A safari (pronounced /səˈfɑri/) is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa, traditionally for a big-game hunt; today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife. There is a certain theme or style associated with the word, which includes khaki clothing, belted bush jackets, pith helmets or slouch hats, and animal skins—like...

The leopard (pronounced /ˈlɛpərd/), Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four “big cats” in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion and jaguar. Once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, the leopard’s range of distribution has decreased radically because of hunting and loss of habitat. It is now chiefly found in...

The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia with a critically endangered remnant population in Gir Forest National Park in India, having disappeared from North Africa and Southwest Asia in historic times. Until...

The tiger (Panthera tigris), a member of the Felidae family, is the largest of the four “big cats” in the genus Panthera. Native to much of eastern and southern Asia, the tiger is an apex predator and an obligate carnivore. Reaching up to 3.3 metres (11 ft) in total length, weighing up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds), and having canines up to 4 inches long, the larger tiger subspecies are comparable in size to the biggest extinct...

Now here’s a great idea! Using Google maps to identify the location of news stories about snow leopards in China. Juan Li, a young Ph.D. student  has created this Google map of snow leopards reported during the 20 year period of 1990-2009 by searching the Google News Archive. She says”  I am a Ph.D candidate of conservation biology, in Center for Nature and Society, Peking university. And my supervisor is Lu Zhi. I did this map,...