Animal · Brazil, Mexico, Peru
Jaguar
Panthera onca — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The jaguar is the largest big cat in the Americas, prowling the rainforests and wetlands of Central and South America. It has the strongest bite of any cat relative to its size.
Picture credit: Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the jaguar live?
Home: Rainforests and wetlands of Central and South America.
In the wild you find it in: Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay.
Conservation status from the IUCN: close to being at risk.
The short profile
Fully grown it measures up to 1.85 m long, plus a 0.75 m tail. It weighs about 90 kilograms. On the menu: meat.
The story behind it
Unlike most big cats, which kill prey by biting the throat, a jaguar often kills by piercing straight through the skull with its powerful jaws, strong enough to crack open turtle shells and crocodile armour. Jaguars love water and are excellent swimmers, happily hunting caimans and fish in rivers of the Amazon and the wetlands of the Pantanal. Their spotted coat has rosettes with a small dot in the centre, unlike a leopard's plain rosettes. Jaguars once ranged from the southern United States to Argentina, but habitat loss and conflict with ranchers have shrunk their range, making the species near threatened.
Find it on the globe
Jaguar is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How strong is a jaguar's bite?
A jaguar has the strongest bite of any big cat compared to its size, strong enough to pierce turtle shells and skulls directly. This unusual killing method sets it apart from lions and tigers, which usually bite the throat.
Do jaguars like water?
Yes, jaguars love water more than most big cats and are strong swimmers, often hunting fish, turtles and even caimans directly in rivers and swamps. This makes wetlands like the Pantanal an ideal home for them.
How is a jaguar different from a leopard?
Jaguars are stockier and more muscular than leopards, live only in the Americas, and have rosette spots with a small dot in the middle, which leopards lack. Jaguars also have a much more powerful bite for their size.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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