page_title: North American jaguar
section_title: Cultural significance
hierarchical_section_title: North American jaguar / Cultural significance
context_page_description: The North American jaguar is a jaguar population in North America, from the southwestern United States to Central America. This population has declined over decades.
  Results of morphologic and genetic research failed to find evidence for subspecific differentiation.
  This population is also referred to as the "American jaguar" and "Central American jaguar".
context_section_description: The jaguar is prominent in Mesoamerican culture. For instance, in the days of the Maya civilization, a king would sit upon a cushion made of jaguar skin, during coronation, and a number of their deities were based on it. The werejaguar was a motif and supernatural entity for Olmecs. The Aztecs had an elite group of warriors known as ocēlōmeh (plural for ocēlōtl, that is "jaguar warrior").
  In contemporary culture, the jaguar features as sports team mascot, such as the names of the South Alabama Jaguars and Jacksonville Jaguars. A red jaguar was adopted as the first official mascot for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
caption: An Aztec codex from the mid-16th century featuring items, such as skins of jaguars
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