Be involved
The World’s Rarest Cats
The 21st century is marked not only by new technologies but also by an ever growing number of extinct and endangered animals. Apart from the extinct animals we will never see, these rare felines are so few since they are either threatened by loss of habitat or they have suffered from rare color mutation. Take a look at the rarest animals in the world!
» The Iberian Lynx - The world’s most endangered cat in terms of species, out of the 
total of 36, stands on the edge of extinction. Despite all the efforts to save it, only around 100 felines remain, divided between two unconnected breeding populations in Andalusia. The Lynx’s extinction that will soon follow will be the first extinction of a world feline. This is due to the decimation of the rabbit, its favorite prey, by diseases such as myxomatosis and VHD. Rabbits make up 75-100% of lynxes’ diet, the cat only needing one a day. The Iberian Lynx currently holds the record for being world’s most threatened species of cat, and the most threatened carnivore in Europe.
» The Amur Leopard - This is the rarest subspecies of leopard, and closely competing for the title of the rarest cat on Earth. Amur leopards are very distinct from other leopards, having long lengs and hair, which allows them to live in cold areas. It is threatened by habitat destruction, being especially vulnerable to fires since they live in forested territories. Field survey data estimates that there are fewer than 50 leopards left in the wild and around 200 in captivity, mostly found in zoos in North America and throughout Europe. On April 16, 2007 a female was shot and killed by hunters, leaving only six females left in the wild.
» The White Lion (Panthera leo krugeri) - For centuries, rumors about the white lion spread from South Africa all over the world. It was not until 1975 that actual sightings confirmed this mysterious cat’s existence. Two white lion cubs were brought at the Timbavati Game Reserve next to Kruger National Park. Even if they are provided with the best living conditions, the mortality rate for white lions is quite high. They have difficulties in catching their prey and they are extremely vulnerable to hyena attacks. The white color is explained by a rare color mutation, namely a recessive gene known as chinchilla or color inhibitor, perpetuated by many zoos in the world. The population of the white lion is not exactly known but the most recent count was in 2004, showing that 300 were alive at the time.
» The Black Lion - Another rare color mutation is the the black lion, not considered a distinct species or geographic race. Although many sightings have been reported, only two reliable reports exist. The archaeologist Sir Henry Layard discovered one in Persia, describing it as “very dark brown in colour, in parts almost black.” A black lion was held in captivity, but the coloring was probably due to mosaicism or abnormal skin cells. Other very vague claims of reddish and chocolate brown lions also exist, but they remain only claims. The African in the picture is has an uncommon dark color for that big cat but does not display melanism.
» The Maltese Tiger - The Blue tiger was reported mostly from the Fujian Province of China, being characterized by a bluish fur with dark stripes. The Maltese tigers have been reported as a subspecies of the South Chinese tiger, that is critically endangered. A blue tiger cub was born in 1964, in the Oklahoma Zoo, but died in its infancy. There are no blue tigers in zoos or private collections, and no known blue tiger pelts.
» The Golden Tabby Tiger - The golden tiger has its white coat and gold patches due to an extremely rare colour
variation caused by a recessive gene. Around 30 tigers are believed to exist in the world but many more are carriers of the gene. Records of the golden or strawberry tiger date back to the 1900s, in India. The first golden tiger cub born in captivity was in 1983 and this came from standard colored Bengal tigers.
Discussion
53 comments for “The World’s Rarest Cats”
Post a comment
Ready for Some Stories?
Have the feed!
