Cheetahs and Leopards

I've loved watching cats of all kinds since I was young. I actually entertained ideas of being a zookeeper once. When I was in primary school, I knew the major cats (family Felidae) of sub-family Pantherinae (lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard) and that they weren't felines, technically (sub-family Felinae takes care of the domestic cat, cheetah, etc).

I was therefore vastly entertained to see someone online comparing two proposals that looked similar to him and saying that they were as alike as a leopard and a cheetah. Actually, the only major similarity is that both are spotted cats.

Here's a quick run-down of some of the many major differences:

• A cheetah is a feline that purrs, a leopard is a pantherine which doesn't.
• A cheetah is the fastest cat on earth (up to 120 km/h), but a leopard isn't (max 60 km/h, only half the speed).
• Leopards are powerful enough to climb trees while carrying a heavy carcass. Cheetahs cannot climb trees (they're the only cats which can't retract claws, so cannot grip well).

There are many other significant differences which a simple Google search would expose. The irony was that this somebody was saying that good research skills would have made for better proposals. Ahem.