Text by CHT & Photography by Jason Yeap

With more than 300 mammal species in Africa, the spotted big and small cats are among the popular ones for tourists to catch a glimpse of. Unlike the lions, the leopards, jaguars, panthers and servals live in very small groups or alone most of the time. This makes them harder to locate. 

Today, very few leopards still roam freely in the wild as they are mainly found in national parks or game reserves. One of the best places to find this big cat is in Botswana. However, one must remember that these animals are nocturnal and live in solitary making them the most elusive of Africa’s big cats. On the other hand, cheetahs may be the fastest animal on earth but these sleek, majestic animals are now designated as Vulnerable to Extinction due to habitat loss and human conflict even though Serengeti is famous for a high cheetah population. 

Jaguars may be the third largest cats in the world after the lions and tigers, yet they are not easily spotted, especially in the Pantanal, Brazil, the biggest tropical wetland on earth bigger than England. Unlike its big sized cousins, the small inquisitive servals are very territorial with a range of 12 to 20 square kilometres. Often Safari guides in Tanzania are of the opinion that it is all about luck to come face to face with this glamorous and exotic species. 

非洲有300多种哺乳动物，斑点的大小型猫科是最受游客喜爱的动物之一。与狮子不同的是，花豹，美洲虎和美洲豹大部分时间都生活在小范围群体里，这使得它们更难定位。

如今，野生的美洲豹已经很少了，主要生活在国家公园或野生动物保护区。非洲博茨瓦纳是发现这种大型猫科动物的最佳地点之一。然而，大家要记住，由于是夜行性动物，独居使它们成为非洲大型猫科动物中行踪最难以捉摸的。

另一方面，猎豹可能是地球上跑得最快的动物，但由于栖息地的毁灭和人类的冲突，这些光滑、雄伟的动物现在被认定为容易灭绝的动物，尽管塞伦盖蒂以猎豹数量众多而闻名。

至于美洲虎可能是世界上仅次于狮子和老虎的第三大猫科动物，但在巴西潘塔纳尔这个地球上最大的热带湿地却很难被发现。而与体型庞大的“表亲”不同，小型好奇的薮猫有着12到20平方公里的领地。坦桑尼亚的游猎导游通常认为，能与这种迷人的外来物种面对面，全凭运气。