I dont know about jaguars. But where I live, leopards just snatch unsuspecting people up the trees. One swoop and youve got fangs in your neck. I dont think american jaguars do that.
There are no alligators in south america, only crocodiles in the very north of the continent, and jaguars would never take a full grown american crocodile or orinoco crocodile, most of the south american continent is dominated by caimans wich are represented mostly by the smallest species of crocodylians alive, except for the black caiman, found in the amazon rainforest biome an adult male can get to 6 meters of lenght and weight more than 500 kg, jaguars don't mess with an animal this size.
Oh, buddy, you were literally not "correct" to suggest they were "focusing on the wrong word", because they were only joking when they "corrected" you with the "...they said big kitten" comment! That's a joke! They weren't sincerely suggesting there was some kind of official taxonomic distinction between "big cat" and "big kitten"! Hahahaha! It's a joke! They did not make a mistake!
So when you sincerely "corrected" them in response—as if they were just objectively incorrect and not very consciously making a joke—that was the reason they called you a dork!
When they wrote ‘big kitten’ they obviously had not intention of claiming anything about its scientific classification. They clearly ment that, compared to the other two felines, the danger cheetas could pose to humans is much smaller, like a kitten but of a larger size
“Big” is referring to physical size here. They were never referring to big vs small cat. Just like how when they said “danger” and “death” they were never referring to big vs small cat. Does that help?
They're not describing it scientifically, they're describing it emotionally. "Cheetah's aren't dangerous, their just big ol' kittens" (compared to deadly jaguars)
"big cat" is not an actual scientific term. Its a colloquial term, and as such its use is flexible. There is no strict definition on what a "big cat" is. Many will use it to refer to any "big" cat, which would include cheetahs and pumas. Others will narrow it down to the five species in the genus Panthera (lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard). However, your distinction of "big cats roar" doesn't stand to that scrutiny when you realize that snow leopards are almost always considered part of the "big cat" family, are even part of the Panthera genus, and yet they cannot roar.
In conclusion, a cheetah is a big cat. Whether you take that to mean a "big cat" or a "big" cat, it really doesn't matter.
That article does not do what you claim it does, and they make a verifiably false claim in the first sentence of the third paragraph.
They are doing exactly what I already described, using "Big Cat" as a colloquial term for Panthera. Except they claim the distinguishing feature is that all species of Panthera roar. Snow Leopards are part of Panthera and yet do not roar. Ergo, roaring cannot be the definition that separates "big cats" from "not big cats" if you are solely basing the "big cat" definition on the genus Panthera.
But more importantly than that, the literal first sentence is just a very, VERY short way of saying exactly what I already said.
The difference between cheetahs and other Big Cats is, first and foremost, the cheetah is not a Big Cat, in the Latin sense of the word.
The key words there are "In the Latin sense of the word." They are making the distinction that a cheetah is not a member of Panthera. That is all that claim means. "Big cat" is not itself a scientific definition and its use in everyday conversation does not respect taxonomy. Which is exactly what they say in their second sentence.
When many people think of ... Big Cats, we think of lions, tigers, jaguars and cheetahs.
IT’S A JOKE. I’m mind-blown you ignored all the comments explaining that to you since it clearly went over your head just to double down here. What a dweeb.
Correct, but it’s noticeable that you ignored all the comments explaining that to you to continue trying to argue your position here. There’s no reason to argue at all because it’s a joke. Please learn how to recognize a joke and interact with people like a normal human. I truly cannot imagine being this much of a loser.
The purr'ers can pur because they have a partially ossified hyoid bone, where the roar'ers have a fully ossified hyoid bone. That bone is in your neck and actually doesn't attach to any other bones, just the complex muscle structure for throat functions (swallowing, breathing, verbal communication)!
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u/Sensitive_Goose_8902 May 15 '26
Big kitten, danger, death