The jaguar, sometimes also called a panther, is one of the world’s ‘big cats’. Jaguars are the largest of the big cats after tigers and lions. They are the only big cat that is native to the Americas (cougars are smaller and not regarded as big cats). All big cats can roar.

To scientists, the jaguar belongs to a group of animals (a genus) called Panthera, the Latin for ‘chief of the hunters’. It is the only one of the group found in the Americas. The jaguar is one of this group of large cats (including lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, snow leopard, and clouded leopard) that evolved from a common ancestor perhaps eight million years ago. There are fossils of lions in the Americas, and jaguars in Europe, but these died out long ago, which is why the jaguar is the only big cat now in the Americas.

Jaguars and leopards are related even more recently. They originated in Asia, and the cats that were to develop into jaguars crossed from Asia into the Americas in the Ice Age, when the sea levels were much lower and Siberia was connected by land to Alaska. These jaguar ancestors then moved south into Central and South America.

Cats tend to be solitary animals, and the jaguar is no exception. It hunts on its own. The most efficient way to do this is to hide on a branch or in thick bushes and then ambush its prey. In this way it uses least energy to get its food. It has a keen sense of smell, and so it will also follow a scent trail and stalk its prey.

Because jaguars are heavily built, they have a very powerful bite. In fact, their bite is stronger than other big cats on a size-for-size basis. Using this bite they can pierce the armour of reptiles like turtles. The usual method of killing is for the jaguar to bite its prey right through the skull and into the brain. This actually kills the prey immediately and painlessly.

For more information, see the Jaguar book below.