Wild Cats of the World in Photos

One photo per species, each cat seen in the wild or in a natural setting, from the tiger and lion down to cats that weigh less than a house cat. The big cats come first, then the lynxes, then the small cats of Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Each caption says what the cat is doing, where the species lives and the detail that tells it apart from its relatives, so the gallery doubles as a field guide to spotted coats, tufted ears and banded tails. Domestic breeds and captive show animals are left out. Science recognizes about 40 wild cat species. Some rarely photographed ones, such as the sand cat, the black-footed cat and Geoffroy's cat, are missing for now because no large, sharp photo of them in a natural setting could be found.