Kzin

The Kzinti (singular Kzin) are a fictional, very warlike and bloodthirsty race of cat-like aliens in Larry Niven's Known Space series. The kzin were initially introduced in Niven's story "The Warriors" (originally in Worlds of If, 1966) and "The Soft Weapon," (1967), both collected in Neutron Star (1968). A Kzin character, Speaker-to-Animals, subsequently played a major role in Niven's Hugo and Nebula award-winning Ringworld (1970), giving considerably more background of the Kzin and their interactions with human civilizations. Following this, Niven gave permission to several friends to write stories taking place in the time following "The Warriors" but before "The Soft Weapon;" these stories (including a handful by Niven) were collected in a number of volumes of The Man-Kzin Wars, which eventually reached eleven volumes, the first published June 1988. Kzinti evolved from a plains hunting cat on a slightly colder, drier planet than Earth. The Kzin word for their home planet... full article at wikipedia