Jaguar (Panthera Onca)
Photo from the Cathouse (FCC)
Male Weight: 175 to 225 pounds
Female Weight: 170 to 190 pounds
Life Span: 15 to 20 years
Litter Size: 1 to 4 cubs
Gestation: 95 to 105 days
Physical Characteristics
The jaguar, weighing up to 300 pounds, exhibits a look of shear power, grace, and fear;
the jaguar is one of the four roaring cats. It is commonly confused with the leopard.
The jaguar can be distingushed by having larger rosette markings and a larger,
more powerful looking body; the jaguar also has a shorter tail. The strength of the jaguar
is amazing with its jaws so strong that it often kills its prey by piercing the skull in one,
fatal bite. The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas.
The color of the jaguar is a tawny-yellow with spots on the head, neck and legs and
rosettes on other parts of its body. The rosettes will have one to four dark spots inside.
An Indian myth says that the jaguar got its spotted coat by dabbing mud on its body with
its paws. If you look closely at the coat of a jaguar, markings can seem like a paw print!
The Life and Habitat of a Jaguar
The solitary jaguar is found in the tropical rainforests and swampy grasslands in through
Central America stretching into South America. The jaguar is known as a forest dweller,
with its highest population found in the lowland rain forests of the Amazon Basin. They
are also found in high altitudes. The jaguar generally chooses an area where there is a
source of water and enjoys swimming or resting in a stream on hot days, like the tiger does.
Hunting and Feeding
Unlike many other big cats, the jaguar does not kill their prey by attacking at the neck yet
bites through the temporal bones of the skull. South American Indians call the jaguar
'yaguara', meaning 'a beast that kills its prey with one bound'. The jaguar lives mostly on
smaller prey, but will prey on what ever is available such as livestock, deer, smaller prey such as fish, rodents, and also reptiles and monkeys, or any
other animals that seems fitting to the jaguar; the jaguar stalks its prey.
Reproduction and Cubs
The jaguar has no breeding season. After mating and a gestation period of 95 to 105 days,
one to four cubs are born in a den which they will stay in for up to six months. They are
weened by three months and then begin to accompany their mother on hunts. By the time
the cubs are two years of age, they will have set off on their own to try and make their
own territories.
Status
During the sixties and seventies around 18,000 jaguars were killed every year for their
beautiful coat. Today there is still poaching, but not nearly as bad as before.
The destruction of the jaguar's habitat from logging and cattle ranching as well has having
to compete with humans for food has brought a large decrease to their population. More
trees are cut every day, and more jaguars are killed as the demand for their skin increases.
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