Categories
Recent Comments
- Alex on The 10 Rarest Animals in the World
- Zach on The 10 Rarest Animals in the World
- klaster giratino on Biggest Animals on Earth
- sarah on The 10 Rarest Animals in the World
- brigid on The 10 Rarest Animals in the World
Friends
- Alternative Consumer
- Animal as Friends
- Climate of Our Future
- DeSmogBlog
- Eco Street
- Eco-Libris
- EcoSherpa
- Environment Green
- Green Car Insurance
- Green Fingered Photographer
- Green Packs
- Green Shopping
- GreenStrides
- It’s Nature
- Pet Meds
- Pets at Pets4Homes
- The Daily Green
- Wacky Archives
- World Wild Foundation
- World’s famous photos
Most Emailed
- Antares - Newest attraction for the Berlin Zoo - 38 emails
- Hope, the dog without front legs - 15 emails
- The 10 Rarest Animals in the World - 12 emails
- Cat & Dog - Best friends - 12 emails
- Meet the Mini Pigs - 10 emails
It’s disgusting that we’ve forced these amazing animals to the brink. They’re so beautiful.
It’s horrible that people are mindlessly killing these creatures thinking that they multiply as fast as they kill them. We are animals too and how would they feel if suddenly we were hunted for nothing more than our pelts? I wish there was something more we could do to help these beautiful animals.
Very interesting post. I didn’t know about these varieties of the fur of tigers.Hope there are persons and forces that can help them to survive…
cool cats, to be sure.
why dont we just collect their DNA for later usage when the technology is great enough that we can make “replicas” of them?
Great photographs but kind of sad that is virtually impossible to see those beautiful animals in their own habitat anymore.
parker- clones are not exact replicas. to make clones of animals is dangerous and not 100 % fool proof. you also would have to have a warehouse or “stockyard” of the animals to collect eggs for cloning.
Leetah- there is a lot you can do. donate to wildlife preserves, volunteer your time, go to school for animal science and make a career out of hands on experience with beautiful animals like these. One of the tiger preserves recently trained two cubs to hunt so they could be returned to the wild to help propagate their species. I believe this aired on the discovery channel during tiger week. unfortunately, the tigers were not released due to lack of funding. if people could spare a bit of cash (not everyone can, but those who can) should.
They are so beautiful its true who really are the animals Cat
Cool
Some of these may not be rare because people kill them but because they are rare to begin with; their birth is a rarity.
You forgot the Florida panther - there’s also less than 100 of them as well.
Beautiful animals! It’s a shame that their numbers are so very low
Shane’s last blog post..Unusual Funeral Procession
fuck cats
It is interesting the information regarding the Iberian Lynx. The information suggests it is not humans that restricts its survival but nature itself with the demise of the rabbit.
I presume they have tried introducing rabbits into the areas, in the hope they will breed in sufficient quantities that enough of them will survive. Bit who is to say that the Cats survival is more importants that the rabbit, only us humans perception of what is valuable.
What is also intereting is that nature has a way of adapting animals to survive, so why are these cats not looking for other food sources?
Mark
hi, my name is poppy and i love lions they are sooooooo cute and i think you hav done really well to get theses picrturs of lions . i am trying to discover a new spices of lion, it is the black lions…. good luck finding a new spices of lion. speak to me if you want me to give you advise
:D
[...] were photographed on camera in far southeastern Russia.The Amur leopard is currently considered the world’s rarest cat, according to recent surveys. There are fewer than 40 leopards in the forests of Russia’s Far [...]
[...] family of Bengals, one of the rarest cats on Earth, have been making headlines in Moscow, Russia. They have been recently released in the outdoor [...]
its alarming to know that there these endangered animals are few left in the world let us help save their habitat by keeping our environment clean and free from pollution because if this will continue thier home will be burned out by the global warming due to polution that we are doing
i love the pictures that you put on the websit of the rarest cats i love the ideia
We’re not the only reason that these cats are endangered. Most of these are just impossibly rare variations of cats. Also, rare cats like these are inbred to raise the chances of getting the coat again, and inbreeding can bring in diseases.
nice!!!!!!
I personally don’t like what people are doing to the late rare animals by capturing them they should just leave them in their habitat
its very interesting. i will visit this address all the time. its very good.
i very much so love these cats.
wow…
they are absolutly beautiful
these animals are so beautiful. why are people killing them for their fur? its not fair to them, they didnt do anything bad to us,well maybe some tigers killed some people but they were only defending themselves from being killed. why are people killing them. we need to stop this tiger killing, and deer hunting. and i mean stop this right now.
