Jump to content

Jaguar: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 20: Line 20:
}}
}}


The '''jaguar''' (''Panthera onca'') is a [[New World]] [[mammal]] of the [[Felidae]] family and one of four "[[big cat]]s" in the ''[[Panthera]]'' [[genus]], along with the [[lion]], [[tiger]] and [[leopard]] of the [[Old World]]. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the lion and tiger, and is the largest and most powerful feline in the [[Western Hemisphere]]. The jaguar's present range extends from [[Mexico]] (with occasional sightings in the southwestern [[United States]]) across much of Central America and south to [[Paraguay]] and northern [[Argentina]].
The '''jaguar''' (''Panthera onca'') is a [[New World (biology)|New World]] [[mammal]] of the [[Felidae]] family and one of four "[[big cat]]s" in the ''[[Panthera]]'' [[genus]], along with the [[lion]], [[tiger]] and [[leopard]] of the [[Old World]]. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the lion and tiger, and is the largest and most powerful feline in the [[Western Hemisphere]]. The jaguar's present range extends from [[Mexico]] (with occasional sightings in the southwestern [[United States]]) across much of Central America and south to [[Paraguay]] and northern [[Argentina]].


Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the leopard, although its behavioural and [[habitat]] characteristics are closer to those of the tiger. While dense [[jungle]] is its preferred habitat, the jaguar will range across a variety of forested and open terrain. It is strongly associated with the presence of water and is notable, along with the tiger, as a feline that enjoys swimming.
Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the leopard, although its behavioural and [[habitat]] characteristics are closer to those of the tiger. While dense [[jungle]] is its preferred habitat, the jaguar will range across a variety of forested and open terrain. It is strongly associated with the presence of water and is notable, along with the tiger, as a feline that enjoys swimming.

Revision as of 14:42, 24 September 2006

For other uses, see Jaguar (disambiguation).

Jaguar
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Carnivora
Family:
Felidae
Genus:
Panthera
Species:
P. onca
Binomial name
Panthera onca

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a New World mammal of the Felidae family and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus, along with the lion, tiger and leopard of the Old World. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the lion and tiger, and is the largest and most powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Mexico (with occasional sightings in the southwestern United States) across much of Central America and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina.

Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the leopard, although its behavioural and habitat characteristics are closer to those of the tiger. While dense jungle is its preferred habitat, the jaguar will range across a variety of forested and open terrain. It is strongly associated with the presence of water and is notable, along with the tiger, as a feline that enjoys swimming.

The jaguar is a largely solitary, stalk-and-ambush predator, and is opportunistic in prey selection. It is also an apex and keystone predator, playing an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating the populations of prey species. The jaguar has developed an exceptionally powerful bite, even relative to the other big cats.[2] This allows it to pierce the shells of armoured reptiles and to employ an unusual killing method with mammals: it bites directly through the skull of prey between the ears to deliver a fatal blow to the brain.[3]

Etymology

The word jaguar comes from the South American Tupi-Guarani language, and entered English via Portuguese.[4] The original and complete indigenous name for the species is Yaguareté—Yagua means "fierce" and eté means "true".[5] This generic name ("fierce true") originally referred to any carnivorous animal. Early etymological reports were that jaguara means "a beast that kills its prey with one bound," and this claim persists in a number of sources.[6] However, this has been challenged as incorrect.[7] In many Central and South American countries, the cat is referred to as el tigre ("the tiger").

The first component of its scientific designation, Panthera onca, is often presumed to derive from Greek pan- ("all") and ther ("beast"), but this may be a folk etymology. Although it came into English through the classical languages, panthera is probably of Oriental origin, meaning "the yellowish animal," or "whitish-yellow".[4] Onca denotes "barb" or "hook", a reference to the animal's powerful claws.

