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Big Cats: Kingdom of Might
Combines photography, research, and personal observations of the worlds eight big cats.
- GenresNature
159 pages, Paperback
First published May 13, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 23, 2024
This book features some beautiful photographs, but it was initially published in 1993 and therefore much of the information is now outdated. It does not recognise the Iberian lynx as a separate species from the Eurasian lynx, for example, and lists numerous scientific names that are no longer valid (such as placing almost all the members of Felinae in the genus Felis).
There are also some straight-up errors, such as calling nimravids cats (they were a completely separate family) and pushing the debunked theory that sabre-toothed cats killed by biting the bellies of their prey. The author insists that only the young of the Panthera cats should be called cubs, and that young cheetahs, pumas and so on should be called kittens. This is incorrect – “cubs” is for all large felids, with “kittens” used for smaller species such as the ocelot, serval and so on. When talking about prey animals sometimes approaching a predator, he claims that “no-one has ever been able to explain this behaviour”, which simply isn’t true. We know why they do this – to let the predator know it’s been spotted and thus can’t launch a surprise attack.
The author is obviously passionate about his subject, but he has rather a pessimistic outlook about the future of big cats. He makes several gloomy predictions about various species becoming extinct in the wild “within the next twenty years”, which we can be glad have not come to pass!
If you love felids, I recommend this book for the pictures, but it can’t be relied on as an up-to-date source of accurate information.
There are also some straight-up errors, such as calling nimravids cats (they were a completely separate family) and pushing the debunked theory that sabre-toothed cats killed by biting the bellies of their prey. The author insists that only the young of the Panthera cats should be called cubs, and that young cheetahs, pumas and so on should be called kittens. This is incorrect – “cubs” is for all large felids, with “kittens” used for smaller species such as the ocelot, serval and so on. When talking about prey animals sometimes approaching a predator, he claims that “no-one has ever been able to explain this behaviour”, which simply isn’t true. We know why they do this – to let the predator know it’s been spotted and thus can’t launch a surprise attack.
The author is obviously passionate about his subject, but he has rather a pessimistic outlook about the future of big cats. He makes several gloomy predictions about various species becoming extinct in the wild “within the next twenty years”, which we can be glad have not come to pass!
If you love felids, I recommend this book for the pictures, but it can’t be relied on as an up-to-date source of accurate information.
December 22, 2015
Would have preferred more info on the cats' lives and less info on how endangered every species is, how people are making them become extinct, and evolution of cats. There is some nice photography and you can learn some interesting things from this book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews