Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 29, 2021
The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a large cat and the only Panthera species native to the Americas. With a body length of 1.12 to 1.85 m (3 ft 8 in to 6 ft 1 in) and a weight of 56 to 96 kg (123 to 212 lb), it is the third-largest cat species in the world. Its coat is covered by spots that transition to rosettes on the sides. The jaguar's range extends from the southern U.S. through Mexico and across much of Central America to Paraguay and northern Argentina. It inhabits forested and open terrain, but prefers dense jungle. It is adept at swimming and is largely a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush apex predator. The wild jaguar population is thought to have declined since the late 1990s, and is threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching and human–wildlife conflict. Since 2002, it has been listed as a near-threatened species on the IUCN Red List. The jaguar has featured prominently in indigenous cultures of the Americas, including the Maya and Aztec civilizations. (Full article...)