Jaguar Animal
One Of The Largest Cats In The World
Jaguar Facts | Jaguar Conservation
So what do we know about it?
The jaguar is an elusive animal.
Jaguar
© Photographer: Anthony Hathaway | Agency: Dreamstime.com
Over the years scientists have found it difficult to access its natural habitats, such as thick tropical rainforests, and observe it in action.
But more progress is being made now with the availability of new technologies.
Jaguar's Habitat
The jaguar lives in biodiversity-rich regions of Central and South America.
It prefers forest habitats and areas close to water sources (such as wetlands, rivers, lakes etc) as it loves water and is a great swimmer.
For example, the Amazon River Basin and the wetland area of Pantanal in Brazil are home to important populations of jaguars (1).
Other important jaguar animals' habitats include Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize, the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala and Mexico’s Calakmul Biosphere Reserve.
Wildlife Conservation Society refers to jaguars as a “landscape species” and states that “they require more than one habitat for their survival” (2).
The jaguar roams over a large area of land to hunt for prey and naturally visits and utilises many different habitats.
(Panthera Onca)
Recent advances in technology for observing and studying animals have brought on new opportunities for researching the jaguar cat.
The use of motion-activated cameras hidden in a forest is now replacing a more crude method of radiotelemetry - attaching radio transmitters to an animal's neck which requires that the animal be captured and tranquillised. (1)
Researchers use this new technique to estimate the numbers and movements of jaguar animals in a particular area. Data such as these are very important for conservation purposes.
The jaguar thrives in relatively “healthy” habitats.
As a simplified example, the jaguar preys on white-lipped peccaries which prey on a number of other animals in a rainforest, which in their turn feed on plants.
The plants, in their turn, get nutrition from the rainforest’s soil which is worked by millions of insects which need all sorts of other organic material to feed on, and so this interdependent chain of animal – plant interactions goes on and on.
So before the jaguar gets its food, lots of different components in a habitat need to connect to each other to produce various forms of life. And this is an indication of the habitat’s health.
Jaguar Animal as a Hunter
The jaguar is a nocturnal animal – it hunts for prey mostly during the dark hours of the day. (3) Though we have heard of some recent evidence of the jaguar’s daytime hunting as well. (4)
The jaguar is a very adaptable animal.
A jaguar’s stocky and muscled build is a result of its millennia’s long adaptation to its environment.
The jaguar is exclusively carnivorous which means it only eats meat (that is, other animals!). It has a very varied diet and eats lots of different types of prey.
The jaguar is a very intelligent, stalk-and-ambush hunter. As Peter Freidrici gives its excellent description:
Forest jaguars are much smaller in size than the ones inhabiting open areas. This may be due to the fact that forests have a smaller number of large herbivorous prey. (1)
We also know that the jaguars commonly take refuge in brush thickets (2) and, when the forest floor is flooded, can live on the trees for months (3).
I wonder if this could be another of jaguar's adaptations: the smaller the animal is, the easier it is for it to live generally on the forest floor and specifically on the trees, and avoid potential threats.
Jaguar as a Social Animal
Is the jaguar a truly solitary animal?
Though it acts alone in its hunting pursuits, it does not mean a total lack of social awareness.
There is more to the jaguar’s social contact than just for mating purposes and when cubs stay with their mothers for a couple of years before venturing out on their own to establish their own territory.
The jaguars mark their territory by leaving their scrape marks and scat behind. And this gives them a “remarkable ability to know where their neighbours are” (6) and helps them avoid encroaching on each other’s territory.
Fiona and Mel Sunquist bring to our attention interesting results of some long-term studies of solitary cats.
They point out that whereas male cubs ultimately leave their mothers’ territory to find their own,
Though jaguars have not been specifically mentioned here, we may perhaps assume that this may also apply to them.
Interesting read!
What is the value of the jaguar?
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