While dark pigmentation might be seen as an advantage when hunting at night, the reverse can be true – a solid-colour is easier to spot than one that is patterned. This is particularly relevant to the opportunistic leopard, which hunts by day or night. Tigers and lions have not been known to exhibit this pigmentation, though rare white tigers are the result of a similar malfunction of pigment genes.
Black panthers aren't a separate species. The term is given to any black big cat of the panthera species group that is 'melanistic' – that is to say, exhibits an excess of melanin, the pigment responsible for suntans. This is regulated by the agouti gene, which controls the way the pigment spreads through the hair. An attribute most common in jaguars and leopards – such as this black leopard – the animals interbreed with non-melanistic members of the same species. In direct sunlight the leopard patterning on their coats can still be faintly seen.
Clouded leopards are often said to be the link between big and small cats. Living their life secluded in the forests of India, they have the largest canines for their skull size among all wild cats – and are known as the 'modern day sabre-tooth'.
Reaching a length of around 3 feet, the clouded leopard is classed as vulnerable in its Indian habitat of the Himalayan foothills. With specially adapted ankles to allow efficient tree climbing, they can even hang upside down from branches. This image was captured using a camera trap by National Geographic Fellow Sandesh Kadur, for the documentary India's Wild Leopards – which premieres on National Geographic Wild on 6th February.
The jungle cat is a slender, medium-sized cat which – despite its name – isn't found in the jungle. More often, it is encountered in swamp land or farmland, where they are relatively common and often come into conflict with farmers for preying on livestock such as poultry.
The fishing cat is an unusual and highly adapted small cat found in India and Southeast Asia. With partially webbed feet and a strong tail to aid swimming, a double coat and big eyes to allow it to spot prey through the water's surface, it perfectly suits its name – and predatory vocation.
At night in Deulpur, the fishing cat emerges out of hiding. Backyard fish ponds are a common sight in many parts of West Bengal, where the residents rear fish. These ponds have allowed fishing cats to find an unlikely source of sustenance in built-up areas.
Considered amongst the most widespread of big cats, the leopard – which includes the Indian leopard subspecies, as well as the African and Amur leopard – is a powerful and calculating hunter. Leopards are also highly territorial; this male displays the scars of fighting on its nose and ears.
A male leopard relaxes high up on a tree branch. Accomplished climbers, leopards often haul kills into trees to protect them from scavengers.
Look hard at this image and you will spot a snow leopard – and also, taking note of the surrounding terrain, perhaps understand how well its marly coat camouflages to its mountainous heartland in the Himalayas.
Famously elusive, the snow leopard is a burly big cat with a thick coat. It has long been a holy grail species for wildlife photographers and filmmakers – and only in recent years have its hunting habits and behaviours been recorded. The animals have come into conflict with humans, having killed livestock – but despite this their presence is tolerated and sometimes even revered.
The Bengal tiger is amongst the biggest of wild big cats, outsized only by its northern variant the Siberian tiger – which can reach 660 pounds (299kg). Of nine known tiger subspecies, six remain – with the Bengal tiger the most numerous – and it is thought fewer than 4,000 wild tigers remain in the wild in total. In captivity, a controversial hybrid specimen of a male lion and female tiger – known as a 'liger' – currently holds the record for the largest big cat alive. Named Hercules, he weighs 922 pounds (418kg.)
Bengal tigers relax in a shallow waterhole with storks and a peahen nearby. Bengal tigers are semi-aquatic in their lifestyle, and have webbed paws to allow purposeful swimming.
The expressive-featured Pallas's Cat – named for the German naturalist who first described it – is a small, solitary wildcat found in the mountainous regions of northern India, and the steppes of Mongolia and Central Asia.
Thought to inhabit agricultural landscapes, the rusty spotted cat – named aptly for its coat – at around 1.5 kg is believed to be the smallest wild cat in the world. Found throughout India and Sri Lanka, it is unknown if this species faces the assumed challenges of hybridisation with domestic cats, though this has been suspected. Instead it is thought to be threatened more directly by habitat change and the development of land for use by humans.