From MinuteEarth, a quick tour of all the different kinds of cats in the world, extinct, wild, and domesticated, and how they are related to each other. Some interesting facts I learned: * The saber-toothed tiger was the largest cat to ever live and researchers now believe it had a short tail rather than a long one. * There was an American cheetah. It was bigger than the cheetah we know today and “almost as fast”. It went extinct around the time humans showed up in North America. * Leopards and snow leopards aren’t actually that closely related. * Domestic cats are mostly descended from wildcats (not to be confused with cats who are wild — wildcat refers to two specific species, the European wildcat (Felis silvestris) and the African wildcat (Felis lybica)). See also All the Dogs, Explained: “Standing on his hind legs, [the tallest ever Great Dane] was taller than Shaq.” **Tags:** cats · science · video 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →