The cheetah has a slender, long-legged body built for speed. The fastest of all land animals, cheetahs can run up to 70 miles per hour in pursuit of their prey. A cheetah's maximum stride length is around twenty-two feet, with almost half of that distance traveled fully airborne! The cheetah uses vast amounts of energy chasing its prey and is susceptible to having its meal stolen by animals such as the leopard and hyena as it is not a good fighter. Once found throughout Africa and Asia, the cheetah has been sharply reduced through hunting and habitat destruction to sub-Saharan Africa with a small population in Iran. Only around 12,000 cheetahs are left in all of Africa, and another 200 left in Iran. Cheetahs have been around for at least three million years, before any of the other cats. Many people are working hard to see that they don't disappear altogether.

The Canada lynx is found throughout Canada and in the northernmost regions of the United States. They have long legs, a short body and huge "snowshoe" feet to help them walk in the snow. Their most recognizable feature is the pointed tufts of hair at the tops of their ears. The lynx has a reputation as a shy, retiring creature that avoids humans at all costs. This is not surprising, as it is still legal to hunt the lynx for its fur. The Canada lynx exists almost entirely on the snowshoe hare, so their populations fluctuate markedly with that of their prey species. They are the only large predator evolved to move through the snow, so they have very little competition. That's a good thing for them because they're very slow for a cat!

The Siberian lynx is nearly twice as large as its relative, the Canada lynx, with females weighing up to 50 pounds and males weighing up to 84 pounds. They live in Scandinavia and throughout the northern reaches of Russia. They prefer a forested habitat of dense undergrowth and cover. Being large cats, they can go after game as large as deer, although they also eat mice, rabbits, birds and other small animals. Siberian Lynxes are solitary animals which only come together to mate. They are still legally hunted for their beautiful spotted furs. The hunting of all other spotted cats was banned in 1975.

The bobcat is native only to North America and is at home in many habitats from Florida to southern Canada. It has a reputation as a fierce fighter and a rowdy, aggressive animal, having evolved among the competition of wolves, coyotes and bears. Experts estimate that between 700,000 and 1.5 million bobcats range through the Untied States alone. It is still legal to hunt the bobcat in most states. This currently seems to have little effect on their population.

The caracal, or desert lynx, is a creature of the wide-open African savanna which also frequents scattered woodlands. They weigh between 20 and 40 pounds and are between 24 and 30 inches long, excluding the tail. They range across the African savanna belt and as far as the Middle East and sand dune regions of southern Iran. In India, where caracals once sat at the feet of princes, only scant numbers remain. Caracals are swift, powerful cats which can kill prey up to twice their body size, such as the 70-pound reedbuck. They also often feed on small prey, which they kill with repeated whackings with their deadly paws. The caracal is thought to be the fastest of the small cats.

The least known of all the big cats, the snow leopard lives high in the mountains of central Asia. These solitary cats prowl craggy mountain slopes just above the tree line, relying on their heavy coat to protect them from the severe Himalayan winters. The average male is 4 to 5 feet in length, with a tail as long as 3 feet. Snow leopards primarily hunt in the mornings and evenings, but are active all day. They hunt animals varied in size from small mice to large sheep that may take them a week to eat. Snow leopards are uncommon and rarely seen in their extreme habitats. Even so, they are hunted to satisfy illegal demand for their pelts which demand a high price on the international black market.

The leopard is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. It is the most adaptable and widely distributed of all the big cats. They have beautiful spotted coats -- even black leopards (also called black panthers) have spots, although they are difficult to see. The black leopard is the same species as the normal golden-colored leopard, differing only in the gene for melanism, or black coloration. Leopards hunt alone at night, stalking their prey until it is close enough to pounce. While they mostly hunt small animals such as monkeys, birds, etc., they can and do kill prey as large as antelope and young zebras. They are known to hide their kill by dragging it up into a tree to prevent it from being "stolen" by other animals such as lions. The leopard is still illegally hunted for its beautiful skin, although its wide range and adaptability has kept the world number of leopards over an estimated 100,000.