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Photo Gallery: Big Cats
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Photo: A lion walking through grasses
Photo: Male adult lionPhoto: Lionesses and cubsPhoto: Close-up of two male lionsPhoto: Lioness stretchingPhoto: A lion walking through grassesPhoto: An ocelot on the prowlPhoto: A mountain lion watches its territory from a rockPhoto: Bengal tiger with one of her three cubsPhoto: African cheetah in the grassPhoto: A young female jaguar stopped in its tracksPhoto: Clouded leopardPhoto: Close-up of an African lionPhoto: Asian lion restingPhoto: Bobcat sitting on a rockPhoto: Female lynx and her young kittenPhoto: A rare snow leopardPhoto: A female African cheetah and her three cubsPhoto: Siberian tigers in the snow
ENLARGEWALLPAPER

An adult male lion walks through grasslands in Botswana's Okavango Delta. Biologists think one of the reasons males evolved their impressive manes was to provide neck protection during fights.


National Geographic is working to avert the big cats' extinction with the Big Cats Initiative, a comprehensive program that supports innovative projects with quick results for saving big cats, anti-poaching programs, projects that test new technology and more.

Photograph by Beverly Joubert

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