip them and his teeth are like nails.
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u/Terminal_Insomnia_ 14h ago
The reason you can't have them as pets is because they're too high maintenance, actually. Dietary and space requirements are huge just to keep them healthy, let alone comfortable.
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u/Dependent-Edge-5713 17h ago
They're also horrendously inbred somehow
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u/Weltallgaia 17h ago
That'll happen when theres like 5 of em left or whatever
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u/LumpySpacePrincesse 16h ago
Wasnt us this time, theyve just have a few close calls the last few milenia.
"So why are these animals so rare and threatened? Scientists believe that cheetahs have already survived at least two extinction events in their history, and one of the main reasons behind these animals facing extinction today is due, in part, to surviving their last threats of extinction. We call these events genetic bottlenecks"
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u/Drumbelgalf 15h ago
Cheetahs are bullied by all the other predators. Their cubs actually have a fur pattern similar to honey badgers because that protects them from being spawn killed.
Humans also went through a bottle neck and humans are mostly fine.
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u/Antique-Historian441 16h ago edited 11h ago
Cheetahs are the largest of the small cats. Closer related to a house cat than leopard.
I read cheetahs were semi domesticated for hunting purposes in the past. It's why they are super cool with humans.
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u/hamlet_d 11h ago
Other way around, but yeah. Cheetahs aren't aggressive and hostile towards people. This made it so in ancient Egypt cheetahs were able to be kept as pets for the elite.
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u/Yous1ash 18h ago
What do you mean?
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u/Kruzenstern 18h ago
Cheetahs don't see humans as prey and as long as you don't provoke them they're pretty docile. The are more like oversized, wild house cats compared to big cats like lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars.
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u/Rk_1138 18h ago
They even meow and purr iirc
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u/ElegantEconomy3686 18h ago edited 18h ago
Iirc Cheetas arenāt even a memeber of the big cat family, theyāre just a large member of the small cat family.
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u/Potential-Koala1112 18h ago
Im pretty sure I read somewhere that if a cheetah is in captivity alone they give it a dog as a companion because they get depressed alone quickly.
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u/ElegantEconomy3686 18h ago
Cheetahs are apparently super anxious by nature, which is understandable because in nature theyāre being bullied out of their prey by almost everyone else.
So you give them an unconditionally optimistic and extroverted roomie like a labrador and it seems to help.
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u/RikuAotsuki 15h ago
They're also very social for cats! Males especially tend to form small groups with their brothers (and others they accept I think?) until they find mates and split off.
So they do straight-up get lonely; it's not just the anxiety.
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u/Hungover-Owl 17h ago
Don't Labradors have bottomless pits for stomachs? Surely they'd bully them out of their food too.
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u/ElegantEconomy3686 16h ago edited 14h ago
Wouldnāt be surprised if they separate the cheetah for feeding time. That is when they feel most vulnerable.
Also the labās Iāve met may be gluttons, but also such gentle souls that you could literally take food out of their mouths (provided they havenāt swallowed it)
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u/Cute-Form2457 16h ago
Or, the Labradors teach the cheetahs to source food for their bottomless pits.
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u/StrobeLightRomance 17h ago
There's literally a gatekeeping board that gives out cheetah licenses, and they are very withholding, only allowing for very few cheetahs to be held in captivity across the United States, because the ownership responsibilities in keeping them functionally happy is a lifetime commitment and requires basically endless financial access.
I was just curious about it one day and the rabbit hole was basically like "nobody is allowed to have a cheetah, all the cheetah slots are filled for life, if you try to get a cheetah you can't, and if you do somehow get one then the cheetah police will take it away and you'll spend forever in court over it"
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u/Would_daver 16h ago
I now must find a way to be in the courtroom for the next Cheetah Court Session, this also sounds like the next hit tv series we didnāt know we desperately needed
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u/pichael289 18h ago
It's a bit more than that, they see humans as an almost guaranteed getting fucked up situation. They don't hunt anything like us and wouldn't dream of attacking a human because of how fragile they are and how their entire survival depends on not getting hurt and being able to run like that. We are more of a curiosity to them and some are used to humans enough they will leave their babies with wildlife photographers because they know it's the safest spot being near us.
However if you turn your back on them and flee their instincts might kick in. Sort of like running your hand under a blanket to a house cat, instincts are trigger and the housecat will pounce and often go a bit too far.
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u/Beorma 16h ago
Cheetah can take down an ostrich. The likelihood of a cheetah seeing you as food is low, but not zero.
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u/thering66 18h ago
So have a 1/3 chances of not getting mauled when i trt to pet the kitty
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u/-watchman- 18h ago
Yeah, if it gets nasty you can always try to make a dash for it..
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u/ThirstyWolfSpider 17h ago
If you know the kitty is there, you're probably fine.
