Cat size comparison: big cats, wild cats and house cats

Big cat size comparison: lion, tiger, jaguar and leopard

The biggest cat in Height Studio is the liger Hercules, a cross between a lion and a tigress and the largest living cat on record, at 4 ft 1 in / 125 cm at the shoulder (Guinness World Records). Among wild cats the lion comes first with 4 ft / 123 cm for an adult male, then the tiger at 2 ft 11 in / 90 cm – but the tiger’s number is the middle of a range for both sexes, while the lion’s is for males only, so compare like with like. Smaller still are the cheetah (2 ft 6 in / 77 cm), the jaguar (2 ft 5 in / 72.4 cm), the leopard (2 ft 4 in / 71.1 cm) and the cougar (2 ft 4 in / 69.9 cm). The extinct sabre-toothed Smilodon stood more than 3 ft / 91 cm – a lower bound, because its source only says it was taller than that.

Cats are measured at the shoulder, the way zoos and wildlife agencies give it; the head and the tail are not part of the number. The table lists every wild cat in the library and the liger, tallest first:

Bobcat size comparison: lynx and small wild cats next to a house cat

A bobcat stands about 1 ft 8 in / 51.5 cm at the shoulder – about 2.1 times as tall as a house cat (9.8 in / 24.9 cm). The Eurasian lynx reaches 2 ft 1 in / 62.5 cm, the caracal 1 ft 6 in / 46 cm, the serval 1 ft 9 in / 52.5 cm and the ocelot 1 ft 6 in / 45 cm. Two of the smallest wild cats are shorter than many house cats: the rusty-spotted cat and the black-footed cat both stand about 7.9 in / 20 cm, and the sand cat 10.6 in / 27 cm. Pallas’s cat measures about 1 ft 1 in / 32.5 cm, so an average young man (5 ft 7 in / 170.8 cm) is about 5.3 times as tall.

One animal people look for here is not a cat at all: the fisher, often called a fisher cat, is a marten, a member of the weasel family. Height Studio shows it by its length, 3 ft 3 in / 99.1 cm including its bushy tail (U.S. National Park Service), because no reliable source gives its shoulder height – so it is not in the cat tables.

Bengal, Ragdoll and other breeds: house cat sizes compared

A typical house cat stands about 9.8 in / 24.9 cm at the shoulder; of the breeds in the library, the Savannah cat (F1) is the tallest at 1 ft 4 in / 41.4 cm and the Munchkin cat the shortest at 6 in / 15.3 cm. A Maine Coon reaches about 1 ft 1 in / 33 cm, a Ragdoll 10 in / 25.5 cm, a Bengal and a Sphynx about 9 in / 22.9 cm each. No breed standard gives a height, so these numbers come from breed profiles of a pet-food maker and a veterinary site; real cats vary a lot, and later Savannah generations are smaller than the F1. More in the guide “Maine Coon cat size comparison: how much bigger than a normal cat?”.

How to use Height Studio

1. Add yourself and others

   Open “Add person”, type a name and a height – 5′9″, 69 in, 175 or 1.75 m all work – and pick a figure, a build and a color. Children, teens and older people have their own silhouettes. “Add to comparison” puts the person into the chart.

2. Pick from the library

   In “Library”, type what you are looking for – a country, an animal, a building – or open a category. Every row shows the size and what was measured, and “Order” lists the figures A–Z or “Tallest first”.

3. Measure and compare

   Tap a figure to draw its measuring line across the chart. A card shows how much taller or shorter everyone else is and, for big things, how many of you it would take to reach the top.

4. Compare by length

   “Length” lines everything up by its length instead: ships, planes, trains, cars, whales and dinosaurs side by side from a start line, with people and rockets lying down. “Height” switches back.

5. Zoom, move and go full screen

   Pinch or use + and − to zoom, drag to move along the line-up, and “Fit all” brings everything back into view. “Full screen” gives the chart the whole screen; on a phone, turn it sideways for the widest view.

6. Share or save

   “Share link” copies a link with the whole comparison and “Save PNG” downloads it as a picture. In “Line-up” you can rename, recolor, reorder or remove every figure.

Popular comparisons

Tap one to load it into the chart above, then add yourself next to it.

