Most cats are solitary hunters leading solitary lives, joining other adults only during mating. Kittens, however, may remain with their mother for up to two years, learning how to hunt before setting off on their own. Most cats live within habitats providing little stimulus for cooperative action. Tigers stalking prey in the jungle or snow leopards living in open country with highly dispersed prey find individual hunting most efficient. Occasionally, male cheetahs join in hunting coalitions of two to four animals, but such groupings are rare.
Both solitary and social cats, such as lions, are highly territorial—clawing trees, spraying urine, or leaving uncovered feces marking area boundaries; loud roars advertise the presence of claimants. Solitary females tend to establish ranges respected by each other. Males inhabit larger territories, usually overlapping those of two or more females, but face challenges from neighboring or interloping males.
Cats use three hunting strategies: moving slowly through their home range stalking, seizing, and killing prey; setting up ambushes near burrows or climbing trees and patiently waiting to pounce upon unsuspecting victims; and inadvertently stumbling upon prey while engaged in other activities, such as searching for water. Cats prefer to kill their quarry before eating. Small animals are bitten at the nape of the neck with canine teeth, severing spinal cords; biting the throat ruptures air passages. A lion sometimes strangles an antelope, clamping its mouth over the muzzle and suffocating its victim.
Lions live in groups called prides, consisting of up to a dozen individuals who aid each other in hunting. Females and their young compose the pride's core; usually related to each other, they raise their cubs together. Two or three related adult males dominate and defend the pride, becoming the fathers of its cubs. When male cubs mature they are generally driven off, but females may become permanent members of the pride. Group hunting by females, with occasional assistance from males on a difficult kill, is an economical procedure in open terrain containing abundant large prey.
Scientists studying feral cats — domestic cats returned to the wild—found two patterns of existence. Feral cats hunting widely dispersed prey tended to be solitary, occupying separate female and male territories. Cats gathered together only at concentrated and stable food sources, such as garbage dumps and barns. In either case, a group of related females and their kittens formed the core unit; adults often aided each other raising the young. Female offspring might remain group members, but strange females were driven off. Some resident males were tolerated but faced challenges from interlopers seeking access to females. Several groups might occupy areas particularly rich in food. In all cases, resemblance to the social structure of lion prides was striking.
Adapted to widely varying environments, the Felidae remains one of the most successful animal families. A single species—the tiger—can be found ranging from the tropics to Siberia. However, the tiger and other feline relatives are increasingly endangered. Hunters seek many cats as trophies; the fur trade also values their striped and spotted skins. Big cats are particularly vulnerable, as expanding human settlements constrict the large ranges needed for successful predation. Whether large cats will survive, or join the four-fifths of Felidae species already extinct, remains for future generations to decide.