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Big Cat Conservation & Captivity terms
Protecting big cats in the wild and the people who keep them in zoos, sanctuaries and private hands, from poaching to escapes.
Big catAn informal name for the largest wild cats, usually the lion, tiger, leopard and jaguar, and often the snow leopard, cheetah and cougar too.Hyoid apparatusThe chain of small bones and ligaments supporting the tongue and larynx, whose structure helps explain why some cats roar and others purr.Apex predatorAn animal at the top of its food chain that adults of the species hunt and that has no natural predators of its own.Camera trapA motion-triggered camera left in the field that photographs passing animals, widely used to count shy wild cats such as tigers and jaguars.Captive breedingBreeding a threatened species under human care, in zoos or breeding centres, to keep a safe population and sometimes supply animals for release.Endangered speciesA species at high risk of extinction, either under the IUCN Endangered category or on a legal list that protects it, which are different systems.Human-wildlife conflictHarm that people and wild animals cause each other, such as big cats killing livestock and herders killing cats in return.IUCN Red ListThe international inventory of how close species are to extinction, which sorts them into categories from Least Concern to Extinct.PoachingThe illegal killing or capture of wild animals, often for their skins, bones, teeth or meat, a major threat to tigers, leopards and other wild cats.ReintroductionReleasing animals into part of their former range where the species has died out, to re-establish a wild population.RewildingRestoring natural processes and, often, missing species such as large predators, to a landscape so that it can run with little human management.Trophy huntingHunting wild animals for sport and for a trophy such as a head or skin, a debated practice that is legal and regulated in some countries.Wildlife corridorA strip of habitat or a crossing structure that links separate wild areas so animals can travel between them safely.Big cat sanctuaryA facility that gives lifetime care to captive big cats without breeding them, trading them or allowing public contact, unlike a roadside zoo.Hybrid catA cat bred from a domestic cat and a wild species, such as the Bengal from the Asian leopard cat or the Savannah from the serval.