What are the largest cats that walked planet earth?

Question

here is my order? what do you think? what is your list

siberrian tiger 650lbs

bengal tiger 550lbs

africian lion 450lbs

Smilodon (saber tooth cat)450lbs

indian lion 400lbs

jaguar 350lbs

leopard 200lbs

cougar 150lbs

Answer 1

There were a couple of different species of Smilodon.  In Late Pleistocene North America, the most common was Smilodon fatalis, which would have been the size you mention above.

However, in South America, there was another Smilodon: Smilodon populator, which was much larger.  It was probably around 600-650 lbs on average, and there's one skeleton that may well have been upwards of 800 lbs when alive.

As far as I know, Smilodon populator is the largest known felid - living or extinct.

Just as an addition to your list, there was also a subspecies of lion, Panthera leo atrox, called the North American lion that lived in the US & Canada up until the end of the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago.  It was larger than the African lion, and was probably around the same size as the Siberian/Amur tiger - in the realm of 650 lbs.

Answer 2

At the top of the list should be Sabre toothed tigers. They found a gigantic skeleton of one!

Answer 3

The largest cats that ever lived were the European cave lion and the American lion, both of which were around 25% larger than modern lions, making them larger than the Siberian tiger, the largest cat alive today. They stood around 5 feet tall! Smilodon populator, the largest of the sabre-toothed cats, was only about the size of a modern lion (though probably heavier), whilst its more famous North American relative, Smilodon fatalis, was rather smaller - between a lion and jaguar in size. Other extinct cats that reached the size of modern lions are Machairodus giganteus and Homotherium serum - this makes them larger than all living felids except the lion and tiger.

Incidentally, though it is not classed as one of the 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, the cougar can actually weigh more than the leopard, the smallest of the Panthera genus - up to 230lb as opposed to the 200lb maximum of the leopard.

My list of largest cats would go:

Cave lion and American lion

Tiger

Smilodon populator

Modern lion, Machairodus giganteus and Homotherium serum

Smilodon fatalis

Jaguar

Cougar

Leopard

However, it is worth remembering that there were many extinct cats somewhere between the size of a jaguar and a leopard which may have weighed more in life. We can only estimate the actual size and weight of the animal from fossils.

Answer 4

Ya the siberian tiger is the largest cat on earth.  

Answer 5

Smilodon should be on the top of list

Answer 6

One of the saber-tooth tiger species, Smilodon populator, could have weighed as much as 360 kilograms = 793.664 143 87 lbs (according to the publication I'm linking in the Source box).

The authors also note that some of the largest specimens could have exceeded 400 kg, or over 881 lbs!

Of course, those figures depend on reconstructions, so there is always some margin for error.. but S. populator would still be the largest cat.