Felidae carnivores, meaning they are dependent on nutrients in animal flesh for survival, and because of the large proportion of meat in their diet they are sometimes referred to as hypercarnivores. Of the 13 terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, they are the strictest carnivores. The Felidae comprises two subfamilies, the Pantherinae and the Felinae. The former includes the "Panthera" species tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, snow leopard, and "Neofelis" species clouded leopard and Sunda clouded leopard. All the non-pantherine cats are part of the Felinae, which includes several genera and the majority of cat species. The first cats emerged during the
Felidae Adult tigers actually display elongated rosettes that now appear as stripes. Adult lions seem to lack any distinctive markings altogether. Both juvenile tigers and lions, however, display partial rosettes. This ancestral character state appears only during these early stages, supporting the notion that ontogeny reflects phylogeny. The rosette patterns found on snow leopards, jaguars, and leopards all have a common origin. Fossil occurrences indicate that the Felidae arrived in North America about 10 million years later than the Canidae, and about 20 million years later than the Ursidae and the Nimravidae. Traditionally, five subfamilies have been distinguished within the Felidae