9 Comments so far

1. The Cheshire on November 2, 2009 4:52 PM

   All cats can climb trees, it is just that some do it better and more often than others. With Jags they climb with the best of them same with puma (same thing as a panther).
   However big cats such as lions and tigers are not so much of a chill in the tree species. They have the ability to and lord knows they have the strength, it is just that it is something they do not do too often.
   Cheetahs are another species that you will not see in the trees too often either. For the most part you will find the little ones up there playing.
   If you want to find info on Pumas look under the following: puma, panther, mt lion, couger, catamount. Believe it or not, they are all the same species. They just have different names depending on where you are in.

2. Locust on November 2, 2009 5:50 PM

   Getting up the tree is rarely the issue (except for cheetahs, whose claws do not retract and are, therefore, often blunt). Getting down is the tricky part because cat claws are hooked to climb up, not down. Really big cats (lions and tigers) can even die attempting to get down from a tree, because they weigh so much that they can slip and fall easily.
   Leopards are well-known as tree climbers, but most medium-sized cats will climb and sometimes attack prey from a tree.

3. Patience on November 2, 2009 6:44 PM

   All wild cats can climb trees, but that doesn’t mean they always do. ( Declawed cats obviously can’t climb trees!)

4. xx_villa on November 2, 2009 7:16 PM

   I agree with Locust. It isn’t the climbing up the tree part that poses as a problem, so much as it is the descent. Take your average, domestic house cat for example. Have you ever observed one climbing a tree, and then trying to come back down? They can sure climb a tree swiftly and easily enough (especially if pursued by the a neighbor dog!), but coming back down appears a feat in itself. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to pull out a ladder or trying climbing up a tree myself, to save a cat that has climbed a tree but found it impossible to get back down.
   All cats have the ability to climb trees, though it is easier for some than others, especially the descent. Of all the cats in the cat family, only two are adept climbers. And by adept I mean that they are able to climb up a tree and then climb back down without problem.
   -Leopards are great tree climbers. But because they do not possess specialized bones or great flexibility in their ankles, they can’t descend a tree headfirst. So while they can climb trees quickly and easily (often taking their prey up into a tree), despite their physical strength getting back down is much more difficult.
   -Clouded leopards on the other hand have ankles that allow more rotation and range of mobility, and can descend from a tree (running) headfirst nearly as easy as they can climb up a tree.
   -Tigers often climb trees when they are cubs. But once they mature and increase in size and weight, both climbing up and down a tree can be difficult. A tiger, the largest of all cats, is several hundreds of pounds heavier than a leopard, so a tiger would pretty much have to get a running start to be able to make it up a tree, or leap onto a low branch. If a tiger were to climb a tree, it wouldn’t climb very high as the shorter branches would be the only one’s capable of sustaining the weight of a tiger. And once it climbed the tree and wished to return to ground level, it could take a tiger quite a while to attempt the climb back down; deciding the best “footing” needed to climb down backwards.
   -The same with lions. Lions are more than capable of climbing a tree or leaping into a tree, but usually don’t because of their weight.
   -Jaguars, the third largest of all cats is great at climbing trees–in fact, it spends a great deal of its time in trees, often pouncing on prey while in a tree– but must also descend backwards.
   -Margays are small spotted cats, and like clouded leopards are great climbers that can easily climb back down a tree, headfirst. The ankles of a margay are very flexible (allowing the cat to rotate the ankle joint 180 degrees), and this range of motion allows a margay to firmly grasp branches of a tree with its front and back paws, both during ascent and descent.
   - Pumas/Cougars/Mountain lions, cheetahs, ocelots, caracals, lynxes, bobcats…I could list just about every [wild] cat that is known to man, and while they are all able to climb trees or leap into trees, most are not anatomically built for aboreal (tree) life or have the flexibility to easily descend from a tree, with exception to the clouded leopard and margay–the only two species of cats that have the ankle flexibility to allow them to climb down a tree headfirst.
   Many people believe that cheetahs are not able to climb trees because they do not have retractile claws like most cats. This is not entirely true. Cheetahs are cats built for speed and their claws help them maintain a grip on land (or whatever) when in pursuit of prey, but their claws are actually semi-retractile not completely nonrectractile.
   Puma, cougar and mountain lion are all names used for the same species of cat, Puma concolor or P. concolor, though the common name often differs by location. Sometimes they may also be called catamounts, mountain screamers or just simply panther, as well as a variety of other names. And there are several subspecies also. These cats are found in the western part of Canada, and in both North and South America.
   When you hear the term “black panther” used, it is in reference to either a melanistic (black) leopard or a melanistic jaguar. It is not incorrect to use the term “black panther” only in regards to melanistic leopards, as both leopards and jaguars belong to the genus Panthera, and melanism is often found in both cats. I have seen both melanistic leopards and melanistic jaguars, and it is fairly easy to distinguish between the two because of their difference in size.
   But back to the main point. All cats can climb trees, though some are better at it then others. I have been to many zoos and exotic feline rescue centers and preserves, and I have seen lions in trees, tigers in trees, cheetahs, leopards, cougars, bobcats and just about any other cat there is in trees. Many of the bigger cats may leap onto trees rather than climb them, or leap out of trees rather than try to climb back down, but they’re not incapable of climbing a tree. It’s just the descent that is the problem, because their size may pose as a problem and they don’t possess the ankle flexibility to make the descent easy. Unlike the clouded leopard and margay. These two cats are the most adept climbers of all the cats, because they are able to get up and down a tree swiftly and easily, though many cats are still great climbers.

