big cats

[hollytree]

Do big cats ie; lions and tigers etc meow and purr, if not why not?
Hollytree

[squarebear]

No they don't. Only smaller cats do this. It's to do with how their bodies are shaped which is a tightly connected linkage of delicate bones running from the back of the feline tongue up to the base of the skull. When in a purring frame of mind, a cat vibrates its larynx, which in turn sets the twiglike hyoid bones to resonating.

[237SJ]

I stroked a cheetah in SA and it purred. They are the only big cats that do though.

[squarebear]

I saw a guy in a disco chatting up a cheetah. I thought to myself, he's trying to pull a fast one.

[237SJ]

If she was an old bird, she`d be a Cougar though..

[decarabas]

When I was at the Phoenix zoo some years ago I walked up next to a large enclosure that had a beautiful panther - a black leopard - inside. He was called Eldridge, I think, (after Eldridge Cleaver, of the Black Panthers, I guess) and had been the mascot of a combat brigade in Viet Nam. Eldridge must have been lonely, because when I walked up to the enclosure he rubbed his face and shoulders against the cage and purred, or rather rumbled, like nothing so much as a giant, friendly house cat. I wanted to scratch him behind the ears, but contented myself with telling him how handsome he was - all cats like flattery, and he was no exception. (And yes, I know he couldn't understand English, but I think he recognized my approval and good intentions toward him.)