What is the relationship between cats and tigers?

There is such a story: Once upon a time, a fierce tiger went to learn Taoism and met a cat in the mountains. The cat taught the Tao to the tiger, but the tiger hurt the cat after learning the Tao. The cat climbed up a willow tree, and the tiger tightened its fur under the tree. The cat looked up to the sky and sighed, "Don't associate with people who are unrighteous!" This story is to say that all the skills of the tiger come from the cat, but the tiger is better than the cat. However, stories are just stories. The reason why tigers in reality are stronger than cats in terms of skills and physique is the result of the development and evolution of nature.

What is the relationship between these two animals that look so similar?

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Tiger

English name: Tiger

Body length: male 189-300 cm, female 144-177 cm

Tail length: 72-109 cm

Weight: Males 100-261 kg, females 75-177 kg

Habits: A powerful predator that can subdue animals of the same size or even larger than itself. They often act alone, each tiger has its own territory, no fixed nest, and mostly wander in the mountains and forests to look for food.

Diet: The main prey are 2 to 5 common ungulates within its activity range, such as deer, cattle, sheep, etc.

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cat

English name: Cat

Body length: The average length of an adult domestic cat is 45 cm

Tail length: about 30 cm

Weight: The average weight of an adult domestic cat is 2.75 to 5.5 kg

Habits: Nocturnal animal. Agile and good at jumping. Sleepy, willful, and mysophobic.

Diet: likes to eat fish, mice, rabbits, etc. In order to maintain sharp vision at night, a large amount of taurine is needed, and mice and fish are rich in taurine.

Same family, different genus

Zoologists have found that domestic cats have 96% of the same genes as tigers, and their living habits are also very similar. In ancient times, tigers were also called "big cats" and "big insects."

Tigers and cats are both felines, and their ancestors are the proto-cats that lived 30 million years ago, also known as proto-cats. The proto-cats were about the same size as today's domestic cats. But although tigers and cats are both felines, they are in the same family but different genera. Tigers belong to the genus Panthera, subfamily Felidae, and genus Panthera, while cats belong to the genus Felis, subfamily Felidae, and genus Felis.

The skeletal structure of cats is also very similar to that of tigers. If you look at the skeleton alone, a tiger is basically an enlarged cat. Judging from the structure and dimensions of the muscle groups, if cats evolve into animals of the same size as tigers, then both are cats and both are carnivores, their strength can be said to be equal, and it may be difficult to tell who is better in a fight.

The sound is different

The calls of cats and tigers are very different, and the secret of vocalization lies in their mouths. **For animals that can roar, such as lions and tigers, their hyoid bones are not completely ossified, and are accompanied by a ligament. When the air passes through the ligament during vocalization, the ligament stretches and expands the vocal channel, making the sound deeper. Finally, with the combined action of other vocal organs, a roar is formed. This "heartfelt" roar is low but very penetrating, and animals thousands of meters away can hear it. However, many small cats, as well as animals that cannot roar, such as cheetahs and cougars, have completely ossified hyoid bones. **They cannot roar due to a variety of reasons, such as low flexibility and ductility and narrow vocal channels.

Although cats' calls are not as fierce as those of tigers, they purr from time to time, which tigers do not. This is also related to the structure of the hyoid bone. It is generally accepted that cats make "purring" sounds by using vocal cords or laryngeal muscles to alternately expand and contract the glottis quickly, causing air vibrations during inhalation and exhalation.

There are differences in organs

The pupils of tigers are round, while those of cats are oval. Their pupils can expand or shrink depending on the intensity of the ambient light, but the forms of expansion and contraction are different. The pupils of tigers are always round. They shrink into a small hole during the day to prevent glaring light from entering the eyes. At night, when you need to see objects clearly, they become larger and rounder holes to receive more light. The pupils of cats are different. When the light is bright, the pupils shrink into a narrow and vertical slit. When the light becomes dim, the pupils expand and become larger and rounder, also to receive more light.

Cats have very delicate claws. They have sharp nails on the tips of their toes, which are curved and sharp, making them convenient for hunting and climbing trees. There are thick pads on the soles of their feet, which allow them to approach prey quietly. Except for cheetahs, the nails of all cats can be retracted to prevent wear and tear and keep them sharp. Compared with cats, tigers have more distinct five toes, more hair, larger bones, and stronger attack power. The claws are proportional to their body shape. Among all cats, tigers have the largest claws. The size of the claws of different tiger species is also different. Generally, the width of the claws of adult tigers is 12 to 15 cm.

The mouths of prehistoric cats have amazing opening and closing angles. For example, in the cartoon "Ice Age", the saber-toothed tiger with two long fangs is exposed. Most saber-toothed tigers can open their jaws to more than 85 degrees, and the range of the mouth of the saber-toothed tiger when hunting can even reach 122 degrees! However, their bite force is not as good as that of today's cats, but there are similarities - the jaws can only move up and down but not left and right, which means that cats can only tear or crush their food, and cannot chew it, so a large amount of food can only be swallowed whole, relying on gastric juice to help digestion.

Quite different personality

"Cat petting" and "cat hugging" are popular entertainment activities among young people nowadays, but if you "pet a tiger", it is a very dangerous activity. All cats are natural hunters, but cats have been domesticated by humans, so they are more friendly to humans and have a gentler personality. However, when facing other small animals, such as mice, birds, and fish, some domestic cats will also show their fierce side. If you happen to encounter a snake that has just awakened from hibernation while taking a walk, you will also use a set of "cat punches" as fast as the wind to attack the other party. As a wild animal, the tiger has no experience of getting along with humans, so it behaves extremely ferociously when facing humans.

Some people may ask, as a "relative" of the tiger, why does the cat not have a place in the twelve zodiac signs? Interestingly, legend has it that the Jade Emperor originally wanted to recruit 12 animals as guards, and the cat was one of them, but it was secretly pushed down to the mortal world by the cunning mouse. The mouse not only sat on the back of the ox, but also ranked first. There is also a legend that when the twelve zodiac signs were ranked, there was no such animal as cat on the land of China. In fact, the twelve zodiac system was fully formed as early as the pre-Qin period, and cats were introduced to China from Persia through trade by merchants around the Western Han Dynasty, so the truth is that "cats came late." However, with the "family" relationship between tigers and cats, many people also call the Year of the Tiger the "Year of the Cat." From another perspective, including the tiger in the twelve zodiac signs is not only a symbol of the tiger's power, but also a symbol of the cat. In this way, cats will not have to worry about not having a "voice" at the twelve zodiac conference!

Text/ Zhang Yunzi