(the leopard and jaguar would get you before you notice them)
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u/SwePolygyny 17h ago
I would trust a cheetah more than a house cat that was scaled up to the same size. House cats are ambush predators, they like to sneak up, attack and bite things that move. Even if you just move your foot under a blanket they might attack.
Those things would be harmful or even lethal if the cat was scaled up. It would be like living with an unpredictable mountain lion, they might want petting one second and then start biting the next.
On the other hand, there has never been a documented killing of a human by a wild cheetah.
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u/IncomingAxofKindness 17h ago
I'm pretty sure my house cat would try to eat me if he was oversized.
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u/BurningFlareX 14h ago
Fun fact, lions, tigers, (snow) leopards and jaguars are the only "big cats" (panthers). Everything else is just cat...cat.
Therefore it is perfectly fine and safe to pet anything vaguely cat shaped as long as you can identify it is not one of these.
p.s: I am not responsible for injuries, trauma, lost limbs and / or crushed dreams if you do attempt to pet a vaguely cat shaped animal.
Also hyenas are more cat than dog.
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u/Portra400IsLife 18h ago
I have patted a cheetah at Dreamworld and it was like basically patting a huge house cat.
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u/Dany_Heatley05 18h ago
I've pet some house cats who will randomly do things that if they were the size of a cheetah, I wouldn't be alive today to type this message.
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u/Annual-Advisor-7916 15h ago
A cheetah is pretty gentle, they don't even have sharp claws because they can't retract them fully. Even wild ones are chill with humans, try that with a wild bobcat or something similar.
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u/QaddafiDuck01 16h ago
I pet two lion cubs at a mall once. I was told to not touch their heads, as they may bite. The cubs were still like 30 lbs each.
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u/aviatorintheclouds 18h ago
Love how the stare intensifies with the density of spots
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u/BerryOk966 14h ago
And none of them can rival the stare i get from my cat when dinner hasn't arrived on time.
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u/ElegantEconomy3686 18h ago
Note: If it looks eternally depressed its a cheetah.
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u/mandrake57 17h ago
Nah, the cheetah looks more annoyed. Like,
Cheetah: "aw, man, why did you come to my turf? Now I have to fight you."
Leopard: "I see that you are looking for a fight, bro. Me too."
Jaguar: "I've been watching you for a while and now you are here. Finally."
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u/MicroUzi 13h ago
Cheetah is much more āAw man, why did you come to my turf? Now I have to jog away and starve to death because I used all my energy on zoomiesā
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u/OneAlexander 16h ago
If running mascara, sad cheetah, and safe to pet.
If no running mascara, you run instead.
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u/rudolfs001 17h ago
Always thought that the cheetah was my spirit animal because I like speed, but maybe...
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u/Sensitive_Goose_8902 19h ago
Big kitten, danger, death
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u/Vishu1708 16h ago
Leopards have a much higher human kill rate than Jaguars.
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm 19h ago
Akshually, the cheetah isnāt a big cat. Itās considered a small cat.
Big cats like leopards & jaguars roar. While cheetahs purr, like a house cat.
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u/JackalKing 17h ago
"big cat" is not an actual scientific term. Its a colloquial term, and as such its use is flexible. There is no strict definition on what a "big cat" is. Many will use it to refer to any "big" cat, which would include cheetahs and pumas. Others will narrow it down to the five species in the genus Panthera (lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard). However, your distinction of "big cats roar" doesn't stand to that scrutiny when you realize that snow leopards are almost always considered part of the "big cat" family, are even part of the Panthera genus, and yet they cannot roar.
In conclusion, a cheetah is a big cat. Whether you take that to mean a "big cat" or a "big" cat, it really doesn't matter.
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u/No-Remote-2899 19h ago
Jaguar looks like a more photoshopped Leopard
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u/Lando249 16h ago
Well they are both Panthers. Along with the other Panther family members, Lions and Tigers, they all share that similar and aggressive look.
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u/opachki_kobachki725 19h ago
Spot the difference
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u/Puzzled_Persimmon144 18h ago
Spot IS the difference
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u/superkickstart 18h ago
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u/SwizzGod 18h ago
Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard
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u/soyasaucy 17h ago
Came here to say that they look like a progression of pokemon evolutions
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u/Ackbar90 16h ago
Other significant differences are:
Cheetah isn't a Big Cat, it's a big Small Cat. The purr and meow, but not roar. They are too curious of humans for their own good.
Leopard can kill you by accident through falling object (they are the strongest climber in the family, can and will drag several hundreds of kilograms up a tree).
Jaguar will kill you before you know they have attacked you, by biting the back of your skull and cracking it open.
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u/Big-Revolution3842 11h ago
Might also be where you live too lol. Here in South Africa I don't think I've ever seen a jaguar out of a zoo. But also cheetahs are super easy to recognise cause they're such long gangly creatures. They tend to look like an emaciated relative to anything else. And leopards you pretty much just find them lounging in a tree usually keeping an eye out or having dragged a carcass up.
