Jaguar

For other uses, see Jaguar (disambiguation).

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The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a large member of the cat family native to warm regions of the Americas. It is closely related to the lion, tiger, and leopard of the Old World, and is the largest species of the cat family found in the Americas.

Jaguars vary from 1.62 to 1.83 m (5.3 to 6 feet) in length, excluding tail, stand around 67 to 76 cm (27 to 30 inches) tall at the shoulder, and weigh between 56 and 96 kg (124 and 211 lb) with larger individuals, recorded by scientists, weighing between 131 and 151 kg (288 to 333 lb). Females are typically twenty percent smaller than males. [1] The jaguar has the strongest jaw structure of any feline and second strongest jaw structure of any land carnivore. [2] Captive jaguars have been documented putting 0.64 cm (1/4 inch) dents into bowling balls using their teeth. One jaguar was documented dragging a full-grown horse for more than a mile and swimming across a river with it. The jaguar is the most heavily built feline, and strongest of the big cats, though not the largest. [3] [4][5][6][7][8]National Geographic in the special, "In Search of the Jaguar," has recently named it pound for pound the strongest animal in the world.[9]

A Jaguar in a wildlife rescue & rehabilitation centre in Argentina

Although jaguars look very much like leopards and are closely related to them, they are sturdier and heavier, and their ecological role and behaviour is closer to that of the tiger. However, the jaguar uses a different killing method from most cats to kill its prey. Instead of biting the neck, the jaguar delivers a fatal bite directly to the skull.

The jaguar's habitat ranges from the rain forests of South and Central America to marshy and even desert terrain in Mexico, but they are rarely seen in mountainous regions. Known for their strong swimming and climbing abilities, they often prefer to live by rivers, in swamps, and in dense forest with thick cover for stalking prey. They are the largest predator in their range. Jaguars, on rare occasions, are seen as far north as the southwestern United States, particularly in Arizona and New Mexico. The historic jaguar range actually extended as far north as southern California and western Texas As recently as 2004 wildlife officials in Arizona have photographed and documented jaguars in the southern parts of the state. Presently it is unclear whether recent sightings indicate whether there is a permanent population developing in the Southwest or these cats are simply transients straying over the border from Sonora, Mexico. However, jaguars are a protected species in the United States under the Endangered Species Act and are considered nongame, so wherever they are found in the southwest they are by law generally not to be molested. Fossils of jaguars from as far north as Missouri confirm these cats inhabited much of the Southern U.S. These prehistoric jaguars grew 20% larger than their modern counterparts and must have been quite ferocious. A skull of a glyptodon was discovered in Arizona with puncture holes made by the fangs of a big cat. The jaguar was the first suspect in this case because of its trademarked habit of killing prey by biting through the skull, instead of the neck like other cats.

Jaguars are solitary hunters that do not associate with one another outside the breeding season. They typically take large prey: their very strong jaw equips them to hunt deer, tapirs, and peccaries, but they are opportunists and will take anything from frogs and mice to birds, fish, and domestic livestock. A jaguar's bite can pierce the shell of a turtle (Emmons, 1987). Jaguars can run quite quickly, but do not have much endurance and rarely engage in long chases.

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Melanistic form of Jaguar.

The background of the coat is usually an orange-yellow in colour, with numerous rings or rosettes on the flanks and spots on the head and neck. It is possible to distinguish this species from a leopard by the presence of spots inside its rosettes. A jaguar's rosettes are also larger than a leopard's. A condition known as melanism can create jaguars that appear entirely black (although the spots are still visible if one looks closely). These are known as black panthers, but do not form a separate species.

Young jaguar males reach sexual maturity at about three to four years of age, females about a year earlier. Females give birth to as many as four cubs after a 90 to 110 day gestation, but raise no more than two of them to adulthood. The young are born blind and can see after two weeks. They remain with their mother for up to two years before leaving to establish a territory for themselves, which can be anywhere between 25 and 150 square kilometres in size (depending on the availability of suitable prey). Typical lifespan is 10 or 11 years in the wild; in captivity, jaguars have lived up to 20 years.

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The word jaguar comes from the South American Tupi-Guarani language. According to one early European explorer, jaguara meant "a beast that kills its prey with one bound." The original and complete indigenous name for the species is Jaguarete. Curiously, Jagua means "dog" in Guarani. Jaguar is also a royal title bestowed to a royal prince, princess or ruling monarch in some Maya traditions such is that of the Lencas. The jaguar's wide range means that it should not be in danger of extinction in the forseeable future. The species has declined in number in some areas, however, mainly due to habitat loss, especially in rain forests and grassland turned into cropland.

External links

• Amazon jaguar photo and information
• Jaguar portrait - Notecard