The Jaguar

The jaguar is a cat aroused many passions among people for its beauty and strength, but unfortunately this does not make him immune to threats to himself and his environment.
Although not currently globally threatened according to IUCN, although it is close to the vulnerability, if we specify a little more we see that in each of their countries on an individual does have many problems, and some even are endangered, or has already disappeared.
For all these do not have to just wait and you have to act now, as is done in the vast majority of the areas where you can find.

Importance of conservation Jaguar
Among other things, the jaguar has characteristics that make it unique and worthy of protection, which is that each species is unique.
For starters, the jaguar is the largest cat in America, and the only representative of the genus Panthera there (Nowell and Jackson 1996), it is also the third largest cat species in the world and is the largest predator in the jungle areas inhabited next to the alligator.
Reasons to preserve the jaguar, but there's more.
Jaguar classification according to IUCN
Next to the vulnerability (NT)
According to information from the IUCN (2002), based on estimates of density and geographic range (Nowell and Jackson 1996), it is estimated that the jaguar population is less than 50,000 adult, with a downward trend due to persecution and degradation of habitat and prey, and could be classified as vulnerable if this trend persists, or if you get more information about the species to check it.
Currently considered close to the vulnerability (NT), which means:
The species is not subject to special protection measures, but its population is scarce, is concentrated in a very restricted habitat or threatened restriction or expected that this reduction in population in coming years
Jaguar Status
In pre-Columbian civilizations of Mexico, Guatemala and Peru, the jaguar was revered as a divine creature. But respect for this animal was lost when it began to be hunted for their fur. 60 In particular there was a significant decrease of copies, more than 15000 jaguar skins taken from the Brazilian Amazon each year, so that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 1973 achieved a sharp decline in trade with restrictions. Currently, the international trade of jaguar or its parts is strictly prohibited.
Yet today, hunting for its skin is still a threat. And though they are under protection in the South American countries, are dying at the hands of jaguars rifles farmers. In some places, such as in French Guyana, yet still allowing the hunting of jaguar.
The species has lost 37% of their historic range, and his condition is unknown in 18% of the additional territory.
Due to difficult access to some of the areas they inhabit, and their nocturnal habits, often estimate the number of jaguars is difficult.

Subspecies of Jaguar

This cat is so distributed by America necessarily more or less isolated populations have been identified with some subtle but important features that have brought the species to have no fewer than nine subspecies:


P.onca onca:
The jaguar of the Amazon is distributed throughout the Orinoco River basin and the Amazon, including Venezuela, the Guianas, northern and central Brazil and eastern Bolivia. According to the National Catalogue of Colombia is also found in Colombia.
P. onca peruviana:
The jaguar of Peru is in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
P. hernandesii onca (rather small):
The western Mexican jaguar inhabits the west of the central highlands of Mexico, from Sinaloa to Tehuantepec and southern Guatemala, but is greatly reduced. The limit distribution has been declining for about a thousand miles south of Sinaloa and Tamaulipas in Mexico.
P. onca centralis (very reduced populations):
The jaguar of Panama is found from Honduras to El Salvador (which no longer exists), Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama to Colombia, with very reduced populations.
P. onca arizonensis (Extinct)
The Jaguar in Arizona, distributed in southwestern United States, from Arizona and New Mexico to Sonora in northwest Mexico. Arizona came to live up to the Grand Canyon, including specimens were entered in California, where the last record is Palm Springs in 1860. This subspecies is extinct, the last two specimens were killed in Arizona, one in 1971 and another in 1986.
P. veraecrucis onca (very endangered)
The Jaguar of Texas or Mexican jaguar East Texas Southwestern lived probably reached the bottom of Louisiana, distributed in Mexico of Tamaulipas and Veracruz to Tabasco. This subspecies is not as viable populations in the United States. In general Sam Houston called him abundant in the headwaters of some tributaries of the Rio Grande, about 1850 copies having found east of the San Jacinto River in Texas. The last jaguar in Texas was killed near Kinsville in 1946.
P. onca goldmani:
The Yucatan jaguar is one of the Central American subspecies of the most abundant. It inhabits the south of Yucatan in Mexico, Belize and northern Guatemala. In 1974 there were about a thousand jaguars. Commercial hunting and export of hides are prohibited, but even in 1986, allowing sport hunting of 45 issues per year (10% of an estimated population of 450. This legal sport hunting was allowed until 1986 and closed in 1987 every state except in Campeche.
P. onca palustris:
The 'Tigers' northern Argentina, Paraguay and Matto Grosso, which represent this subspecies, are the largest known
Onca P.a paraguaensis:

extincionEl jaguar animal jaguar in the Pantanal and the Parana is distributed from southern Brazil (Mato Grosso and south of Sao Paulo) to the central Pampas of Argentina, Paraguay and also including a part of Uruguay. Is the heaviest subspecies was exterminated in Uruguay earlier this century and in the central Pampas of Argentina by 1925, leaving some isolated populations in northern Argentina, Paraguay yal southern Brazilian Pantanal.       

