The jaguar is the largest cat in the western hemisphere (Panthera Jaguar, 2020). Jaguars are the third largest cat in the world, after the tiger and lion (WWF Top 10 Jaguar, 2020). We put the leopard as larger because it is taller than the jaguar but the jaguar is heavier than the leopard, perhaps we should have switched the order. They roam across parts of North, Central and South American (WCS Jaguar, 2020). Jaguars, or Panthera onca, are listed on the IUCN Red List as near threatened with a decreasing population trend (IUCN Jaguar, 2020). No one knows the number of jaguar individuals that remain in the wild (IUCN Jaguar 2020; Panthera Jaguar, 2020). Jaguars are being threatened by habitat loss, poaching, and prey loss (Panthera Jaguar, 2020).
Jaguars are strong swimmers and climbers (WWF Jaguar, 2020). Jaguars have the strongest bite and jaw muscles of all of the big cats (Wilber, 2020). They have a bite force of around 200 pounds per square inch (Wilber, 2020). To put that in perspective, the jaguar has a bite that almost doubles the bite of a tiger (Wilber, 2020)! Jaguars, like leopards, have rosettes, although unlike leopards their rosettes have a spot in the middle (NG Jaguar, 2020).
The Jaguar Identification Project uses citizen (community) science to review camera trap images to build a database on the individual jaguars within the northern Pantanal region (JIP About, 2017). The Pantanal has the highest density of jaguars (JIP About, 2017). The jaguars in this area began being studied in the early 2000’s and have been cataloged using their unique spot patterns (JIP About, 2017).
*Photo of male jaguar "Valerio" born on March 12, 2015 at the San Diego Zoo, taken by Helene Hoffman. Visit her Flickr page.
Literature Cited
Hoffman, H. (2017, February 25). Stalking jaguar [Photograph]. Flickr.
International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. (2020). Jaguar: Panthera onca. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15953/123791436#threats
Jaguar Identification Project (2017). About: Welcome to the jaguar identification project. https://www.jaguaridproject.com/about
National Geographic. (2020). Animals: Jaguar.
Panthera. (2020). Jaguar. https://www.panthera.org/cat/jaguar
Pantera. (2020). Jaguar: Panthera onca.
file:///C:/Users/reedt/Downloads/Jaguar%20Fact%20Sheet%20(4).pdf
Wilber, S. (2020, March 19). Jaguar jaw muscles. Reid Park Zoo.
Wildlife Conservation Society (2020). Wildlife: Jaguars. https://www.wcs.org/our-work/species/jaguars
World Wildlife Fund. (2020). Species: Jaguar. https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/jaguar
World Wildlife Fund. (2020). Top 10 facts about jaguars.
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