Taxonomy

Jaguar, Panthera onca, is the only New World member of the Panthera genus. DNA evidence suggests that the big cats last shared a common ancestor six million years ago; the fossil record points to the emergence of Panthera just two to three million years ago.[8] Qualified evidence suggests that the genus is monophyletic (having a single ancestor) rather than polyphyletic (having multiple ancestral sources). The pioneering work of British zoologist Reginald Pocock on the morphology of the Panthera group led to the conclusion that the jaguar was most closely related to the leopard.[9] Recent DNA evidence is more ambiguous: it appears that a clade containing the ancestors of the lion, jaguar and leopard appeared within Panthera after the divergence of the tiger, that the jaguar then diverged from this group, and that the lion and leopard were the last to split. Thus it cannot be clearly stated that the jaguar is more closely related to either cat; primitive lion and jaguar characteristics in the extinct Panthera gombaszoegensis (the European jaguar) and extinct Panthera atrox (the American lion) suggest more complex phylogenetic relationships.[9] Analysis of jaguar mitochondrial DNA has dated the species lineage to between 280 000 and 510 000 years ago, later than suggested by fossil records.[10]

Subspecies

Taxonomic delineation of jaguar subspecies was last performed by Pocock in 1939. Because this was before advances in the study of DNA made genetic comparison possible, his descriptions correspond to geographic origins and the study of skull morphology. These divisions are as follows:

  • Panthera onca onca: Venezuela, south and east to Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil
  • P. onca palustris: Paraguay and northeastern Argentina
  • P. onca peruviana: Coastal Peru
  • P. onca centralis: Central America—El Salvador to Colombia
  • P. onca hernandesii: Western Mexico
  • P. onca arizonensis: Eastern Arizona to Sonora, Mexico
  • P. onca veraecrucis: Southeastern Mexico to central Texas
  • P. onca goldmani: Yucatan Peninsula to Guatemala and Belize[8]

The exact status of these subspecies is unclear. Pocock himself suggested that there was more differentiation between specimens than true systematic difference.[8] Later re-evaluation may bear this out. Clinal examination by Larson (1997) did show north–south variation, but found greater differentiation within the subspecies than between them, and suggested that there was no indication of distinct groups.[11] Genetic work in 2001 suggested that there is no strong geographical subspecies structure, but that geographical barriers had created measurable differentiation.[10]

Biology and behaviour

Physical characteristics

The jaguar is a compact and well-muscled animal. There are significant variations in size: weights are normally in the range of 56–96 kg (124–211 lb). Larger animals have been recorded as weighing 131–151 kg (288–333 lb) (matching the average for female lions and tigers), as have extremely low weights of 36 kg (80 lb). Females are typically 10–20% smaller than males. The length of the cat varies from 1.62–1.83 m (5.3–6 feet), and its tail may add a further 75 cm (30 in). They stand about 67–76 cm (27–30 inches) tall at the shoulders.[12]

Further variations in size have been observed across regions and habitats, with size tending to increase from north to south. A study of the jaguar in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the Mexican pacific coast, showed ranges of just 30–50 kg (66–110 lb), about the size of the puma.[13] By contrast, a study of jaguars in the Brazilian Pantanal region found average weights of 100 kg (220 lb).[14] Forest jaguars are frequently darker and considerably smaller than those found in open areas (the Pantanal is an open wetland basin), possibly due to the fewer large herbivorous prey in forest areas.[15]

A short and stocky limb structure makes the jaguar adept at climbing, crawling and swimming.[12] The head is robust and the jaw extremely powerful. It has been suggested that jaguars have the strongest bite of all felids, and the second strongest of all mammals; this strength is an adaptation that allows jaguars to pierce turtle shells.[3] A comparative study of bite force adjusted for body size ranked them as the top felid, alongside the snow leopard and ahead of the lion and tiger,[2] while a National Geographic special suggested the jaguar is by weight the most powerful cat in the world.[16] It has been reported that "an individual jaguar can drag an 800-pound bull 25 feet [8 m] in its jaws and pulverize the heaviest bones".[17] The jaguar hunts wild animals weighing up to 300 kg (660 lb) in dense jungle, and its short and sturdy physique is thus an adaptation to its prey and environment.

A melanistic form of jaguar.

