jaguar (Mammals of Chiricahua NM)

jaguar

Panthera onca

Summary ⁶

The jaguar (/ˈdʒæɡwɑr/ or UK /ˈdʒæɡjuː.ər/), Panthera onca, is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southwestern United States and Mexico across much of Central America and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. Apart from a known and possibly...

Description ⁷

Once native to the southwestern United States, breeding populations of Jaguars no longer exist in the region, and populations in Central and South America have become very small. Only in parts of the Amazon rain forest and the Pantanal are they relatively abundant. These giant spotted cats are the largest felids in the Americas. They are flesh-eaters, hunting by day or night; they concentrate on the most common of the large mammals living in their particular area. Very capable swimmers, they also sometimes hunt along watercourses, taking prey such as caiman, turtles, and fish. The home range of a Jaguar varies from 10-170 square km. They are not territorial, but do avoid one another, occasionally by calling out in a series of deep grunts, sounds that travel well through thick forest

Links:
Mammal Species of the World
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