The Jaguar is often mistaken for a leopard however in the wild, identification would not be an issue as the cats inhabit different continents ... the jaguar is the only member of the panthera family to be found in the Americas and it is by far the biggest cat on the continent. The Jaguars range, which once spanned from the southern states of the USA down to the tip of South America, now centres on the north and central parts of the South American continent.

The jaguar is predominantly a forest dweller with the highest population densities centring on the lowland rain forests of the Amazon Basin ... dry woodland and grassland also serve as suitable terrain, although the cat is rarely found in areas above 8000 feet. The last native jaguar in the U.S. died in the early 1960's. It hunts by twilight, from the ground, and seeks peccary, capybara, coypu, otter and fish.

It is an excellent swimmer!

The jaguar, weighing up to 300 pounds, exhibits a look of shear power, and grace; the jaguar is one of the four roaring cats. Though the Jaguar is commonly confused with the leopard. The jaguar can be distingushed by having larger rosette markings and a larger, more powerful looking body; the jaguar also has a shorter tail. The strength of the jaguar is amazing with its jaws so strong that it often kills its prey by piercing the skull in one, fatal bite. The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas.

The color of the jaguar is a tawny-yellow with spots on the head, neck and legs and rosettes on other parts of its body. The rosettes will have one to four dark spots inside. An Indian myth says that the jaguar got its spotted coat by dabbing mud on its body with its paws. If you look closely at the coat of a jaguar, markings can seem like a paw print.

Unlike many other big cats, the jaguar does not kill their prey by attacking at the neck yet bites through the temporal bones of the skull. South American Indians call the jaguar 'yaguara', meaning 'a beast that kills its prey with one bound'. The jaguar lives mostly on smaller prey, but will prey on what ever is available such as livestock, deer, smaller prey such as fish, rodents, and also reptiles and monkeys, or any other animals that seems fitting to the jaguar; the jaguar stalks its prey.

The jaguar has no breeding season. After mating and a gestation period of 95 to 105 days, one to four cubs are born in a den which they will stay in for up to six months. They are weened by three months and then begin to accompany their mother on hunts. By the time the cubs are two years of age, they will have set off on their own to try and make their own territories.

During the sixties and seventies around 18,000 jaguars were killed every year for their beautiful coat. Today there is still poaching, but not nearly as bad as before. The destruction of the jaguar's habitat from logging and cattle ranching as well has having to compete with humans for food has brought a large decrease to their population. More trees are cut every day, and more jaguars are killed as the demand for their skin increases.