I like to fuck cats in the ass.
Even though I was stalked and almost attacked by a cougar 2 days ago in the pacific northwest while trout fishing, I still love cats. these are some of the most gorgeous pictures of cats i’ve ever seen! About the deer hunting though, deer are not going extinct plus deer are so plentiful in this area you see them dead on the road DAILY! The cougars in this area are well fed and largly populated. considering most people never see one in their entire life and hike the mountain trails all the time, now more and more people are being attacked by them. I don’t want to go out and kill cougars but the ones close to civilization should be relocated back into the forest away from our own children that may be a target in our own backyards.
i think the tigers are so gourges but wy would we kill them to almost disapearing
i think the tigers are so gourges but why would we kill them to almost disapearing
i am dicusted with the people that are killing of these animals
The extinction of these animals to illegal poachers is like a drop in the ocean of other animals theyve caused to be extinct. GET RID OF ILLEGAL POACHERS!! horrible froms of life, these poachers…..
The dna sequences of these animals are incredibly complicated. The best way to preserve them would be to catch a few and keep them in captivity and realease the offspring when the wil number is near 0
Such a usefule blog
Once again humans leave their mark - this is so sad!
It’s great people are saving humans from these animals. They are very dangerous and need to be dealt with.
Wow, I love cats so much. What a cool blog posting!
I am so thaknful that you talk about these issues animals must go through and endure at their own expense.
White and golden tigers as well as white lions are genetic anomalies. They are rare in the same way a certain genetic disease might be rare among humans. The white tiger gene causes all white tigers to be cross eyed, as the optic nerve is connected to the wrong side of the brain. Zoos and other breeders aggressively inbreed these white and golden tigers to please the public, resulting in appalling conditions. Very few of the tigers bred are suitable for display, the rest are stillborn or are hideously deformed.
These animals are beautiful but rare for a reason. They should not be bred for our enjoyment.
WOW they are so beautyful it is to bad there are so few. The black, maltese and tabby took my breath away they are so beatyful. To bad they are taken out there habiate and put on display in some zoo.
ITS SO ALSOME
JESSICA’s last blog post..Silent Carbon Footprint: Top Ten Sources You’d Never Expect
that was a beatyful picture
It breaks my heart to know that so many of these big cats may not be around for much longer if we continue on this path. Websites like this are great to create awareness, but how can people help? Where can people donate time and money?
THE BLUE TIGER TURNS YOUR HEAD HE OR SHE IS LIKE NATURE’S FLOWERS THERE ARE VERY FEW BLUE FLOWERS IN THE WORLD AND THIS CAT IS WITHOUT A DOUBT A VERY BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL SIN IS WHAT CAUSES MAN TO BE SO DESTRUCTIVE IT JUST PLAIN ME, ME ME ATTITUDE THESE ARE GOD’S CREATIONS AND IN THE BEGINNING THEY ATE THE GRASSES OF THE FIELD THE REST IS HISTORY
I have looked at many sites on this subject and not come across a site such as yours which tells everyone everything that they need to know. I have bookmarked your site. Can anyone else suggest any other related topics that I can look for to find out further information?
Causes of heart attacks’s last blog post..Heart Attack And Glycated LDL
They forgot to mention the Iriomote Cat. Its pretty rare too I guess.
I LOVE TIGERS.THEY ARE MY FAVE CATS IN THE WORLD.I CAN’T BELIVE THEY ARE VERY RARE IN SOME COUNTREYS.
There is also the iriomote cat.It is said to be the rarest feline of them all.
[...] (source) [...]
These animals are the cutes things in the world i cant belive they are so rare. if i could i would save them all.
These cats are awsome!!!!!!!!!!!! i wonder why their so rare?
Kooooooool im awesome!!!!!!!!
If hunting is causing the extinction of these cats i want 2 pulverize the bums that r hunting them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
to dog:god and John you r asses
These cats are awsome who would want to hurt them????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
What was the maltese tigers population ten years ago?