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I’m putting this one up for sake of an "eyes" example.
There's been a bit of controversy about regarding the pupils of cats, so I want to try and clear that up. Here's another Feline Trivia topic for all the curious folks out there.
All big cats ("panthera" genus) and a lot of the smaller cats (like cougars and such; yes, cougars are considered a "small" cat as they're in the felis genus and can purr, which the big ones can't: that'll be a topic for later) have round, not slitted pupils. I'm putting this picture up specifically for that purpose: to prove that big cats' eyes have round pupils. Cougars are included in that, as Dagger proves here in this pic. The reflection makes it a little harder to see, but it's still very visible in this pic.
This isn't a very good picture of Dagger, as it's pretty obvious that he was not a very happy kitty when I took this one. He had moments like that. Sometimes, he was just in a bad mood. I always did my best to cheer him up, and I don't know that I ever failed in that tasking, but occasionally, it took a little while to bring him around. Like a lot of humans, Dagger was definitely /not/ a morning kitty. He hated to be disturbed in the morning. Dagger didn't have a coffee maker, so no happy-kitty in the mornings!
Anyway, this one's going up for all those aspiring or interested artists out there that would like another feline facial and eye reference, even if it's a semi-peeved kitty. I hope you enjoy it and it proves useful.
This picture was taken 18-Feb-04. The image was taken with a Canon EOS 10D and the EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM lens. The original was taken at full frame of 3072x2048x24b, ISO eqv 400, 1/90 shutter, f/4. This image was cropped and shrunken down for space conservation.
Disclaimer: I hate to have to put this on here, but the pic is copyright me. Please do not distribute, copy, alter, etc, without my permission. Having said all that, feel free to download and use it for your own inspiration.
There's been a bit of controversy about regarding the pupils of cats, so I want to try and clear that up. Here's another Feline Trivia topic for all the curious folks out there.
All big cats ("panthera" genus) and a lot of the smaller cats (like cougars and such; yes, cougars are considered a "small" cat as they're in the felis genus and can purr, which the big ones can't: that'll be a topic for later) have round, not slitted pupils. I'm putting this picture up specifically for that purpose: to prove that big cats' eyes have round pupils. Cougars are included in that, as Dagger proves here in this pic. The reflection makes it a little harder to see, but it's still very visible in this pic.
This isn't a very good picture of Dagger, as it's pretty obvious that he was not a very happy kitty when I took this one. He had moments like that. Sometimes, he was just in a bad mood. I always did my best to cheer him up, and I don't know that I ever failed in that tasking, but occasionally, it took a little while to bring him around. Like a lot of humans, Dagger was definitely /not/ a morning kitty. He hated to be disturbed in the morning. Dagger didn't have a coffee maker, so no happy-kitty in the mornings!
Anyway, this one's going up for all those aspiring or interested artists out there that would like another feline facial and eye reference, even if it's a semi-peeved kitty. I hope you enjoy it and it proves useful.
This picture was taken 18-Feb-04. The image was taken with a Canon EOS 10D and the EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM lens. The original was taken at full frame of 3072x2048x24b, ISO eqv 400, 1/90 shutter, f/4. This image was cropped and shrunken down for space conservation.
Disclaimer: I hate to have to put this on here, but the pic is copyright me. Please do not distribute, copy, alter, etc, without my permission. Having said all that, feel free to download and use it for your own inspiration.
Category Photography / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Feline (Other)
Size 1024 x 935px
File Size 97.8 kB
Chuffing (or "ruffling" depending on what school you're from) is a little different, but much the same idea. Chuffing actually happens in the mouth, where air essentially makes the cheeks "flap", but it's certainly a "happy" sound, generally considered to be a greeting. Snow leopards also chuff, and clouded leopards have a similar vocalization that's pretty much the same thing.
Purring is actually the result of the fact that cats of the "felis" genus have a bone that supports the larynx (called the hyoid bone) whereas the "panthera" genus cats have cartilage instead, so they can't purr, but can roar, which the "little" cats can't.
