Why do male felines bite the heads of females when mating

Biting the scruff of the neck is a natural relaxant to cats. Ever notice how a mother cat carries her kittens. It tranquilizes them.

Mating is opportunistic with lions and other big cats. Terrible injuries to males can occur if the female is unreceptive and so the "scruff holding" technique is used to pacify the female until breeding has occured.

This technique seems to temporaily cut off a little blod flow and tranquilizes many species of animals...ferrets, dogs, bears, mestelids, and of course big cats.

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They don't bite the head, but the loose skin of the back of the neck. It is a sort of "love handle." If a cat is grabbed by the loose skin at the back of the head, it has a calming effect on it. Nevertheless, because of the spines on the penis of the male cat, the female experiences pain (which stimulates ovulation), and she often reacts violently by turning her head and threatening the male with a bite. At that moment in time, the male has to jump away quickly to avoid injury.