Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Cats

One of the panther kittens photographed with trail cameras north of Florida's Caloosahatchee River

Future of Conservation

Panther Kittens Spotted in Florida Give Hope for Their Species’ Survival

Trail cameras caught a mother panther trailed by two kittens

How did the sabertooth cat wield its excess of tooth?

How Did Sabercats Use Those Outlandish Fangs?

We’ve barely scratched the surface of how this charismatic cat utilized its dental cutlery

What Lions Look for in the Perfect Prey

For lions hunting buffalo in the Manyeleti, calculation is always at play: An adult male buffalo may be harder to bring down

Incredible: A Cheetah Sprints to Catch a Springbok

A cheetah mother caring for her cubs stumbles across an opportunity too good to pass up: a herd of springbok, grazing casually nearby

A street cat lounging in inner Sydney, Australia.

New Research

Feral Cats Now Cover 99.8 Percent of Australia

The fluffy murderbeasts pose a major threat to wildlife

New Research

Cheetah Populations Plummet as They Race Toward Extinction

Hunting, habitat loss and the pet trade have reduced the fastest land animal to roughly 7,100 individuals

Cool Finds

Each Christmas, Iceland’s Yule Cat Takes Fashion Policing to the Extreme

The Jólakötturinn will make you thankful for those Christmas socks

"Dude, I thought he said he'd be here at 4."

New Research

How Cheetahs “Spot” Each Other

Cheetah meetups: In a novel study, researchers show that roaming cheetahs likely use their noses to seek each other out after weeks apart

"Ginzer"
Kiki Smith, 2000
Aquatint, drypoint, and burnishing etching on paper.

Smith placed the corpse of her cat on the plate and traced the outline to produce the image of the etching before burying him to create the etching.

Cool Finds

A Massive Collection of Cat Art Is up for Auction

The results of an art teacher’s passion project are for sale

Trending Today

If You Want to Adopt a Black Cat, You May Have to Wait Until Halloween Is Over

Why some adoption centers wait till after the spooky season to give some kitties a home

I just want to get this purr-fect.

Fur Real: Scientists Have Obsessed Over Cats for Centuries

Ten of the best feline-focused studies shed light on our relationship with these vampire-hunting, sexy-bodied killers

Cool Finds

New Sanctuary for Rare and Fluffy Wildcats to Open in Siberia

As their numbers dwindle, the poofy Pallas’ Cats will finally get their own protected park

Alive or dead? You'll won't know until you peek inside.

New Research

Scientists Catch Schrödinger’s Cat on Camera

No cats were harmed in the making of this science

New Research

New DNA Analysis Shows How Cats Spread Around the World

Felines spread in two waves including moving around Europe on Viking ships, according to researchers

A sun-bleached skull is evidence of the first recorded jaguar predation on a black bear, linked to the big cat roaming this terrain.

The Return of the Great American Jaguar

The story of tracking a legendary feline named El Jefe through the Arizona mountains

To Save the Woodrat, Conservationists Have to Deal With an Invasive Species First: House Cats

On an island in Florida, a rare wild rodent faces a dangerous, feline threat

Do outdoor cats need to die?

The Moral Cost of Cats

A bird-loving scientist calls for an end to outdoor cats “once and for all”

Cool Finds

Cute Sand Cat Spotted for the First Time in a Decade in the United Arab Emirates

Researchers set out to photograph the elusive cat to help create a conservation plan for the endangered feline

Leopard territory in Southeast Asia has been reduced by 94 percent.

New Research

The Indochinese Leopard Is Down to Just a Few Lives

These threatened cats now occupy just 8 percent of their historic range in Cambodia, new population estimate finds

One of the Forest of Stone Steles Museum's famous cats.

Trending Today

Protesters Prevent Chinese Museum From Evicting a Family of Cats

The furry family is famous on the internet

Page 11 of 16