The powerful feline's muscles ripple beneath an ebony coat.

Cautious hunters that usually avoid combat with humans unless starving or cornered. Great cats may be playful, but are quick to anger. They remain outdoors, rarely venturing deep underground.

The Americas are home to a wide variety of hunting cats, from small but fierce hunters of frogs, birds, and monkeys to large and deadly prowlers capable of taking down very large prey.

Margay. The margay is a small cat that lives in dense tropical forests, preferring to spend most of its life in the trees. During the day, a margay lounges in liana tangles far above the ground, and at night it chases birds, frogs, lizards, and monkeys through the treetops. A margay can use its sound mimicry ability to imitate the sounds of any animal of its own size or one size category smaller, and it often does so to lure prey into an ambush. A margay weighs around 8 pounds and may reach a length of 3-4 feet, nearly half of which is its tail.

Ocelot. Ocelots are spotted nocturnal predators that are equally at home on the ground or in trees. They are skilled climbing, leaping, and swimming and prefers to hunt close to water sources with dense vegetation cover, though it ranges from grasslands to swamps as well as forests. Ocelots are typically 1-1/2 feet tall and weigh 20-35 pounds.

Puma. Pumas are ambush hunters and stalkers. They wait in dense vegetation or underbrush, or rocky outcroppings for potential prey to wander by. When in range, the puma springs to the attack and bites and rakes its foe. Pumas are excellent hunters and often stalk potential prey for several miles before attacking. Pumas stand about two feet tall and are about 4-5 feet long with a tail 2-3 feet long. A typical puma weighs around 125 pounds. It has short, coarse, fur with a white underbelly and a black-tipped tail. Its fur color (except its underbelly) is typically brown, black, rust, or gray. Its eyes are golden.

Jaguar. The jaguar is a highly aggressive and ferocious great cat that makes its home in dense forests or swampy areas near a source of fresh water. Of all the big cats, the jaguar is the most at home in the water. They are excellent swimmers and stalk their prey through deep water where other cats won't go. They also excel at climbing and often spend time hunting tree-dwelling animals (such as monkeys). The jaguar is highly territorial with its personal hunting ground often covering an area of several square miles. The typical jaguar subsists on a diet of animals such as deer, tapir, elk, fish, armadillos, and other small animals. If hungry or its food supply is thin, jaguars have been known to attack prey much larger than itself. Jaguars stalk their prey and prefer to attack from ambush, swooping in and felling prey with one swift stroke of their powerful jaws or locking on until their prey is dead.

Great cats about 8 to 9 feet long that enjoy swimming and hunt near water

These great cats are about 8 to 9 feet long (from nose to tail-tip) and weigh about 165 pounds. Unlike other great cats, they enjoy swimming and often hunt near rivers or lakes. Jaguars kill with their powerful bite, preferring to deliver a fatal wound to the skull of their prey.