Where do big cats live? Habitats and range by species

Which big cats live on each continent?

What habitats do big cats use?

Savanna and grassland. The classic home of lions and cheetahs in eastern and southern Africa, shared with leopards wherever there is cover such as riverine trees and rocky outcrops.

Tropical forest. Jaguars in the Amazon, leopards in Central African rainforest and tigers in South and Southeast Asian forests.

Wetlands and mangroves. Jaguars thrive in the seasonally flooded Pantanal and along Amazon rivers; tigers live in the Sundarbans mangroves of India and Bangladesh.

Temperate forest. Amur tigers and Amur leopards live in snowy mixed forests of the Russian Far East and northeastern China.

Desert and semi desert. Cheetahs survive at very low densities in the Sahara, and leopards persist in arid mountains of Arabia and southwest Asia.

High mountains. Snow leopards live on rugged slopes, cliffs and alpine meadows, typically at 3,000 to 5,000 m.

How high do big cats live?

• Snow leopards typically 3,000 to 5,000 m, occasionally above 5,500 m in the Himalayas, but as low as 600 to 2,500 m at the northern edge of their range.
• Leopards have been recorded up to 5,200 m in the Himalayas and 4,600 m on Mount Kenya.
• Lions have been recorded up to 4,240 m in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains.
• Cheetahs have been recorded up to 4,000 m on Mount Kenya.
• Jaguars are mostly below 1,000 m, but have been reported up to 3,800 m.

Where do big cats share territory?

In much of eastern and southern Africa, lions, leopards and cheetahs live side by side. Lions are dominant: they steal kills and kill cubs of the other two, so leopards cache food in trees and cheetahs hunt by day and often do best where lions are scarce, including on farmland. In parts of India and Nepal, tigers and leopards share forests, with leopards tending to use edges and areas near villages. In the Himalayas, leopards and snow leopards can meet where forests give way to open alpine slopes.

How much of their range have big cats lost?

All six species occupy only part of their former ranges. Less than 7 percent of the tiger's original range remains; lions held about 6 percent of their historical range in 2025; and cheetahs are confined to around 9 percent of theirs. Leopard range shrank by 11 percent between 2016 and 2023 alone. Read big cat conservation for the causes.