Cheetah vs Leopard vs Jaguar

A lot of people have trouble distinguishing between these big cats so I thought I'd try to help out

If you notice, the Cheetah, on the far left, has a coat containing just pure black spots. Most things you see that say Cheetah print are actually leopard print, which is in the middle. They have a coat covered in what are called "rosettes." And finally, on the right, is the jaguar, which contains rosettes like the leopard but their rosettes are much larger and have spots inside them!

My personal favorite, the jaguar

The biggest cat in the Americas, and the only big cat that actually kills by puncturing the brain, the jaguar seems to always be left out of the love given to the big cats. You can distinguish them from leopards by the larger rosettes, different eye color, larger jaw, and generally, jaguars just carry a lot more weight.

The look-alike, the leopard

Cohabiting the African continent with our smaller friend, the cheetah, and the lion, the leopard is the 2nd biggest cat of the continent, and usually has significantly smaller paws and jaw size than the jaguar, as well as smaller rosettes, and bright yellow eyes (blue in cubs)

Finally, our fast friend, the cheetah

Actually not a "big cat" at all (big cats (tiger, lion, leopard, jaguar) are defined by their ability to roar with an extra vocal chord, which cheetahs and some of the smaller big cats don't have) and more closely related to your evil house cats than to their look-alike bigger cousins, the cheetah is characterized by the long, slim body, multitude of black spots, and distinctive tear drop pattern running from their eyes to nose.

Hope this helped some people learn big cat ID!

EDIT: For anyone who wants more, I did a follow up post with the rest of the big cats! http://imgur.com/gallery/r6ymt

EDIT 2: I did part 3! http://imgur.com/gallery/4KTYu