JAGUAR (Panthera onca)
Description: Jaguars are the largest cats in the western
hemisphere, and the third largest cat in the world after the tiger and
lion. They have a stocky body and their coat is yellowish-tan with
black spots and rings. Jaguars can also be completely black, known
as melanistic or black panthers. Females weigh between 100 and
200 pounds and males weigh between 125 and 250 pounds. They
are approximately four feet in length and three feet in height.
Distribution: Jaguars range from southern Arizona and northern
Mexico to south-central Argentina. Their habitat includes
grasslands and oak forests of Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico
as well as rainforests and swampy floodlands in Central and South
America. They prefer to live near rivers and lakes, and are strong
swimmers. In the United States in the early 1900s, jaguars ranged
from southern California to western Texas.
Biology: Jaguars are solitary, only coming together to mate. They
have one to four cubs, which are born blind and remain in the den
for two weeks. The cubs start learning how to hunt when they are
six months old and stay with their mother until they are two years
old. They are strict carnivores and have an extensive diet including
deer, capybara, peccaries, frogs, mice, fish and even anacondas and caimen. Like other cats, jaguars kill their
prey by biting the throat and suffocating the animal.
However, jaguars also use a technique that no other big
cat does - they use their canine teeth to pierce through
the temporal bones of the skull, between the ears of the
prey, piercing the brain. The lifespan of a jaguar in the
wild is 15 to 22 years.
Conservation Issues: There are eight subspecies
of jaguars, all of which are considered Threatened
because of overhunting and loss of habitat. Jaguars
are very reclusive and hard to study and most of the
information about them comes from captive jaguars.