Top 10 Biggest Cat In The World To Ever Exist

Feline(Felidae family) comprises 37 cats, including cheetah, puma, jaguar, tiger, lion, lynx, and even the cat you have at home as a pet or see on the streets. Cats originated from every region across the globe except for Australia and Antarctica.

This animal is among the carnivorous mammals that live in various habitats but more commonly in the forest. And similar to other prehistoric animals, the prehistoric cats are rather big than what we used to see today not to mention a lot stronger.

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Here we would like to share with you the top 10 biggest and wildest cats in the world to have ever existed in this world.

10. Giant Jaguar

In the prehistoric age, North and South America is the home to these gigantic jaguars that belong to the same modern species only bigger. This giant jaguar also has a much bigger body size and a longer tail than the jaguar we see on National Geographic.

Scientists believed that one time ago, jaguars lived on open land. Still, competition with other American lions and other big cats led to the jaguar adapting itself to the forest kind of environment. 

And this new habitat is what made the giant jaguars evolve towards having smaller feet. The prehistoric giant jaguar has a similar size to lions and adult tigers and probably has twice the strength and bite force.

This species is very active during the Pleistocene age but ceased to exist somewhere around 11,000 years ago during the last ice age.

9. African Lion

Throughout history, African lions were known as symbols of bravery and strength. This lion can easily be identified from its roars and mane. The lions which lived in groups are among the most social type of cats.

African lions commonly weigh around 150 to 250 kg with male lions usually achieving the maximum weight. Both male and female African lions are strong with muscles and round-shaped ears.

8. Xenosmilus

Xenosmilus is a relative to the Smilodon species, however, they are slightly different than the Smilodon whereby their teeth are smaller but thicker. All their teeth are jagged so that they can cut down meat and it is very similar to sharks and carnivorous dinosaurs.

This is rather different than the modern cats as the Xenosmilus also does not choke its prey to death instead they rip apart its prey with its razor-sharp teeth and let it bleed to death. The body size is far much bigger than standard cats reaching up to 230kg in weight.

On top of that, it is also much stronger despite having a smaller body portion.

7. Siberian Tigers

The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is among the biggest subspecies of cats in the world. An adult Siberian tiger can reach a weight of 320kg and most of its habitats are in east Russia as well as northern China, especially in the mountains of Sikhote-Alin.

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The Siberian tiger has gone through many physical adaptations to survive in this cold climate such as thick layers of fat and extremely thick and pale fur. Not just that it also has fewer black stripes on its body compared to other tigers. As of now, the Siberian tiger is one of the most gruesome predators.

6. Cave Lion

The Cave lion is a subspecies of the Giant lion that can reach a weight of 300kg similar to the size of the Siberian tiger making it the biggest cat that exists to this day. This species is among the most dangerous and strongest predator during the final ice age in Europe.

There was also proof of its fearsomeness and some human in the prehistoric age worshipped it as a god. There have been many drawings inside caves and several dolls that were found visualizing the Cave lion.

Interestingly, it showed this cat without any mane and sometimes being pictured with furs on its neck similar to modern cats. What is strange is that some of the drawings also showed the Cave lion with stripes on its leg and tail.

5. Homotherium

Also known as the Scimitar cat, Homotherium is one of the most successful cats in the prehistoric age and is found in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It fits in real nice with various habitats including the sub-artic tundra and has survived for 5 million years before going extinct 10,000 years ago.

Homotherium seems to be group hunters with high speed and is very active during the day. It has long front legs and a slightly smaller back leg making it look similar to a hyena. Despite Homotherium not being popular for its size, several fossils of the Scimitar cars were found recently in the Northern Sea showing how this species can reach a weight of 400kg.

This is much bigger than the modern Siberian tiger.

4. Machairodus kabir

Machairodus is rarely spoken of as a gigantic cat. But a few remaining fossils found in Chad, Africa were classified as the new species of Machairodus kabir. It showed that this creature was among the biggest cats of all time with a weight of 1080 lbs(490kg) and has become a horse measurement.

This is because the cat can reach a whopping weight of 490kg and its size were as big as a horse. This made animals like elephants, rhinos, and other giant herbivores to be its main prey at the time.

Machairodus kabir might look similar to the Sabertooth tiger in the movie 10,000 BC but unfortunately, it ceased to exist during the Miosen age which is far back from human civilization.

3. American Lion

Often spoken of as the biggest cats in history, the American lion or Pathera atrox might just be the most well-known cats in the prehistoric age after Smilodon. It lived in North and South America during the Pleistocene age and became extinct 11,000 years ago in the last ice age.

Most scientists believed that the size of an American lion is almost the same as the modern lion and in fact, they might come from the same species. What is certain is that the American lion is the biggest cat in North America during the ice age where its weight can reach up to 500kg.

2. Ngandong Tiger

The Ngandong tiger or Panthera tigris is a subspecies of extinct tigers that lived in a region that is now known as Sunda, Indonesia during the Pleistocene age. Heltler and Volmer estimated that an adult male tiger can reach a weight of 470kg which is far much heavier than other cats on this list.

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The Pleistocene tiger is not a different species but it is the earlier version of the tigers that we see today. Tigers went through evolutions in Asia around 2 million years ago, especially for hunting various herbivore species that lived on the continent at the time.

1. Smilodon

This might just be the most popular prehistoric mammal known to man. The cat has sharp long teeth like a saber and the Smilodon has a much better body shape than other cat species that still exist today.

This mostly refers to its perfect front body with long fangs capable of killing its prey easily. Its jaw has a huge gap compared to modern cats and its upper fangs are much more flexible and brittle making it the perfect weapon for a kill.

Smilodon populator from South America might just be the biggest wild cat to exist with an average weight of 220 to 400kg and to some extent can achieve up to 500kg for a full-grown adult.

The true pattern on a Smilodon still remains a mystery to this day but it has been improved artistically with blank patterns or spots. It has a shorter back part, high scapula, and short tail as well as a wider body with short legs.

Smilodon is very popular due to its long fangs in which the longest one to ever be found on a sabertooth cat is 28cm in length and it was on the Smilodon populator species. Despite having long fangs it has no relation to the modern tigers (Panthera tigris) or other cats that exists today.

Source:

• National Geographic

• Wild Ciencias

• Indiana Edu

Also read: Top 5 Longest Sleeping Animals In The World