JaguarJaguar

© David Tomlinson

Jaguar

Scientific name Panthera onca

In these countries: Mexico down through Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.

The Jaguar is found in Central and South America.

Click here to find out which countries the Jaguar can be found in

What habitat do they live in?

Jaguars can live in swamp areas and flooded grassland.

Jaguars can live in rainforest and woodland.

Jaguars can live in dry grassland, forest and desert.

Rainforest in Argentina

Dry forest in Paraguay

Pantanal (wetland) in Paraguay

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Why are they threatened?

Because of habitat destruction, many Jaguar populations have become separated from each other and they cannot move about over a large area, or mix with other Jaguars, and this makes them vulnerable (an easy target for human hunters).

Jaguars sometimes hunt cattle and so are often shot by farmers and ranchers.

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Why does habitat destruction threaten the Jaguar? Click here to find out

How do they communicate? Although it can roar, the Jaguar is more likely to be heard grunting or coughing. When they are threatened Jaguars will snarl or growl, but during the mating season they will mew.

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What sort of noises do you think this big cat makes? Click to find out

A Jaguar makes scratch marks on trees to let other Jaguars know they are around.

Jaguar footprints are sometimes found in the mud in the wild.

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Click to see Jaguar scratches on a tree in Paraguay

Click to see a Jaguar footprint next to a penknife in Paraguay

What do they eat?

They will also eat tapir, birds, monkeys, fish, turtles, and domestic cattle.

Jaguars are carnivores and will eat almost anything they can catch.

Altogether Jaguars may eat up to 85 different types of animal.

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Peccaries (a pig-like animal) Armadillos Capybara

Sloths Caiman (an alligator-like reptile) Deer

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How long do they live? In captivity one female reached 32 years old (but wild Jaguars may live less than half this age).

From nose to tail they can be more than 2 metres long, and from paw to shoulder they can be 70 cm tall.

How big are they?

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Look at the picture above, how long –from nose to tail- do you think a Jaguar can grow? Click here to find out

What do they look like?

Jaguars have shorter legs than many other big cats and a muscular build.

Jaguars have a patterned coat that can be a tawny-golden colour or black.

Black Jaguars are sometimes called panthers (black leopards are also called panthers), but they are still the same species, just a different colour.

Click to learn about black Jaguars

They have spots inside the black circles (which are called rosettes) on their fur.

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Tell me about their babies:

A female Jaguar will raise 2 cubs, and they will stay with her for 2 years.

Adult Jaguars are solitary animals, males and females only come together to mate.

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Can you see the Jaguar resting in the rainforest in Belize?

Click here for arrow

Jaguars are good swimmers, and they often live close to water.

Interesting facts:

Jaguars do not chase their prey like many other big cats, but hide and jump out at it.

The name Jaguar comes from the native American word ‘yaguar’ which means ‘animal that kills with one bound’.

Jaguars have large heads and big teeth. They have a very strong bite – they can crack open tortoise and turtle shells.

A story from the wild:Jaguar are very shy and good at hiding also they are mostly active at night, and so are not seen during the day very much.

This is Roberto. He is attaching a camera trap to a tree in Mexico. When the camera senses movement, it will take a picture.

So how do we take pictures of Jaguar?

Click here to find out

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This is a picture of Roberto and his work friends that the camera took as they walked away.

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Click here to see the first picture this camera trap took

A story from the wild:Several days later Roberto came back to see if any photos had been taken while he was away.

Roberto noticed that his dog, Camila, was very quiet, instead of running around the forest she walked very close to him.

Click here to see what Roberto found when he checked the camera trap

This is a large male Jaguar. Camila could probably smell the Jaguar in the forest and this made her scared.

The habitat of Jaguars in Central and South America is shrinking all the time, and Jaguars are still hunted by people in some places. So knowing where they live in order to protect their habitat is really important.

Click here to learn why taking pictures of Jaguar is so important

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living in this area of protected forest.

If you choose the Jaguar as your fundraising focus, your donation will go towards World Land Trust projects for the conservation of wildlife habitat in the Atlantic rainforest in Argentina.

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