Jaguar

Jaguars are one of the most beautiful cats in the world.  Jaguars may be born with either black or yellowish (tawny) coloring.  Most people think of big cats as tigers and lions.  Jaguars are sometimes forgotten, but they are the third largest cat in the world and one of the rarest.  Jaguars have the most powerful jaws of any big cat.  They’re incredible hunters and have no natural enemies once they are full-grown. 

Physical Description

Jaguars are large cats, reaching up to 8 feet in length and weighing over 300 pounds.  They have a yellowish coat with a blackish brown spot patterning.  A jaguar’s spots are called rosettes and their dark centers are most visible in sunlight.  They look a lot like their cousins the leopards but jaguars have bigger muscles, a rounder head and a different spot pattern.

Family Life

Jaguar mothers have 2 to 4 babies called cubs.  Mother jaguar raises the cubs.  They teach the cubs how to hunt and they teach them the ways of the wild.  When the cubs are 2 years old they go off to live on their own.  Adult jaguars live and hunt alone.

Diet

Deer, peccaries (wild pigs), crocodiles and monkeys, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and animal remains