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Big cat glossary
Definitions of the terms you will meet when reading about big cats, from pride and rosette to IUCN Red List categories and CITES appendices.
- Apex predator
- A predator at the top of its food chain with no natural predators as a healthy adult.
- Bharal
- Also called blue sheep; a wild mountain sheep that is a key prey of snow leopards.
- Camera trap
- A remote camera triggered by movement. Because tiger stripes and leopard rosettes are unique, camera trap photos can identify individuals for population counts.
- Capture recapture
- A survey method that estimates population size from how often known individuals are detected again, widely used with camera traps.
- CITES
- The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Appendix I bans international commercial trade; Appendix II allows regulated trade.
- Coalition
- A group of male lions or cheetahs, often brothers, that live and defend territory together.
- Crepuscular
- Most active at dawn and dusk.
- Felid
- Any member of the cat family, Felidae.
- Flehmen response
- A lip curling grimace that draws scent towards the vomeronasal (Jacobson's) organ in the roof of the mouth.
- Green Status of Species
- An IUCN assessment that measures how far a species is from full recovery and how much conservation has helped. The tiger was rated Critically Depleted in 2025.
- Home range
- The whole area an animal uses in its normal activities. Compare territory.
- Human wildlife conflict
- Situations where wildlife and people come into conflict, for example big cats killing livestock and people killing cats in retaliation.
- IUCN Red List
- The global list of species' extinction risk. Categories include Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild and Extinct.
- Mature individuals
- Adults capable of breeding. Red List population figures often count only these, so they are lower than total counts.
- Melanism
- A genetic variation causing very dark fur. Melanistic leopards and jaguars are called black panthers.
- Panthera
- The genus of roaring cats: lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar and snow leopard.
- Pride
- A lion social group of related females, their cubs and one or more resident males.
- Prey base
- The wild animals available for a predator to eat in an area.
- Rosette
- A rose shaped cluster of dark spots, typical of leopards, jaguars and snow leopards.
- Scrape
- A mark made by scraping the ground with the hind feet, often with urine or scent, to signal presence.
- Semi retractable claws
- Claws that cannot be fully pulled in, as in the cheetah, giving extra grip when running.
- Stalk and ambush
- Hunting by creeping close under cover and then attacking with a short rush.
- Subspecies
- A distinct population within a species, often geographically separate. Tiger and leopard subspecies are under active scientific review.
- Territory
- The part of a home range that an animal actively defends against others of its kind.
- Ungulate
- A hoofed mammal, such as deer, antelope, wild pig or buffalo. Ungulates are the main prey of most big cats.
- Wildlife corridor
- A strip of habitat that links populations so animals can move and breed between them.
Sources
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group: Lion
- IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group: Tiger
Figures are rounded summaries of the sources above. Wild populations are hard to count, so estimates change as new surveys are published.