The Andean mountain cat is a small wild cat native to the high Andes that has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List because fewer than 1,500 individuals are thought to exist in the wild. It is traditionally considered a sacred animal by indigenous Aymara and Quechua people.
Image: Andean cat 1 Jim Sanderson
Image: Andean Cat distribution
Andean mountain cat
Felinae is a subfamily of the Felidae and comprises the small cats having a bony hyoid, because of which they are able to purr but not roar.
Other authors have proposed an alternative definition for this subfamily, as comprising only the living conical-toothed cat genera with two tribes, the Felini and Pantherini, and excluding the extinct sabre-toothed Machairodontinae.
Felinae
Image: Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) on the road
Image: Caracl (01), Paris, décembre 2013
Image: Asian golden cat at Edinburgh Zoo