Life on the Forest Floor

The jaguar is the second largest member of the cat family after the tiger. Jaguars live in rainforests and other habitats in South and Central America. Jaguars are good swimmers and hunt all types of animals from fish to birds to sloths. Jaguars are found in rainforests, seasonally flooded forests, grasslands, woodlands and dry forests throughout their range.

Jaguars can grow to be up to six feet long from their nose to the tip of their tail. They can stand up to 3 ft tall at the shoulder. The average male jaguar weighs about 120 lbs, but some can weigh as much as 300 pounds. When they are born, most jaguars weigh only 2 pounds.

Jaguars known for their beautiful spots. The spots on their coats are broken and not true spots like a leopard. These allow the jaguar to hide among the grasses, bushes and trees that in their natural habitat. Most jaguars have spots, but it is possible to find an all black (melanistic) jaguar.

Jaguars spend much of their time on the ground. Their paws have a lot of padding, which allow them to move very quietly through the forest floor. Jaguars can climb trees to hunt or to rest. Jaguars usually hunt at night. They have excellent vision and sneak up on their prey quickly. They crush the skulls of their prey with their sharp teeth. Jaguars are known to eat more than 85 species of prey, including armadillos, peccaries, capybara, tapir, deer, squirrels, birds and even snails. They do not only hunt on the land, jaguars can catch fish, and turtles from the water. They are even able to hunt monkeys and other animals who live in trees that may go to the lower branches.

Jaguars are endangered because their habitat is getting smaller, when rainforest trees are cut down. They have also been hunted by people. Part of a jaguar’s problem is that they compete with humans for most of their prey. In many regions they are shot on sight because of fear, to protect livestock, or competition for prey. Unlike many other species, the jaguar does not face natural threat from enemy cats or other predators - with the exception of humans. At the height of their decline in the 1960s and 1970s, more than 15,000 jaguars were killed each year for their beautiful fur. The trade in jaguar fur has been reduced by consumer awareness campaigns, they continue to face pressure from hunters. In addition, the loss of habitat is forcing more interactions between people and jaguars. There are believed to be 15,000 jaguars alive in the wild today. If jaguars are to exist in the future, scientists believe they will need a combination of special protected areas and more community awareness.