Jaguar
| Jaguar Status Lower Risk | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||||||
| Scientific Classification | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Panthera onca (Linnaeus, 1758) |
They vary between 1.1 to almost 1.9 metres in length, stand around 70 cm tall at the shoulder, and weigh between 57 and 113 kilograms. The jaguar has the strongest jaw structure of any feline.
Although jaguars look very much like leopards and are closely related to them, their ecological role and behaviour is more akin to that of the tiger.
Their habitat ranges from the rain forests of South and Central America to more open country, but they are rarely seen in mountainous areas. Known for their strong swimming and climbing abilities, they often prefer to live by rivers, in swamps, and in dense forest with thick cover for stalking prey.
Jaguars are solitary hunters that do not associate with one another outside the breeding season. They typically take large prey: their very strong jaw equips them to hunt deer and peccaries, but they are great opportunists and will take anything from frogs and mice to birds, fish, and domestic livestock.
Jaguars mating. Notice the melanistic female
The background of the coat is usually an orange-yellow in colour, with numerous rings or rosettes on the flanks and spots on the head and neck. It is possible to distinguish this cat from a leopard by the presence of spots inside its rosettes. A condition known as melanism can create jaguars that appear entirely black (although the spots are still visible if one looks closely). These are known as black panthers, but do not form a separate species.
Young jaguar males reach sexual maturity at about 3 or four years of age, females about a year earlier. Females give birth to as many as four cubs after a 90 to 110 day gestation, but raise no more than two of them to adulthood. The young are born blind and can see after two weeks. They remain with their mother for a long time, up to two years, before leaving to establish a territory for themselves, which can be anywhere between 25 and 150 square kilometres in size (depending on the availability of suitable prey). In captivity, jaguars can live for up to 20 years.
The word jaguar comes from the Brazilian Tupi-Guarani languages. According to one early European explorer, yaguara meant a beast that kills its prey with one bound.
Method of killing
Jaguars will usually bite and pierce the skull, killing the prey, and demonstrating the strength of their jaw muscles. lion tiger leopard
Other uses of the term:
- SEPECAT Jaguar a military aircraft
- Jaguar Cars, British automobile maker.
- Atari Jaguar, a Video game console made by Atari.
- Apple Computer, a new version of the operating system for Mac: OS X (10.2).