Leopard Classification

Leopards belong to a big cat family which also includes tigers, lions, and jaguars. These big cats share many similarities in appearance and behavior. Only these four types of big cats can roar. All other cats, such as bobcats, lynxes, house cats, and cheetahs, can purr, but cannot roar. It is believed that these four big cats evolved from a common ancestor about three to four million years ago. Some people also include the cheetah, snow leopard, clouded leopard, and cougar in the big cat family. As a matter of fact, the cougar is larger than the leopard. The roaring cats are also called “great cats” to distinguish them from other big cats.

Snow leopards and clouded leopards are completely different species from true leopards even if both of them have “leopard” in their names. Studies show that snow leopards are the most closely related to the leopard even if they cannot roar like other great cats. The clouded leopard and cheetah, sometimes called the hunting leopard, are distantly related to the leopard. All these cats are members of the cat, or feline, family, which also includes house cats.

For scientific classification of leopard, see leopard taxonomy.