Six out of the ten wild cat species featured in this quiz are native to the Americas. Five out of these six species belong to the same genus, Leopardus, the American spotted cats. The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), the largest of them, is occasionally found in the southwestern US (Texas and Arizona), while it is much more common in Central and South America. The margay (Leopardus wiedii) and the oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus) both resemble the ocelot, but are smaller: the oncilla in particular is about the size of a domestic cat. They are both native to Central and South America. The kodkod (Leopardus guigna) is also a small cat that lives in the temperate rainforests of the Andean region of central and southern Chile. The habitat of the colocolo (Leopardus colocola), also known as Pampas cat, partly overlaps with that of the kodkod, though it extends further northeast (as far as Ecuador) and south (Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay).
With the exception of the ocelot, which is listed by IUCN as Least Concern, these wild cats are classified as Near Threatened or Vulnerable, as they are threatened by illegal hunting and habitat loss. The Leopardus genus also includes Geoffroy's cat, the Andean mountain cat, and the southern tigrina.
Closely related to the cougar, the jaguarundi (Herpailurus jaguarundi) is found in a wide range of habitats from northern Mexico to central Argentina. It is a medium-sized cat that looks more like a member of the weasel family (Mustelidae) than a feline, with an uniformly coloured coat, either brownish-grey or red.
The caracal (Caracal caracal) and the serval (Leptailurus serval) are closely related, medium-sized Old World cats. The serval, with its spotted and striped coat and long legs, is a native of sub-Saharan Africa, while the reddish-tan caracal - distinguished by its very long, tufted ears - is also found in parts of North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. In spite of those ears, the caracal is only distantly related to lynxes. A native of the mountain areas of Western and Central Asia, the manul, or Pallas's cat (Otocolobus manul) is a small wild cat with long, dense light grey fur, small, rounded ears, and a rather disconcertingly grumpy face.
Ounce is another common name of the snow leopard (Panthera uncia), which is by far the largest of the cat species listed in this quiz. A member of the genus Panthera, which includes most big cats, this magnificent feline with thick fur and one of the longest tails in the Felidae family is closely related to the tiger. It is native to the mountains of Central and South Asia, and classified by IUCN as Vulnerable.
Of the other non-feline mammals, three also belong to the order Carnivora (which includes the family Felidae): the coati is a relative of the raccoon (family Procyonidae), the meerkat is a mongoose (family Herpestidae), and the dhole is a wild dog (family Canidae). Three are even-toed ungulates: the babirusa is a wild pig (family Suidae), the vicuņa is a camelid (family Camelidae), and the eland is the largest antelope (family Bovidae). The nutria is a rodent (order Rodentia); the dugong is a marine mammal of the order Sirenia, related to the manatee; the quoll is a carnivorous marsupial (order Dasyuromorphia). Finally, the bonobo - once known as pygmy chimpanzee - is a great ape (family Hominidae), one of the closest relatives of humans.
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor rossian before going online.
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