The main findings of this study were that lion and caracal muscle as a whole, had high CK, PHOS and LDH activities and low CS and 3HAD activities, with a predominant expression of the MHC IIx isoform in all the felid muscles analyzed when compared to humans, indicating a species that have great sprinting capability. In contrast, the rate limiting enzymes for glycolysis were significantly lower than that from human muscle.