Felidae

Felidae
Fossil mount of Smilodon
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Felidae
Type species
Felis catus Linneaus, 1758
Subfamilies
† Basal Taxa †Asilifelis †Namafelis †Pseudaelurus †Katifelis †Diamantofelis †Styriofelis †Hyperailurictis †Sivaelurus †Proailurus †Machariodontinae †Amphimachairodus †Xenosmilus †Homotherium †Nimravides †Dinofelis †Yoshi †Smilodon †Felinae †Miracinonyx †Acionyx pardinensis †Lynx issiodorensis †Pantherinae Panthera Neofelis †Leontoceryx

Felidae is a family of carnivoran mammals that first appeared in the Oligocene epoch and still exist to this day. This family is quite large and diverse, and descends from the clade Feliformia. Members of this clade are named felids, but are more commonly known as cats. Currently, there are 41 extant species and even more extinct species in the family. The type genus is Felis. The most famous felids include the extant domestic cat (Felis catus), African Lion (Panthera leo), and the extinct Smilodon.

Classification

The family Felidae is housed in the suborder Feliformia in the superfamily Feloidea. The current closest living relative of the felids are the Asiatic linsangs, but are also close relatives to the extinct family Barbourofelidae, also known as the false saber-tooth cats, along with some other basal genera.

There are currently 3 recognized subfamilies housed within Felidae:

• †Machairodontinae: the famous family of saber-toothed cats. Includes well known genera such as Smilodon, Homotherium, Dinofelis, and the type genus Machairiodus.
• Felinae: known as the "small cats", housing all cats that cannot roar due to a bony hyoid, which enables them to purr rather than roar. Includes living examples such as the domestic cat (Felis catus), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), and cougar (Puma concolor). Extinct felines include the Giant Cheetah (Acionyx pardinensis), the American Cheetah (Miracinonyx), and Lynx issiodorensis.
• Pantherinae: known as the "big cats", housing all cats that can roar due to a more mobile larynx than felines. Includes famous living examples such as the tiger (Panthera tigris), African lion (Panthera leo) and clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa). Most of the extinct specimens in this subfamily belong to the Panthera genus, such as the Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea), Panthera blytheae, American Lion (Panthera atrox) and Panthera zdanskyi.

Description

The Felidae family is quite diverse in its attributes, but most of the family shares traits that make the family unique. All felids stand digitigrade (walking on toes) and feature 5 toes on the forelimbs and 4 on the hindlimbs. Felids are known for having retractible claws (except in the genus Acinonyx) in the case of the front paws. Felid skulls are typically shortened in the face and feature very large orbits.

The cats also feature a rough tongue covered in papillae, which aid in grooming. They have very large binocular eyes with tapetum lucidum that provide great vision in the dark. While whiskers are common in other carnivorans, felid whiskers are very large and well developed. They possess very large ears as well, which are conical in shape to funnel sound, and are very sensitive to high pitch sounds.