Jaguar Panthera onca
This animal has the most powerful bite of all feline species.
It is the third largest cat in the world, with the most powerful bite of all the feline species.
The jaguar in a nutshell
- eats
- mammals, reptiles, birds and fish
- inhabits
- South and Central America
- excels at
- swimming
Mighty jaws
Jaguars have the most powerful bite of any of the great cats. They are the only great cat to kill their prey by directly piercing the skull with their fangs. Their powerful bite can even penetrate a turtle’s shell. Once they have killed their prey, they drag it to a secluded spot to eat it.
Solitary
Jaguars are solitary animals with varying territories. Males and females meet only to mate, and females mate once every two years. Although jaguars can reproduce throughout the year, most cubs are born during the wet seasons when there is more food available. Once the cubs are born, the female no longer tolerates a male in the vicinity, and she raises them alone.
Spotted or black?
Jaguars come in a variety of colours. Their coats range from pale yellow to reddish brown, marked with black rosettes. Unlike leopards, jaguars often have an extra black spot in the middle of the rosettes. There are also black (melanistic) jaguars in whose coat the black spots are just about visible. In jaguars, black colouration comes from a single dominant gene, while in other felines it is usually the result of a recessive gene.
Threats
The IUCN lists the jaguar as near threatened, due to poaching and because its habitat is steadily declining as a result of deforestation. For example, jaguars used to live in Iberá, in northern Argentina, but they are no longer found there because humans have taken over their habitat for the sake of large-scale agriculture. ARTIS supports the jaguar reintroduction project in Iberá.