Jaguar Features

The presence of jaguars in an area is an indicator of ecosystem health, because it means that the populations of their prey, peccaries, tapirs, deer, armadillos, are fine. And if these herbivores are in good condition, the vegetation too.
The skin is reddish yellow, except inside the ears, in the bottom of the mouth, jaws, throat and other lower parts of the body, where the color is paler, in the bottom of the legs predominantly white. It also has black spots characteristics, type rosettes, round, elongated or irregular lines that branch on the cross and come back together in the back, forming the sides more or less parallel lines, smaller head, neck and legs than in the rest of the body. The tail has rings on her haunches. No two jaguars in the same pattern of spots.
Are similar to the leopard of Asia and Africa, but the jaguar is more robust, has larger head and shorter tail. Moreover, while the jaguar is a good climber, it spends so much time on trees, their fur is also more orange and has the largest rosettes leopard. Men do not attack like leopards, they do have records of attacks on man.
The weight of an adult jaguar is 45 to 130 kg depending on the subspecies, can weigh 150 kg. Females are between 10 and 20 percent smaller than males.
Its length is 1.70 to 2.30 m and a height to the cross of about 85. Its tail is between 45 and 75 cm.
Life expectancy of a jaguar in captivity is 22 years. In the wilderness is probably 10 years, except in rare cases can reach up to 20 years.
In contrast to the other big cats, the jaguar growls but rarely roars.
Has nocturnal, although it has some activity during the day. Through radio-tracking studies have been known to often be active 50 to 60% of the day (counting the 24 hours, according to another camera trapping study in Bolivia can be active at any time of day, with peaks from dawn until mid- morning in both seasons (5:00 - 10:00 am) and evening (20:00 - 0:00 pm) more pronounced in the rainy season.
The acuteness of his senses of smell and hearing and their ability to run, climb trees, swim and move crouched behind a dam makes it an excellent hunter.
Being accustomed to jungle biomes in low light (though its range came to encompass meadows and steppes), has nyctalops eyes, allowing a remarkable vision in the dark, thanks to a reflective membrane at the back of the eye that focuses light in the focal area of ​​the retina. (This is the reason why when you focus on with a light to a cat at night, their eyes seem to light up, because they reflect too much light).
Moreover, unlike other cats are excellent swimmers and are also adapted to hunt aquatic prey from the surface and underwater, in these cases, the vibrations of the fish, alligators and turtles they come clearly through his legs and whiskers.
His nose is well developed and can detect prey by smell quite a distance, in such cases open your mouth better facilitating arrival of odorant molecules to olfactory organs.
The size and defending their territory varies depending on food availability and reproduction lasoportunidades. During the day, the males often travel about 3.3 km and 1.8 km females into their territories. Both sexes tend to move greater distances during the dry season, possibly because of increased scarcity of food.
Males have larger territories than females, and although these territories do not overlap with other males, if they can do with the territories of several adult females. The delimitation of the territory, marking made by urine, droppings or other signs, such as scratches on trees or vocalizations. If necessary to defend the territory, they can direct confrontation.
The territories of males reach extensions up to 380 km2, while females occupy territories of up to 134 km2 on average. When the habitat is optimal and jaguars density is high, males occupy small territories of about 30 to 50 km2, while a female between 15 and 25 km2
Females reach sexual maturity between two and two and a half years, while males three to four years. The last play is usually at age 8.
Although most of the year for the jaguar is a solitary animal, the breeding season arrival will seek a partner, the time plot in the tropics is not limited to any particular season of the year, although in some geographic areas can be found the breeding season associated with any climatic period specified. This occurs in areas where hydro stations are very marked and can influence the availability of prey. For example, Leopold (1959) mentioned that in Mexico of births occur between July and September, but they vary geographically.
Then spend 4 or 5 weeks with the chosen partner. During heat female behavior change. His appetite does not decrease, but groans, rubs against objects and rolls on the floor frequently. During mating, the female is loud, while the male does not.
After a gestation period of about 93 to 110 days (about 100 days on average), the female selects a sheltered place to give birth to their young. Birth usually occurs during the rainy season when lots of food and between impenetrable thickets of the forest.
Choose places like caves, hollows between the roots of trees, bushes or rocks, on slopes that originate on the banks of rivers.

Have from 1 to 4 cubs, who was born blind and weigh between 700 grams and 900 grams. Puppies are born with a long coat, woolly and pale, with a mottled pattern of black spots with pale color in the center, curiously in the face that black stripe. Take final adult coloration at 7 months. After 2 weeks they open their eyes.
jaguar breeding females have full responsibility for the care of offspring. At first the mother and her offspring live in a burrow in the ground or a tree and, in cases of danger, moved the fry in his mouth. After 6 or eight weeks, the young with their mothers during their excursions. From 3 to 6 months stop nursing and two years to live and hunt with his mother. From then become independent of the mother and begin the process of scattering and search for their own territory. This scattering process coincides with the zeal of the mother.

Influence of Jaguar

The jaguar is widely used as a symbol in contemporary culture. Is Guyana's national animal and is on his coat of arms. It is also the name of a luxury car brand. The name has been adopted by sports franchises, including the Jacksonville Jaguars and F. Jaguares C., also known simply as Jaguares, a professional soccer team that participates in the First Division of Mexico. The shield of the Union Argentina de Rugby also has a jaguar drawn, though they were nicknamed the Pumas.

Importance of the species

The Jaguar is the largest predator in the Neotropics size and plays a vital ecological role, affecting population densities of prey and is a limiting factor of these (Medellín et. al., 2002). The disappearance of the Jaguars can cause changes in ecosystems. Eliminate the large carnivores in an ecosystem has an impact on the abundance of various species, as its absence can lead to population growth of prey and predators of smaller and this, in turn, can have severe implications on the dynamics community and the ecosystem, eventually leading to simplified and impoverished ecological systems.