The base coat of the jaguar is generally a tawny yellow, but can range to reddish-brown and black. The cat is covered in rosettes for camouflage in its jungle habitat. The spots vary over individual coats and between individual jaguars: rosettes may include one or several dots, and the shape of the dots varies. The spots on the head and neck are generally solid, as are those on the tail, where they may merge to form a band. The underbelly, throat and outer surface of the legs and lower flanks are white.[12]

A condition known as melanism occurs regularly in the species; jaguars with melanism appear entirely black, although their spots are still visible on close examination. Melanism is relatively common, since a dominant, rather than recessive allele causes the colouration.[18] Melanistic jaguars are informally known as black panthers, but do not form a separate species. Rare albino individuals, sometimes called white panthers, occur among jaguars, as with the other big cats.[15]

The jaguar closely resembles the leopard, but is sturdier and heavier, and the two animals can be distinguished by their rosettes: the rosettes on a jaguar’s coat are larger, fewer in number, usually darker, and have thicker lines and small spots in the middle that the leopard lacks. The head of the jaguar is rounder, and it has shorter, stockier limbs.[19]

Reproduction and life cycle

File:Jaguarcub.jpg
A cub is groomed by its mother.

Jaguar females reach sexual maturity at about two years of age, and males at three or four. The cat is believed to mate throughout the year in the wild, although births may increase when prey is plentiful.[20] Research on captive male jaguars supports the year-round mating hypothesis, with no seasonal variation in semen traits and ejaculatory quality; low reproductive success has also been observed in captivity.[21] Female estrous is 6–17 days out of a full 37-day cycle, and females will advertise fertility with urinary scent marks and increased vocalization.[20] Both sexes will range more widely than usual during courtship.

Mating pairs separate after the act, and females provide all parenting. The gestation period lasts 93–105 days; females give birth to up to four cubs, and most commonly to two. The mother will not tolerate the presence of males after the birth of cubs, given a risk of infant cannibalism; this behaviour is also found in tigers.[22]

The young are born blind, gaining sight after two weeks. Cubs are weaned at three months but remain in the birth den for six months before leaving to accompany their mother on hunts.[23] They will continue in their mother's company for one to two years before leaving to establish a territory for themselves. Young males are at first nomadic, jostling with their older counterparts until they succeed in claiming a territory. Typical lifespan in the wild is estimated at around 12 years; in captivity, jaguars have lived up to 23 years, placing them among the longest-lived cats.[14]

Social structure

Like most cats, the jaguar is solitary outside mother-cub groups. Adults generally meet only to court and mate (though limited non-courting socialization has been observed anecdotally[22]) and carve out large territories for themselves. Female territories, from 25 to 40 km² in size, may overlap, but the animals generally avoid one another. Male ranges cover roughly twice as much as area, varying in size with the availability of game and space, and do not overlap.[22][24] Scrape marks, urine, and feces are used to mark territory.[25]

Like the other big cats, the jaguar is capable of roaring (the male more powerfully) and does so to warn territorial and mating competitors away; intensive bouts of counter-calling between individuals have been observed in the wild.[26] Their roar often resembles a repetitive cough, and they may also vocalize mews and grunts.[14] Mating fights between males occur, but are rare, and aggression avoidance behaviour has been observed in the wild.[25] When it occurs, conflict is typically over territory: a male's range may encompass that of two or three females, and he will not tolerate intrusions by other adult males.[22]

The jaguar is often described as nocturnal, but is more specifically crepuscular (peak activity around dawn and dusk). Both sexes hunt, but males travel further each day than females, befitting their larger territories. The jaguar may hunt during the day if game is available and is a relatively energetic feline, spending as much as 50–60% of its time active.[15] The jaguar's elusive nature and the inaccessibility of much of its preferred habitat make it a difficult animal to sight, let alone study.

