Why are lions called big cats?

'Big cat' is an informal title given to large felines that share a few common characteristics: Big heads, wide muzzles, great length, height, weight and possibly the ability to hunt large prey. read more

‘Big cat’ is an informal title given to large felines that share a few common characteristics: Big heads, wide muzzles, great length, height, weight and possibly the ability to hunt large prey. read more

The most familiar cat to you is probably the household pet cat and this is a type of the animal group of cats (or felines). A lion is part of the cat group as well as tigers, panthers and jaguars. These are obviously much bigger than little friendly pet cats and so they are called "big cats" and so a lion is a "big cat". read more

As far as other cats are compared almost all of them are jungle dwellers. Only cheetah shares savannah with lions. But unlike lion, cheetahs do not have to take on large prey like wild beasts. They are more specialized in hunting gazelles. They are not strong like other big prey population. read more