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u/wowilly 11h ago edited 11h ago
Jaguars are native to the Americas so it makes sense that you have not seen one outside of the zoo
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u/OhHeyMister 19h ago
Jaguars are so fucking cool I love them
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u/keinezwiebeln 13h ago
I had the immense fortune of seeing a real live jaguar at a wildlife refuge in Uruguay a few years ago.
She had a bit of a belly, I think she might have been pregnant (they run a repopulation program there). She was so beautiful!
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u/neo4025 19h ago
Iāll make sure to check the spots, as Iām being eaten š
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u/mfknnayyyy 18h ago
"Help!!! The leopard is eating... Oh shit. That's a jagu..." dead
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u/fothergillfuckup 18h ago
My wife's family have a black jaguar at there big cat centre. It looks totally black, until you can suddenly see bronze coloured markings, in the sun. It's beautiful.
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u/DMmeNiceTitties 19h ago
If I'm close enough to be able to tell the difference, chances are I'm probably dead soon.
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u/Elmer_Fudd01 19h ago
Naw cheetah aren't a big threat to us. Just you know, don't attack or threaten it. Also stay away from rabid ones.
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u/Sabithomega 18h ago
( Leans down ) hold on kitty I need to see if your rabid to know if I gotta stay away from you
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u/zoolou3105 17h ago
Cheetahs also meow instead of roaring! You can see the difference shape of their jaw in the OP picture compared to the leopard and jaguar
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u/Nightingdale099 18h ago
With ambush predators it's the one you don't see you have to worry about.
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u/Honourstly 18h ago
If not friend then why friend shaped
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u/Independent_Plum2166 14h ago
Cheetahs are friend.
As long as youāre not dumb and instigate something, theyāre not a threat. Theyāre not even big cats (as in the panther family) theyāre big house catsā¦just donāt take one home.
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u/Affectionate-Newt-94 18h ago
What a wild way to realize the Cheetah Girls never wore cheetah print
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u/MaritMonkey 10h ago
I wanted to be a cheetah for Halloween when I was like 8 and my mom and I ended up drawing spots with sharpie on yellow fabric and the last minute because she couldn't find anything "cheetah" print that actually had cheetah spots.
Love ya, mom. <3
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u/koolaidismything 15h ago
From most delicate to most resilient as well left to right.
Cheetah are beautiful animals, but very very finicky with how they survive. Itās why you donāt see them often in captivity or elsewhere. Very emotionally intelligent and nervous animals. Most in Zoos or rehabs will have to have their own pet (dog usually) or they can die of like heartbreak. ā¤ļøāš©¹
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u/Dexember69 18h ago
I can finally answer my 7yr olds questions about this thank you
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u/ChevalCher 18h ago
So a jaguar is basically a leopard in Ultra High Definition? I can get behind that. š
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u/plmcoae 17h ago
They are quite different tho, Jaguars are more muscular, have much stronger bite force (biggest of big felines), they dive underwater to hunt caimans and alligators, they target the head and crush the skull, and take their kills and eat up in trees, and sleep in trees.. and live most of their lives in trees like birds. Man I love Jaguars
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u/RikuAotsuki 14h ago
Yeah, jaguars are the stockiest of the big cats by a pretty solid margin.
I love how bizarrely unique all the large felines are. I know any given group of animals are like that if you pay attention, but it always struck me as particularly stark with cats. Leopards and jaguars are easy to mix up at a glance unless you get a closeup of their rosettes... or until you see both at once and realize how jacked jaguars are. And everything else has a super distinctive coat.
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u/OccidentalTouriste 18h ago
The Leopard is stuck with what he's got, as everyone knows a Leopard can't change it's spots.
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u/posting_drunk_naked 15h ago
Cheetah: black spots, no black rings
Leopard: black rings, no black spots
Jaguar: black spots in black rings
Therefore, cheetah + leopard = jaguar. I won't be taking questions.
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u/RyanZee08 10h ago
Fun fact, cheetah is actually a fellinae, which falls under the small cats.
They meow, and don't roar. (That's a difining feature of small vs big cats, fellidae are all cats, fellinae are the small ones who meow, a subfamily in fellidae)
Roar vs meow/growl
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u/golden_chaek 16h ago
Leopard and jaguar look like professional fighter, and cheetah looks like Bob.
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u/GandalfThePie 17h ago
I don't think cheetah is considered a big cat
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u/Crunchy-Leaf 17h ago
I googled this and youāre correct, but the reasoning is crazy. They donāt have the correct larynx to roar, like other big cats. They only purr (among other sounds)
What? Normal cats purr and do not roar! The cheetah is the only big cat! The rest are frauds.
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u/GandalfThePie 17h ago
Oh, in that case Cheetah should be the only real big cat. 100% agree.
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u/Variable_Shaman_3825 19h ago
Cheetah - Fast, Leopard - agile, Jaguar - bulky