Anyway, sorry to go Evil Biologist on you there. :)
Purring is actually the result of the fact that cats of the "felis" genus have a bone that supports the larynx (called the hyoid bone) whereas the "panthera" genus cats have cartilage instead, so they can't purr, but can roar, which the "little" cats can't.
Anyway, sorry to go Evil Biologist on you there. :)
Well...I tend to be a bit cautious sometimes. I've gotten into heated debates with folks that insist that all cats can purr, or that they all have slitted pupils. I try not to be purely argumentative, as I'd really like to share the facts and realities about cats with the world, but sometimes people get horribly offended when I share things.
I guess I shouldn't care; if they're happy in their ignorance of reality, then who am I to bring them down? It's more that the animals mean a lot to me, and teaching people about them is part of it, and I feel I've done the animals a disservice by not properly informing people about them, even should the people just /refuse/ to learn the truth.
In this case, I'm glad I didn't offend you. :)
I guess I shouldn't care; if they're happy in their ignorance of reality, then who am I to bring them down? It's more that the animals mean a lot to me, and teaching people about them is part of it, and I feel I've done the animals a disservice by not properly informing people about them, even should the people just /refuse/ to learn the truth.
In this case, I'm glad I didn't offend you. :)
If I could shoose to be any creature on the planet, but still keep my brain, experience, and opposible digits, I think I'd choose to be a leopard. But as I've said elsewhere, I'll always bleed cougar blood, so maybe that would make me a yellow cougar with spots and a big-cat attitude. :)
Besides, cougars rock cuz they can purr! None of the big cats can purr.
Besides, cougars rock cuz they can purr! None of the big cats can purr.
There's still an infinitim of debate that will probably continue on until after they're all extinct. The largest argument is that cougars meet all the same "requirements" of the rest of the "small" cats in the terms of body structure, especially in the throat and hips. So pulling them out would essentially put them in a genus all by themselves, rather than just being a species in one.
In the end, if you look them up in twenty different encyclopedias, probably a little better than half will indeed list it under the "new" name of "puma concolor". I'm just an old fogey, so I still go by the old name: if it's felis, it can purr! Cougars purr, so they're felis! :)
In terms of attitude, regardless of what their genus might be, they have a "small" cat mentality. If they lose the advantage in a hunt, such as, if they're seen and they've lost their stealth, they chances are, they'll back down. A leopard or jag, on the other paw, will probably go instantly into full-launch mode with afterburners lit off. It's really the biggest thing that separates the "big" from the "small" cats. It's not so much about physical size as how they're wired. :)
Of course, when it comes to "mental functions", there's an equal amount of debate. I tent to go by my own experiences, and personally, having taken on a cougar, and been nose-to-nose with a leopard more times than I care to count, I'd say the survival probability quotient is much highter if you're taking on a cougar. :)
I hope all that babble makes sense.
In the end, if you look them up in twenty different encyclopedias, probably a little better than half will indeed list it under the "new" name of "puma concolor". I'm just an old fogey, so I still go by the old name: if it's felis, it can purr! Cougars purr, so they're felis! :)
In terms of attitude, regardless of what their genus might be, they have a "small" cat mentality. If they lose the advantage in a hunt, such as, if they're seen and they've lost their stealth, they chances are, they'll back down. A leopard or jag, on the other paw, will probably go instantly into full-launch mode with afterburners lit off. It's really the biggest thing that separates the "big" from the "small" cats. It's not so much about physical size as how they're wired. :)
Of course, when it comes to "mental functions", there's an equal amount of debate. I tent to go by my own experiences, and personally, having taken on a cougar, and been nose-to-nose with a leopard more times than I care to count, I'd say the survival probability quotient is much highter if you're taking on a cougar. :)
I hope all that babble makes sense.
Well, Dagger had two problems: he didn't like mornings, and he didn't like humans. So that put me pretty deep into the zero-for-two category when I took that pic.
Some cats are fine with mornings. Drifter is great and he's social whenever there's opportunity. Macumba is just an Evil Spotted Thing, so if there's an opportunity to be a nuisance, he /will/ be. It's kinda like water, I guess. Some cats like it, some don't. Drifter loves it. Macumba hates it.
