20 Facts About Jaguars

1. A jaguar’s spots can easily be mistaken for a leopard’s. To the untrained eye, these animals are interchangeable. However, if you look closely, you’ll see a dead giveaway. If you’re ever confused, you can tell a jaguar apart with its spots. Jaguars and leopards both have donut-shaped spots, but jaguars have little spots in the middle of their donut spots.

2. While not the largest big cat, the jaguar is the largest cat in both North and South America. It is third largest in the world after tigers and lions. A full grown male jaguar can be more than seven feet long and from 150-200 pounds.

3. Jaguars are great swimmers. They love to get wet and wild. You’ll only find them living in areas with lots of fresh water. If an area dries up, the jaguar will leave. If you see a jaguar and you’re stranded in the jungle, just know that if you survive, fresh water is nearby.

4. A panther is just a jaguar with a dark pigmentation. A panther is the general term for either a jaguar or leopard with a melanistic color variant. Despite popular belief that panthers are their species, they’re just a tanned jaguar or leopard.

5. Jaguars prefer to hunt at night, and even in the water. Since these animals don’t shy away from swimming, they will hunt for turtles, fish, and caimans. If they’re hunting on land, they prefer nighttime to provide more coverage for a sneak attack. They’ll go for deer, capybaras, peccaries, and tapirs on land. I definitely know what all of those animals are.

6. Jaguars won’t just urinate to mark their territory like an animal. They’ll scratch trees like they’re Hansel and Gretel leaving breadcrumbs so someone will know they were there. Always keep your eyes on the trees when wandering through the jungle to make sure you aren’t encroaching on a jaguar’s territory. To mark your own, draw your name plus your loved one’s in a heart.

7. The main threat jaguars deal with is human intervention. Whether it’s from human killing or habitat fragmentation, the threats they deal with rarely come from the wild. When a forest is fragmented, jaguars get backed into a small space and become unable to roam and mate. It results in local extinction in many cases. End the cattle farming!

8. Female jaguars will have one to four cubs at a time. They are born blind and depend on their mother to survive. She will protect them fiercely to ensure their survival. They will stay with her until they are at least two, then they will branch out on their own for a solo journey.

9. Jaguars have an extremely strong jaw and biting power. It can break a turtle shell, which is supposed to be the turtle’s protection from animals like this! All a turtle can do is run and hide, for if they’re caught, there’s no chance.

10. Female jaguars won’t allow the male jaguars anywhere close to the cubs. If they step in the cubs’ vicinity, it will be a fight to the death. Other jaguars will try to kill other cubs, so the mother is the only hope for protection.

11. The name “jaguar” has powerful origins. It is named after the indigenous word “yaguar” which means “kill with one leap.” This is suiting, as jaguars sneak up on their prey at night to deliver a fatal bite. All they need is one leap and there’s no chance for their prey.

12. Jaguars look chunkier and more compact than a leopard. They look like the pit bull of the big cats. Leopards are lankier, but jaguars are thicker. Which more meat on their bones, they can weigh more and have a great, compact jump.

13. A jaguar’s roar sounds like a saw on wood. So, if you think you hear a lumberjack in a forest, don’t go investigate. It won’t be a nice, bearded fellow, but the jaws of a dangerous predator. These animals use their roars to communicate that they want to mate. 

14. Jaguars will travel up to ten kilometers at night when they’re on the hunt. This explains where all their muscle comes from. If I ran ten kilometers for every meal I ate, I’d have the strength of a… jaguar.

15. Unlike other big cats, the jaguar kills their prey with a bite to the skull. Rather than the common throat or neck bite that leads to suffocation, it bites the back of the skull. This allows almost instant death from their powerful jaws.

16. People aren’t allowed to hunt jaguars almost anywhere. If they are, there are heavy restrictions. Since this species is endangered, it requires this level of protection. Many people still value jaguar teeth and hide. It can be sold on the black market. Law enforcement seeks to end this illegal business.

17. There are only an estimated 15,000 wild jaguars left worldwide. Compare that to 900 million dogs! These animals need our protection. We may not feel that way when one eats our cattle, but we don’t need to hunt them for revenge. The government should pay to replace cattle eaten by jaguars to help solve revenge killings.

18. Jaguars have a short tail compared to other big cats. They’re usually around two feet long, which is small compared to the tiger’s three-foot tail, for example. Their tails are shorter than a leopard’s as well, which makes the jaguar less agile.

19. People aren’t the only ones using fishing rods. Jaguars will dip their tails in the water to lure fish, as if their tail were a fishing line. Once fish get close enough, they grab them from the water. Guess everyone likes some sushi.

20. Jaguars have recently had to learn how to fish in an even stranger way than using their tail for bait. They’ve began to jump directly in the sea and try to grab fish this way. It’s a riskier and less accurate way to fish, but they’ve had to resort to it so they don’t starve.