Hunting and diet

Like all cats, the jaguar is an obligate carnivore, feeding only on meat. It is an opportunistic hunter and its diet encompasses 85 species.[15] The jaguar prefers large prey and will take deer, tapirs, peccaries and even crocodilian caiman species up to a certain size; however, the cat will eat any small species that can be caught, including frogs, mice, birds, fish, sloth and domestic livestock.[27]

While the jaguar employs the deep-throat bite-and-suffocation technique typical among Panthera, it prefers a killing method unique amongst cats: it pierces directly through the temporal bones of the skull between the ears of prey (especially capybaras) with its canine teeth, piercing the brain. Emmons (1987) has suggested this is an adaptation to "cracking open" turtle shells; following the late Pleistocene extinctions, armoured reptiles such as turtles would have formed an abundant prey base for the jaguar.[26][15] The skull bite is employed with mammals in particular; with reptiles such as caiman, the jaguar may leap on to the back of the prey and sever the cervical vertebrae, immobilizing the target. While capable of cracking turtle shells, the jaguar may simply reach into the shell and scoop out the flesh.[22] With small prey such as dogs, a paw swipe to crush the skull may be sufficient.

The jaguar is a stalk-and-ambush rather than a chase predator. The cat will walk slowly down forest paths, listening for and stalking prey before rushing or ambushing. The jaguar attacks from cover and usually from a target's blind spot with a quick pounce; the species' ambushing abilities are considered nearly peerless in the animal kingdom by both indigenous people and field researchers, and are probably a product of its role as an apex predator in several different environments. The ambush may include leaping into water after prey and a jaguar is quite capable of carrying a large kill while swimming; its strength is such that carcasses as large as a heifer can be hauled up a tree to avoid flood levels.[22]

On killing prey, the jaguar will drag the carcass to a thicket or other secluded spot. It begins eating at the neck and chest, rather than the midsection. The heart and lungs are consumed, followed by the shoulders.[22] The daily food requirement of a 34 kg animal, at the extreme low end of the species' weight range, has been estimated at 1.4 kg.[28] For captive animals in the 50–60 kg range, more than 2 kg of meat daily is recommended.[29] In the wild, consumption is naturally more erratic; wild cats expend considerable energy in the capture and kill of prey, and may consume up to 25 kilograms of meat at one feeding, followed by periods of famine.[30]

Ecology

Distribution and habitat

The range of the jaguar

Jaguars have been found in the fossil record for two million years, during which it has been an American cat.[8] Its present range extends from Mexico, through central America and into South America, including much of Amazonian Brazil.[31] The countries included in this range are Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, US and Venezuela. The jaguar is now extinct in El Salvador and Uruguay.[1]

The inclusion of the United States in the list is based on occasional sightings in the southwest, particularly in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. In the early 1900s, the jaguar's range extended as far north as Southern California and western Texas.[28] Jaguars are a protected species in the US under the Endangered Species Act, which has stopped the shooting of the animal for its pelt. In 2004, wildlife officials in Arizona photographed and documented jaguars in the south of the state. For any permanent population to thrive in Arizona, protection from killing, an adequate prey base, and connectivity with Mexican populations, are essential.[32]

The historic range of the species included much of the southern half of the US, and in the south extended much farther to cover most of the South American continent. In total, its northern range has receded 1000 km southward and its southern range 2000 km northward. Ice Age fossils of the jaguar, dated between 40 000 and 11 500 kya, have been discovered in the US, including some at an important site as far north as Missouri. Fossil evidence shows jaguars of up to 190 kg (420 lbs), much larger than the contemporary average for the animal.[33]

The habitat of the cat includes the rain forests of South and Central America, open, seasonally flooded wetlands, and dry grassland terrain. Of these habitats, the jaguar much prefers dense forest;[15] the cat has lost range most rapidly in regions of drier habitat, such as the Argentinian pampas, the arid grasslands of Mexico, and the southwestern US.[1] The cat will range across tropical, subtropical, and dry deciduous forests (including, historically, oak forest in the US). The jaguar is strongly associated with water and it often prefers to live by rivers, swamps, and in dense rainforest with thick cover for stalking prey. Jaguars have been found at elevations as high as 3800 m, but they typically avoid montane forest and are not found in the high plateau of central Mexico or in the Andes.[15]

Ecological role

A Jaguar in a wildlife rescue & rehabilitation centre in Argentina

The jaguar is an apex predator, meaning that it exists at the top of its food chain and is not regularly preyed on in the wild. The jaguar has also been termed a keystone species, as it is assumed, through controlling the population levels of prey such as herbivorous and granivorous mammals, apex felids maintain the structural integrity of forest systems.[13][34] However, accurately determining what effect species like the jaguar have on ecosystems is difficult, because data must be compared from regions where the species is absent as well as its current habitats, while controlling for the effects of human activity. It is accepted that mid-sized prey species see population increases in the absence of the keystone predators and it has been hypothesized that this has cascading negative effects,[35] however, field work has shown this may be natural variability and that the population increases may not be sustained. Thus, the keystone predator hypothesis is not favoured by all scientists.[36]

The jaguar also has an effect on other predators. The jaguar and the puma, the next largest feline of the Americas, are often sympatric (related species sharing overlapping territory) and have often been studied in conjunction. Where sympatric with the jaguar, pumas are smaller than normal. The jaguar tends to take larger prey and the puma smaller, reducing the latter's size.[37] This situation may be advantageous to the puma. Its broader prey niche, including its ability to take smaller prey, may give it an advantage over jaguars in human-altered landscapes;[13] while both are classified as near-threatened species, the puma has a significantly larger current distribution.

Conservation status

The jaguar is considered near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources,[1] meaning it may be threatened with extinction in the near future. The loss of parts of its range, including its virtual elimination from its historic northern areas and the increasing fragmenation of the remaining range, have contributed to its status. Jaguar populations are currently declining. Detailed work performed under the auspices of the Wildlife Conservation Society reveal that the animal has lost 37% of its historic range, with its status unknown in an additional 18%. More encouragingly, the probability of long-term survival was considered high in 70% of its remaining range, particularly in the Amazon basin and the adjoining Gran Chaco and Pantanal.[31]

The major risks to the jaguar include deforestation across its habitat, increasing competition for food with human beings,[1] and the behaviour of ranchers who will often kill the cat where it preys on livestock. When adapted to the prey, jaguars have been shown to take cattle as a large portion of their diet; while land clearance for grazing is a problem for the species, the jaguar population may have increased when cattle were first introduced to South America as the animals took advantage of the new prey base. This willingness to take livestock has induced ranch owners to hire full-time jaguar hunters, and the cat is often shot on sight.[14]

The Pantanal, Brazil in flood condition. A critical jaguar range area.

The jaguar is regulated as an Appendix I species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES): all international trade in jaguars or their parts is prohibited. Any hunting of jaguars is prohibited in Argentina, Colombia, French Guiana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, the US (where it is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act), Uruguay and Venezuela. Hunting of jaguars is restricted to "problem animals" in Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, while trophy hunting is still permitted in Bolivia. The species has no legal protection in Ecuador or Guyana.[8]

Current conservation efforts often focus on educating ranch owners and promoting ecotourism.[38] The jaguar is generally defined as an "umbrella species"—a species whose home range and habitat requirements are sufficiently broad that, if protected, numerous other species of smaller range will also be protected.[39] Umbrella species serve as "mobile links" at the landscape scale, in the jaguar's case through predation. Conservation organizations may thus focus on providing viable, connected habitat for the jaguar, with the knowledge that other species will also benefit.[38]

Given the inaccessability of much of the species' range—particularly the central Amazon—estimating jaguar numbers is difficult. Researchers typically focus on particular bioregions, and thus species-wide analysis is scant. In 1991, 600–1000 animals were estimated to be living in Belize. A year earlier, 125–180 jaguars were estimated to be living in Mexico’s 4000 km² (2400 mi²) Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, with another 350 in Chiapas state. The adjoining Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala, with an area measuring 15,000 km² (9,000 mi²), may have 465–550 animals.[40] Work employing GPS-telemetry in 2003 and 2004 found densities of only six to seven jaguars per 100 km² in the critical Pantanal region, compared with 10 to 11 using traditional methods; this suggests that widely used sampling methods may inflate the actual numbers of cats.[41]

In mythology and culture

Mesoamerican culture

Main article: Jaguars in Mesoamerican culture [42]

In Central and South America, the jaguar has long been a symbol of power and strength. The Olmec, the progenitor culture of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, developed a distinct "were-jaguar" motif of sculptures and figurines showing stylized jaguars or humans with jaguar characteristics. In the later Maya civilization, the jaguar was believed to facilitate communication between the living and the dead and to protect the royal household. The Maya saw these powerful felines as their companions in the spiritual world, and kings were typically given a royal name incorporating the word jaguar. The Aztec civilization shared this image of the jaguar as the representative of the ruler and as a warrior. The Aztecs formed an elite warrior class known as the jaguar knights. In Aztec mythology, the jaguar was considered to be the totem animal of the powerful deity Tezcatlipoca.

Contemporary culture

The jaguar is widely used as a symbol in contemporary culture. It is the national animal of Guyana and features in the country's coat of arms.[43] It is widely used as a product name, most prominently for a luxury car brand. In the early 1960s Fender Musical Instruments introduced an electric guitar called the Jaguar, geared toward practitioners of surf music. One of the updates to Apple Computer's MacOS operating system was codenamed Jaguar.

The name has been adopted by sports franchises, including the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars and the Mexican national soccer league team the Jaguares de Chiapas. The jaguar serves as the mascot for IUPUI, Southern University (Baton Rouge), Spelman College and the University of South Alabama. The crest of Argentina's national federation in rugby union features a jaguar; however, because of a historic accident, the country's national team is nicknamed Los Pumas. Nevertheless, the South American international rugby union team that played South Africa during the 1980s did adopt the name of the South American Jaguars.

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e Template:IUCN2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is near threatened.
  2. ^ a b Stephen Wroe, Colin McHenry, and Jeffrey Thomason (2006). "Bite club: comparative bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behaviour in fossil taxa" (PDF). Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Online. Retrieved 2006-08-07.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Hamdig, Paul. "Sympatric Jaguar and Puma". Ecology Online Sweden. Retrieved August 30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b ""Jaguar"". Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper. Retrieved 2006-08-06.
  5. ^ ""Etymology of mammal names"". Natural history facts and trivia. IberiaNature. Retrieved August 12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Virtually all of the general interest sources cited here repeat this apparently erroneous etymology.
  7. ^ ""Word to the Wise"". Take our word for it, issue 198, pg. 2. The Institute for Etymological Research and Education. Retrieved August 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ a b c d e "Guidelines for Captive Management of Jaguars," Taxonomy, pp. 5-7, Jaguar Species Survival Plan
  9. ^ a b Dianne N. Janczewski, William S. Modi, J. Claiborne Stephens, and Stephen J. O'Brien (1996). "Molecular Evolution of Mitochondrial 12S RNA and Cytochrome b Sequences in the Pantherine Lineage of Felidae". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 12 (4): 690. Retrieved 2006-08-06.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ a b Eizirik E, Kim JH, Menotti-Raymond M, Crawshaw PG Jr, O'Brien SJ, Johnson WE. (2001). "Phylogeography, population history and conservation genetics of jaguars (Panthera onca, Mammalia, Felidae)". Molecular Ecology. 10 (1): 65. Retrieved 2006-08-07.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Larson, Shawn E. (1997). "Taxonomic re-evaluation of the jaguar". Zoo Biology. 16 (2): 107. Retrieved 2006-08-07.
  12. ^ a b c ""All about Jaguars: ECOLOGY"". Wildlife Conservation Society. Retrieved August 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ a b c Rodrigo Nuanaez, Brian Miller, and Fred Lindzey (2000). "Food habits of jaguars and pumas in Jalisco, Mexico". Journal of Zoology. 252 (3): 373. Retrieved 2006-08-08.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ a b c d ""Jaguar Fact Sheet"" (PDF). Jaguar Species Survival Plan. Retrieved August 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Nowell, K. and Jackson, P. (compilers and editors) 1996. Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (PDF link; see Panthera Onca, pp 118–122)
  16. ^ ""Search for the Jaguar"". National Geographic Specials. Alabama Public Television. Retrieved August 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ McGrath, Susan (August 2004). ""Top Cat"". National Audubon Society. Retrieved August 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ Meyer, John R. "Black jaguars in Belize?: A survey of melanism in the jaguar, Panthera onca", biological-diversity.info, Belize Explorer Group, 1994.
  19. ^ ""Jaguar (panthera onca)"". Our animals. Akron Zoo. Retrieved August 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ a b "Guidelines," Reproduction, pp. 28-38
