A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Facts about A Jaguar

Unlike many other cats, jaguars do not avoid water; in fact, they are quite good swimmers. Rivers provide prey in the form of fish, turtles, or caimans—small, alligatorlike animals. Jaguars also eat larger animals such as deer, peccaries, capybaras, and tapirs.

Rivers provide prey in the form of fish, turtles, or caimans—small, alligatorlike animals. Jaguars also eat larger animals such as deer, peccaries, capybaras, and tapirs. They sometimes climb trees to prepare an ambush, killing their prey with one powerful bite.

Jaguars are considered an apex predator and a keystone species. As a top predator and keystone species, jaguars play a crucial role in the ecosystem. Without the jaguar, herbivorous prey animals would decimate the plants of their ecosystem.

Although Jaguars rarely attack humans, and they are actually the least likely of all big cat species to do so, fear prevails in much of the country. “Most people kill jaguars because they are misinformed,” Pomareda said. “People think that if it attacks cows, it will attack them or their children.”Jan 16, 2014

A black panther is the melanistic color variant of any big cat species. Black panthers in Asia and Africa are leopards (Panthera pardus), and those in the Americas are black jaguars (Panthera onca).