Carnivoran Families (Cats, Dogs, Bears, Mustelids)

This group gathers taxon/Mammal Families subcategory members that are themselves mammal families belonging to the order Carnivora. It spans Felidae, the cat family, Canidae, the dog family, Ursidae, the bear family, and Mustelidae, the weasel family, the four largest and best-known carnivoran families, alongside smaller families such as Procyonidae, the raccoon family, Viverridae, the civet family, Herpestidae, the mongoose family, Mephitidae, the skunk family, and Eupleridae, an island family found only on Madagascar and including the fossa, that island's largest native predator. Every family gathered here shares specialized, blade-like carnassial teeth adapted for shearing meat and hide, even in the several member families, the giant panda's family among them, whose diet has shifted substantially away from meat over evolutionary time.