And no worries about the language. Working all over the world, I have many friends that speak English as a second (or fifth or sixth) language, and you're doing really well. If one of my long-time Russian friends could speak english as well as you, I'd love it! We could actually have discussion and understand each other! :)
Some cats are fine with mornings. Drifter is great and he's social whenever there's opportunity. Macumba is just an Evil Spotted Thing, so if there's an opportunity to be a nuisance, he /will/ be. It's kinda like water, I guess. Some cats like it, some don't. Drifter loves it. Macumba hates it.
And no worries about the language. Working all over the world, I have many friends that speak English as a second (or fifth or sixth) language, and you're doing really well. If one of my long-time Russian friends could speak english as well as you, I'd love it! We could actually have discussion and understand each other! :)
Your welcome, M'Lady. Another one that might be a good one is the "free and wild" one I put up early on of Drifter coming directly at the camera. His eye's are very visible in that one, more so than even this one, as there's very little glare across his eyes.
I could put up a cropped version of that one if you'd like. Just let me know. :)
I could put up a cropped version of that one if you'd like. Just let me know. :)
I'm about to learn how to draw eyes better, so i found this pic in just the right time:) Thanks for uploading it:)
There is one thing i'm wonder about though: How do you cheer up a large cat like this one? How do you play with them? I can't really imagen them running after a ball of yarn:p
There is one thing i'm wonder about though: How do you cheer up a large cat like this one? How do you play with them? I can't really imagen them running after a ball of yarn:p
I'm glad the pic is useful to you.
Dagger was kinda weird. Sometimes, it was just not leaving and staying thee and talking to him, and eventually, he'd settle down and let me scratch his shoulders and neck, and they would do it for him. Other times, I'd go get a book, sit on my milk crate, and literally read out loud to him.
I guess, in many ways, animals aren't so different than humans. Sometimes, they just need a friend to sit with them, and it somehow makes things better.
About the play part, look for the "football" pic in the gallery. That's Dagger's "ball of yarn". :)
Dagger was kinda weird. Sometimes, it was just not leaving and staying thee and talking to him, and eventually, he'd settle down and let me scratch his shoulders and neck, and they would do it for him. Other times, I'd go get a book, sit on my milk crate, and literally read out loud to him.
I guess, in many ways, animals aren't so different than humans. Sometimes, they just need a friend to sit with them, and it somehow makes things better.
About the play part, look for the "football" pic in the gallery. That's Dagger's "ball of yarn". :)
(Shasta grins) After all my years of working with big cats, I've made it one of my missions in life to try and "educate" people about them. There's just so many misconceptions, it's hard to dispel them all.
People always assume that /all/ cats have slitted pupils, or that they /all/ purr, which in both cases isn't true. So, I just keep diligently babbling away. But in truth, I enjoy sharing, even if people don't listen. I'm glad that a lot of folks here on FA really seem to enjoy it.
People always assume that /all/ cats have slitted pupils, or that they /all/ purr, which in both cases isn't true. So, I just keep diligently babbling away. But in truth, I enjoy sharing, even if people don't listen. I'm glad that a lot of folks here on FA really seem to enjoy it.
yeah I am a huge mountian lion fan so I already knew all the stuff about them being "small cats" and having different vocal systems from other larger cats and stuff. XD It was amusing to see you'd written it all out though. :) I have a lot of books on mountain lions and other animals that I LOVE that I collected since I was little.
I think one of the best and most informative books that I've ever read on cougars is "The Cougar Almanac" (Robert Busch, ISBN 1-55821-403-8).
On the more non-scientific side, "Through Cougars Eyes" (David Raber, ISBN 0-312-26918-8) is quite insightful. It's a little depressing, as Cougar passed away a little while back.
If you don't already have them, I highly recommend getting both, even though they're a few years old now.
On the more non-scientific side, "Through Cougars Eyes" (David Raber, ISBN 0-312-26918-8) is quite insightful. It's a little depressing, as Cougar passed away a little while back.
If you don't already have them, I highly recommend getting both, even though they're a few years old now.
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