Printable big cat worksheets

Worksheet 1: Which big cat am I?

Name:

Read each clue. Write lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, cheetah or snow leopard.

1. I have stripes, and no two of us have the same pattern. I live in Asia.
2. I am the only big cat in the Americas. My big rosettes have dots inside.
3. I live in high mountains and have a very long, thick tail. I cannot roar.
4. I am the fastest land animal. I have black tear marks on my face.
5. I live in a group called a pride.
6. I often carry my food up a tree. My small rosettes are usually empty.

Check your answers with the big cat ID guide.

Worksheet 2: Big cat habitat match

Name:

Draw a line from each big cat to a place where it lives in the wild.

Bonus: Which continent has no wild big cats today: Africa, Asia or Australia?

Worksheet 3: Cheetah speed math

Name:

Scientists in Botswana put GPS collars on wild cheetahs. The fastest run they measured was 25.9 metres per second, about 93 kilometres per hour. The average top speed of a run was 14.9 metres per second, about 54 km/h. Cheetah chases seldom go further than about 300 m.

1. Round 25.9 m/s to the nearest whole number.
2. How much faster is 93 km/h than 54 km/h?
3. A cheetah runs at 25 m/s. How many metres does it cover in 4 seconds?
4. At 25 m/s, how many seconds would a 300 m chase take?
5. A cheetah's stride can be about 7 m long. About how many strides is a 70 m dash?
6. Most hunts are run well below top speed. From the article, give one reason why.

Source: Wilson et al. (2013), Nature, summarised in how fast is a cheetah?

Worksheet 4: Reading the research on lion prides (grades 9 to 12)

Name:

Read why do lions live in prides? and, if you can, the abstracts of the three papers it cites. Then answer.

1. State the "hunting hypothesis" for why lions live in groups in one sentence.
2. Packer, Scheel and Pusey (1990) found two group sizes gave the best foraging success when prey was scarce. What were they, and why does that weaken the hunting hypothesis?
3. Give two other benefits of group living supported by the evidence.
4. Heinsohn and Packer (1995) used playback experiments. What is a playback experiment and what did it reveal about cooperation?
5. How does the 1991 DNA study help explain why female lions cooperate?
6. Claim, evidence, reasoning: write a short paragraph on the main reason lions live in prides.

Aligned to NGSS HS-LS2-8.