Everyone is familiar with the big cats--the lion, tiger, leopard, and jaguar--members of the genus Panthera. The smaller cats--members of the genus Felis--are less familiar. This absorbing book, considered a comprehensive survey by David Quammen, writing in the New York Times Book Review, presents what is known about the thirty-seven or so species of the world's cats, including abundant information on the much-neglected smaller members of the cat family.

Dr. Kitchener... has made a readable, up-to-date synthesis of what we know about cats, his account always strengthened by the comparative point of view.--Scientific American

The numerous tables and comprehensive bibliography will appeal to the scientist, while the breadth of topics discussed, summary of numerous studies published in hard-to-find journals, numerous graphs and line drawings, and emphasis on the smaller cats and their behaviour, will make it of wider interest.--John Deag, Times Higher Education Supplement