Jaguar

Felines

Predators

South American animals

The jaguar is the largest feline on the American continent. Its name comes from the Native American name for the species, ”yaguara”, which roughly translates as ”the predator that kills with a single blow”. With its muscular body and powerful jaws, the jaguar is truly built like an accomplished predator. The jaguar is the world's third largest feline after the tiger and lion. Most often, jaguars are golden in colour with black rosettes or spots forming a ring, but black jaguars are also relatively common. The black variety is also found in the wild and is often called ”panther”. However, panthers are not a separate species and the black colour comes from an excess of the dark pigment melanin. Jaguars are active mainly at dawn and dusk and always live near water. On warm days, they can be seen cooling off in rivers and other bodies of water. Today, they have a fairly large range and the size of the animals varies greatly between different habitats. This is probably linked to the availability of prey. Today, jaguars are threatened by deforestation in particular, which leads to the fragmentation of their habitats. In addition, they are hunted for their fur and because they are considered a threat to domestic livestock. The zoo participates in the European breeding programme, EEP, to conserve the species.

CITES A