The jaguar's hindlimbs are longer than its forelimbs to improve jumping. Its forepaws are equipped with long, retractile claws to help grab and hold its prey. The jaguar has a rough tongue that is designed for peeling the skin away from the flesh of its prey, and to peel the flesh away from its prey's bones. The jaguar has loose belly skin which allows the animal to be kicked by its prey with little chance of injury. The largest known population exists in the Amazon rain forests.
Black jaguars live in South America.
Jaguars are also found in Africa and Asia. Until the 1900s, they also roamed the Yukon, southern United States to Uruguay, and Iceland. Jaguars prefer wet lowland habitats, swampy savannas or tropical rain forests. Their favorite habitat is in the tropical and subtropical forests. Jaguars like their homes to have very soft ground.