5. Leolupus on November 2, 2009 7:52 PM

   All cats can climb, it’s just that some are better at it than others. Tigers (Panthera tigris) and lions (Panthera leo) rarely climb simply because of their size and weight, but they are still able to scramble into the lower branches if they really want to (I have seen a lion climb a tree to steal a leopard’s kill). The best climbers are probably the leopard (Panthera pardus) and the margay (Felis wiedii), both of which are extremely agile (the margay has swivelling ankle-joints which allow it to descend a tree-trunk head-first. It can even hang upside-down beneath a branch!).
   The puma (Puma concolor) is a cat found only in the New World. Its range extends from Canada to the Andes. It is also called the cougar or mountain lion or, in the case of the Florida subspecies, the Florida panther. ‘Panther’ on its own means a black (melanistic) leopard. It is incorrect to use this term for any other cat. Leopards have the widest range of any large cat, found across Asia and Africa. Melanism is more common in Asia.

6. emucompb on November 2, 2009 8:01 PM

   Most of them can climb trees, except for the biggest.
   I would not expect to find cheetahs, lions, or tigers up trees.
   “Panther” usually refers to a mountain lion, but I’ve heard it used for jaguars too. Puma, mountain lion, catamount, cougar, and a few other names are all the same animal, Felis concolor. See the link. These are found in the southwest USA, and more rarely all the way down south through South America. One was photographed recently in La Canada Flintridge, California, which is about three miles from where I live in Los Angeles.http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-…

7. cranky lady on November 2, 2009 8:24 PM

   All wild cats can climb. Even though its rare lions have been spotted climbing trees. A puma and and panther can mean just about anything. The genus Panthera can mean lion tiger leapord and jaguar.I think you mean the black ones? Those are jaguars that have melanism, which is they were just born black. There are also rare cases of albino jaguars.

8. Baby Incinerator on November 2, 2009 9:21 PM

   All cat species are agile enough to climb trees. It’s a question of whether or not they want to do it.
   A puma is just another name for the common mountain lion. By the way…pumas, jaguars, and leopards are all considered to be panthers.

9. Jim on November 2, 2009 9:35 PM

   They all can climb trees. Only one that does is a full grown male lion. And it is because he is too ***** to do it.