Re: Do big cats (i.e. lions, tigers, jaguars, mountain lions) purr?

"J. Clarke" <jclarke.usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:ga5s0m02rib@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Stampir wrote:
>> I've always wondered this.
>
> It depends on how you define "purr".  Taxonomically speaking, the
> difference between a "big cat" (subfamily pantherinae, subsuming
> lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars) and a "small cat" (subfamily
> felinae, subsuming all other known living cats) is the hyoid bone,
> which in small cats is rigid but in big cats is flexible.  "Big cats"
> by that definition can only make a "purring" noise on exhalation,
> while "small cats" can do it both ways.  The technical term for the
> purring noise a "big cat" makes when it exhales is "chuffing".  While
> a mountain lion is larger than a leopard, a mountain lion is a "small
> cat" and thus they can purr on inhalation, as can cheetahs, which also
> are not "big cats".
>
> So if you consider "chuffing" to be a form of purr then all cats can
> purr, if you consider "chuffing" to be different from "purring" then
> only "small cats" can purr.
>
> -- 
> -- 
> --John
> to email, dial "usenet" and validate
> (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
>
>

Nice try John.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chuffing