• Lion vs. Tiger – 4 ft / 123 cm against 2 ft 11 in / 90 cm: about 1.4 times as tall at the shoulder, a difference of 1 ft 1 in / 33 cm.
• Liger Hercules (largest living cat) vs. Lion – 4 ft 1 in / 125 cm against 4 ft / 123 cm: a difference of 0.8 in / 2 cm.
• Maine Coon cat vs. House cat (domestic tabby) – 1 ft 1 in / 33 cm against 9.8 in / 24.9 cm: about 1.3 times as tall at the shoulder, a difference of 3.2 in / 8.1 cm.
• Bobcat vs. House cat (domestic tabby) – 1 ft 8 in / 51.5 cm against 9.8 in / 24.9 cm: about 2.1 times as tall at the shoulder, a difference of 10.5 in / 26.6 cm.
• Savannah cat (F1) vs. Maine Coon cat – 1 ft 4 in / 41.4 cm against 1 ft 1 in / 33 cm: about 1.3 times as tall at the shoulder, a difference of 3.3 in / 8.4 cm.
• Jaguar vs. Leopard – 2 ft 5 in / 72.4 cm against 2 ft 4 in / 71.1 cm: a difference of 0.5 in / 1.3 cm.
• Cheetah vs. Cougar (mountain lion) – 2 ft 6 in / 77 cm against 2 ft 4 in / 69.9 cm: a difference of 2.8 in / 7.2 cm.
• Eurasian lynx vs. Bobcat – 2 ft 1 in / 62.5 cm against 1 ft 8 in / 51.5 cm: about 1.2 times as tall at the shoulder, a difference of 4.3 in / 11 cm.

Tips for better comparisons

• Measure in the morning, barefoot. You are tallest right after waking up and lose a little height over the day. The guide How to measure your height at home shows an exact method with a wall and a book.
• Start from an idea. “Ideas to try” below the chart loads ready line-ups – family, dinosaurs, the tallest buildings, the solar system – that you can change freely.
• Stand next to your country. Search for your country in “Library” and add its average man or woman, or open the average height by country page with the whole ranking.
• No account needed – but mind what a link shows. A shared link keeps the whole comparison in its address, so a bookmark saves it. Our server never sees that part, but anyone you send it to can read the names. Use initials for real people, or send the PNG.

How do I convert centimeters to feet and inches?

Divide the centimeters by 2.54 to get inches, then take out whole groups of 12 as feet: 175 cm ÷ 2.54 = 68.9 in, which is 5 ft 8.9 in – about 5′9″. The other way round, multiply the inches by 2.54: 5′9″ is 69 in, or 175.3 cm. Or leave it to the tool: type either one and switch with the “ft / in” and “cm / m” buttons. The chart rounds to the nearest inch; the line-up keeps the exact value.

What is measured: without shoes, at the shoulder, nose to tail

• People stand straight, without shoes. Children show the WHO median for their age; country averages are the mean height of 19-year-olds in 2019, estimated by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration from measured data.
• Four-legged animals are measured at the shoulder, as zoos and breed standards do. The figure stands with its shoulder on that height, so a horse’s head rises above the line.
• Long animals – snakes, whales, sharks and most dinosaurs – are measured nose to tail, so the drawing is scaled by its length. Dinosaur sizes are museum estimates from fossils.
• Buildings use their official height to the architectural top, spires included; mountains their height above sea level. Planets sit on the ground like balls and are drawn by their diameter, and altitudes such as the Kármán line run across the chart.

Where the numbers come from

The figures in the library rest on 406 source pages – nothing is guessed. The one exception is marked as such: mythical creatures are legends, so their sizes come from the stories that tell of them or are illustration sizes, and each one carries a legend tag. Typical values are averages or the middle of the range a source gives, so real individuals vary. A few of the main sources by category:

• People & ages: World Health Organization, NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)
• Famous people: Guinness World Records, NBA.com, Team USA
• Sports: FIBA, Volleyball World, International Journal of Morphology
• Animals: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Animal Diversity Web, American Kennel Club
• Prehistoric: Natural History Museum, London, Field Museum, Chicago, Guinness World Records
• Mythical creatures: Project Gutenberg, Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, Internet Archive
• Tiny world: Animal Diversity Web, The Wildlife Trusts, Royal Horticultural Society
• Objects: The IFAB, FIBA, FIVB
• Vehicles: Lufthansa Group, NASA, SpaceX
• Buildings: CTBUH Skyscraper Center, U.S. National Park Service, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District
• Nature: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Woodland Trust, Guinness World Records
• Space: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Science, NASA
• Altitudes: FAI, NASA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Countries: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

Every source with its link is on the sources page.

More height comparisons

• Height comparison chart
• Average height by country
• Dinosaur size comparison
• Tallest buildings in the world
• Tallest man in the world
• Animal size comparison
• Bear size comparison
• Shark size comparison
• Spider size comparison
• Length comparison
• Ship size comparison
• Planet size comparison