Jaguar

## Description

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus Panthera native to the Americas. It is the largest cat species in the Americas and the third largest in the world. The jaguar has featured prominently in the mythology of indigenous peoples of the Americas, including those of the Aztec and Maya civilizations.

## Appearance

The jaguar has a compact body, a wide head, and powerful jaws. The coat is usually yellow and tan, but colors can range from black to reddish brown. The spots on its coat are more defined and black on its head and neck, becoming larger rosette-shaped patterns on the sides and back. Jaguars living in forests are often darker and considerably smaller than those living in open areas, possibly due to the smaller numbers of large, herbivorous prey in forest areas. Jaguars have powerful jaws with the third-highest bite force of all felids, after the tiger and the lion.

## Distribution

Jaguars are widely distributed, inhabiting New Mexico and southern Arizona south toward northeastern Brazil and northern Argentina. Populations have been drastically reduced or in some areas and even eliminated, including the United States, El Salvador, and large parts of Mexico. Jaguars like thick, moist tropical lowland forests with plenty of cover, but can be found in reed thickets, scrubland, coastal forests, thickets, and swamps. They are superb swimmers and are usually found living near water: rivers, slow-moving streams, watercourses, lagoons, and swamps.

## Behavior

The jaguar is a solitary creature aside from the first couple of years, spent with their mother. Males are very territorial, with their home range overlapping that of several females, but are prepared to defend it fiercely from other males. They are dependent on water, particularly during the dry season, seeking relief from the heat. They are very good swimmers and are very fast when moving through the water, especially when pursuing their prey. They have been recorded moving between islands and the shore. Jaguars are also good at climbing trees but do so less often than cougars. Near dusk and dawn, they are most active, tending to rest during the mid-morning and afternoon. When resting they lie under thick vegetation in deep shade or under large rocks or in caves. When hunting, jaguars use a stalk-and-ambush strategy. They will slowly walk 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 ambush may include leaping into the water after prey, as a jaguar is quite capable of carrying a large kill while swimming. The jaguar's powerful bite allows it to pierce the carapaces of turtles and tortoises, and to employ an unusual killing method: it bites directly through the skull of mammalian prey between the ears to deliver a fatal blow to the brain. In order to communicate with each other jaguars roar or grunt for long-distance communication. Chuffing is produced by individuals when greeting, during courting, or by a mother comforting her cubs. Cubs have been recorded bleating, gurgling, and mewing.

## Diet

The jaguar's diet mostly consists of medium sized mammals, such as deer, capybara, tapirs and peccaries, which they silently stalk through the thick jungle. In water, jaguars hunt fish, turtles, and even small caiman. The jaguar is an aggressive and formidable hunter and is believed to eat over 80 different animal species.

## Reproduction

Jaguars are polygynous meaning that males mate with more than one female during the breeding season. Mating usually increases from December through March. Throughout the mating season, females will call loudly to attract males into their territory. Females generally give birth to between 2 to 3 cubs, following a 91 -111-day gestation period. Once the cubs are born, females will not tolerate a male in her territory, being very protective of the cubs. The young are born with closed eyes but open them after 2 weeks. They are weaned at the age of 3 months but remain in the birth den for 6 months before leaving to accompany their mother on hunts. The young remain with their mothers for up to 2 years of age. Females become reproductively mature between 12 and 24 months, and males when they are 24 to 36 months old.

## Population

### Population threats

Once living throughout South America, jaguars have been hunted mainly for their fur, teeth and paws. Despite legal protection fewer people hunting them for their fur, jaguars are now at risk due to loss of habitat mainly because of deforestation, so they are being pushed into the more remote parts of their native range.

### Population number

According to the World Wildlife Fund, jaguars number only 15,000 in the wild. Currently, this species is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers today are decreasing.

### Ecological niche

The jaguar is an apex predator, meaning it is at the top of the food chain and is not preyed upon in the wild. It is a keystone species, as it is assumed that it controls the population levels of prey such as herbivorous and seed-eating mammals and thus maintains the structural integrity of forest systems.

## Fun Facts

The word "jaguar" comes from a Native American word "yajuar”, meaning "he who kills with one leap".

Jaguars have eyesight that is six times better than that of humans at night and in darker conditions thanks to a layer of tissue at the back of their eyes that reflects light.

Jaguars that are black with spots are sometimes called panthers. They are actually jaguars.

Jaguars wave their tails above water to attract fish.

The jaguar can dive into the water to catch prey.

Jaguars living in forests are smaller and darker and smaller than those in open areas.

Unlike other felines, the jaguar, when eating prey, starts at the neck and chest.