Jaguar

## Jaguars prowl the imagination

Sleek, powerful, and elusive, jaguars stalk the Americas and are revered by all who share their realm. Their mesmerizing gaze and hunting prowess have earned them a prominent place in mythology and legend. Their beauty, strength, and adaptability have earned them the respect of feline admirers around the world. Jaguars are some pretty cool cats.

## Legend has it

As the only big cat species in the New World, jaguars have dominated the rituals and stories of the people who live there. Depictions of jaguars are found in ruins all along Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, where the jaguar was a chief figure in religious rites. Some tales say that jaguars can move between worlds because they are at home both in the trees and on the ground, and they hunt both day and night. Today, the jaguar continues to be considered a symbol of royalty, intelligence, beauty, and strength.

## Is that a jaguar I'm looking at?

Because their fur color and markings are similar, jaguars are often mistaken for leopards. And the likeness isn’t just skin deep - both cat species have similar habitats and roles in their ecosystems. The difference is that leopards hail from Africa and Asia, while jaguars are all American (North, Central, and South American, that is). Jaguars are also more heavily built and muscled than a leopard.

You can spot the difference, too: jaguars have dark spots on their backs, called rosettes, with an irregular broken border and often a spot in the center. Leopards also have dark rosettes on a tawny coat, but if you look closely at each rosette, you’ll see that there is no spot inside, and the rosette edge is unbroken. Scientists believe the coloring of spotted cats helps them hide from their prey, breaking up their outline in forests or grasslands.

## What's a black panther?

Most jaguars have tawny-colored fur with black rosettes, but some have black-on-black, or melanistic, coloration. Usually, jaguars that are found in darker rain forest areas are black. So, are they black panthers? No, there is no such animal! “Panther” is just an old general term that comes from the Panthera animal group name and is sometimes used to describe leopards, jaguars, and mountain lions (cougars, pumas).

## Oh, give me a home

Jaguars are built for life in the tropical rain forest, with muscular limbs and large paws to climb trees, pad along the forest floor, and even swim in rivers and streams. They enjoy a good dip and are strong swimmers. In fact, they typically live near water and have a taste for aquatic creatures. They can also survive in other habitats, too, from grasslands to deserts. Jaguars make their dens in caves, canyons, and even in the ruins of old buildings.

## The eyes have it

Like other cats, jaguars have eyes that are adapted for night hunting. One key element is their eyeshine, caused by a mirror-like structure called the tapetum lucidum. The tapetum lucidum in the back of their eyes reflects light into the retinas, nearly doubling the cat’s ability to see. If you have a pet cat or dog, you can see this eyeshine at night. Jaguars see less detail and color in daylight but have better vision at night.

## Dinner on the run

Jaguars stalk and ambush their ground-dwelling prey at night, instead of chasing prey like cheetahs and lions do. They can run pretty quickly, but this is not an important skill for jaguars. Their large jaw muscles allow them to kill their prey by piercing the skull with their sharp teeth. This enables them to eat spectacled caimans and hard-shelled reptiles like turtles and tortoises. Jaguars have been observed sitting quietly at the water’s edge, occasionally tapping the surface with their tail to attract fish. But most of the jaguar’s prey is larger. Researchers have counted over 85 species in the jaguar diet, including peccaries, deer, tapirs, cattle, and capybaras.

At the San Diego Zoo, the jaguars are fed a ground meat diet made for zoo carnivores, large bones, and an occasional thawed rabbit.

## A roaring good time

Solitary by nature, jaguars usually avoid each other. The cats leave claw marks and scent marks with their urine and feces as they roam their territory to let other jaguars know the area is “taken.” Jaguars, lions, tigers, and leopards are the only big cats that can roar. They roar to scare off other animals, defend their territory, and attract a mate. A male’s roar sounds more like a bark, followed by a growl; a female produces a sound like a coughing roar. It is thought that roaring helps bring a male and female together for breeding.

## Spotted cubs

The mother jaguar raises her cubs alone. One to 4 cubs are born with coarse, wooly fur and eyes closed, opening at 3 to 13 days. Their teeth appear by one month of age. By the time they are six to eight weeks old, the cubs are able to follow their mother. They continue to nurse until they are five to six months old, although they eat meat caught by their mother. Male cubs grow more quickly than any female siblings and by about two years old are about 50 percent heavier. The youngsters start to hunt on their own by 15 to 18 months of age but continue to stay near their mother until they are about 2 years old, when they are ready to claim their own territory.