  21. ^ Ronaldo Gonçalves Morato, Marcelo Alcindo Barros de Vaz Guimaraes, Fernando Ferriera, Ieda Terezinha do Nascimento Verreschi, Renato Campanarut Barnabe (1999). "Reproductive characteristics of captive male jaguars". Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Research and Animal Science. 36 (5). Retrieved 2006-08-08.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ a b c d e f g "Guidelines," Natural History & Behavior, pp. 8–16
  23. ^ ""Jaguars: Magnificence in the Southwest"" (PDF). Newsletter, Spring 2006. Southwest Wildlife Rehabilitation & Educational Foundation. Retrieved August 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ George B. Schaller, Peter Gransden Crawshaw, Jr. (1980). "Movement Patterns of Jaguar". Biotropica. 12 (3): 161. Retrieved 2006-08-08.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ a b Rabinowitz, AR., Nottingham, BG Jr (1986). "Ecology and behaviour of the Jaguar (Panthera onca ) in Belize, Central America". Journal of Zoology. 210 (1): 149. Retrieved 2006-08-11.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Overlapping male ranges are observed in this study in Belize. Note the overall size of ranges is about half of normal.
  26. ^ a b Emmons, Louise H. (1987). "Comparative feeding ecology of felids in a neotropical rainforest". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 20 (4): 271. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
  27. ^ Defenders of Wildlife. "Jaguar -- Kids' Planet -- Defenders of Wildlife". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ a b "Determination That Designation of Critical Habitat Is Not Prudent for the Jaguar". Federal Register Environmental Documents. July 12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  29. ^ "Guidelines," Hand-rearing, pp. 62-75 (see table 5)
  30. ^ "Guidelines," Nutrition, pp. 55-61
  31. ^ a b Eric W. Sanderson, Kent H. Redford, Cheryl-Lesley B. Chetkiewicz, Rodrigo A. Medellin, Alan R. Rabinowitz, John G. Robinson, and Andrew B. Taber (2002). "Planning to Save a Species: the Jaguar as a Model". Conservation Biology. 16 (1): 58. Retrieved 2006-08-09.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Detailed analysis of present range and terrain types provided here.
  32. ^ "Jaguar Management". Arizona Game & Fish,. Retrieved 2006-08-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  33. ^ ""Jaguars"". The Midwestern United States 16 000 years ago. Illinois State Museum. Retrieved August 20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  34. ^ "Jaguar (Panthera Onca)". Pheonix Zoo. Retrieved August 30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  35. ^ "Structure and Character: Keystone Species". mongabay.com. Rhett Butler. Retrieved August 30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  36. ^ Wright, SJ; Gompper, ME; DeLeon, B (1994). "Are large predators keystone species in Neotropical forests? The evidence from Barro Colorado Island". Oikos. 71 (2): 279. Retrieved 2006-08-08.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  37. ^ J. Agustin Iriarte, William L. Franklin, Warren E. Johnson, and Kent H. Redford (1990). "Biogeographic variation of food habits and body size of the America puma". Oecologia. 85 (2): 185. Retrieved 2006-08-09.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  38. ^ a b "Jaguar Refuge in the Llanos Ecoregion". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved September 1. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  39. ^ "Glossary". Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan: Kids. Pima County Government. Retrieved September 1. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  40. ^ "Guidelines," Protection and Population Status, pg. 4.
  41. ^ Marianne K. Soisalo, Sandra M.C. Cavalcanti. (2006). "Estimating the density of a jaguar population in the Brazilian Pantanal using camera-traps and capture–recapture sampling in combination with GPS radio-telemetry" (PDF). Biological Conservation. 129: 487. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
  42. ^ See main article references for bibliography on this section
  43. ^ "Guyana," RBC Radio
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Panthera onca.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jaguar&oldid=77539204"