Jaguar (Panthera onca): Facts, Bite Force, Habitat and Diet

Appearance

A jaguar is built for power rather than speed. It has a broad, rounded head, massive jaws, a deep chest and short, thick legs. Its tail is the shortest of any big cat, reaching only about a third of the head and body length.

The coat ranges from pale yellow to tan or reddish gold, with a white throat, chest and belly. Black spots cover the whole body. On the head, neck and legs they are solid, but on the sides they form large rosettes: rings of black spots around a darker center. Many jaguar rosettes contain one or more small black dots inside them, which is the easiest way to tell a jaguar from a leopard. Each jaguar’s pattern is unique, so researchers identify individuals from camera-trap photos.

Some jaguars are melanistic, with a coat so dark that it looks black. These are the “black panthers” of the Americas. The spots are still there and show up faintly in bright light. Melanism is caused by a dominant gene variant and is more common in dense, shady rainforest.

For a side-by-side guide to the two spotted cats, see leopard vs jaguar.

How big is a jaguar?

Jaguars vary greatly in size across their range. In most areas adults weigh about 56–96 kg (123–212 lb), and females are usually 10–20 percent smaller than males. The smallest females, in Central America and Mexico, weigh around 36 kg (79 lb), while exceptional males have been recorded at up to 158 kg (348 lb).

Size generally increases from north to south. Jaguars on the Pacific coast of central Mexico average only about 50 kg (110 lb), while males in the open wetlands of Venezuela and the Brazilian Pantanal average about 95 kg (209 lb). Jaguars in dense forest tend to be smaller and darker than those in open country, possibly because large prey is scarcer under the canopy. The jaguar is the heaviest cat in the biggest wild cats ranking after the tiger and lion.

Habitat and range

The jaguar once lived from the southern United States to southern Argentina. Today it is found from northern Mexico through Central America and across much of South America to northern Argentina and Paraguay. It occurs in about 18 countries and territories and has disappeared from El Salvador and Uruguay. Since the late 1990s a handful of wandering males have been photographed in southern Arizona and New Mexico, but there is no breeding population in the United States.

The two great strongholds are the Amazon rainforest and the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, shared by Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. Jaguars also live in dry deciduous forest, cloud forest, mangroves, flooded savanna and scrub. They have been recorded up to about 3,800 m (12,500 ft) but rarely use high mountain forest.

Above all, jaguars need dense cover, water and plenty of prey. They are most common along rivers, swamps and lake shores. Scientists estimate that the species has lost about half of its historic range. More detail is in where do jaguars live?

Diet and hunting

Jaguars are strict carnivores and opportunistic hunters. More than 80 prey species have been recorded, from mice and fish to animals weighing over 100 kg (220 lb). Across many studies, their favorite prey are large mammals of about 45–85 kg (99–187 lb), especially capybaras, giant anteaters, peccaries and deer. In wetlands they also take caimans, river turtles, anacondas and fish.

The jaguar hunts by stalking and ambush, not by long chases. It moves quietly along forest trails and riverbanks, listening for prey, then pounces from cover. Its killing method is unusual among cats: it often bites straight through the skull of mammals, between or behind the ears, rather than at the throat. With reptiles, it may bite through the back of the neck or crack open a turtle’s shell.

In the Pantanal, jaguars wade and swim after caimans in rivers and lagoons. In cattle-ranching areas where wild prey has been hunted out, they sometimes kill livestock, which is a main cause of conflict with people. Read more in what do jaguars eat?

How strong is a jaguar’s bite?

The jaguar has one of the most powerful bites of any cat. In absolute terms only the tiger and lion are thought to bite harder. Relative to body size, early studies ranked the jaguar’s bite as the strongest of all the big cats; more recent estimates place it roughly level with the tiger and well ahead of the leopard.

Bite force cannot easily be measured in a wild animal, so scientists estimate it from skull shape and jaw muscle size, and the results differ from study to study. The popular claim of “about 1,500 psi” is not a direct measurement. See how strong is a jaguar bite? for the evidence.

Behavior

Jaguars are solitary. Adults meet mainly to mate, and the only lasting groups are mothers with cubs. Each jaguar uses a home range whose size depends on prey and habitat: female ranges vary from about 15 square km (6 sq mi) in the rich Pantanal to more than 230 square km (90 sq mi) in the Atlantic Forest, and male ranges are larger, from about 25 square km (10 sq mi) to over 800 square km (310 sq mi). In parts of the Pantanal and Venezuela, pairs of males have been seen defending territories together.

Jaguars mark their ranges with scrapes, urine and feces. They are most active at night and around dawn and dusk, although in the Pantanal and parts of the Amazon many jaguars are active by day, matching the habits of their prey.

Unlike most cats, jaguars are at home in water. They swim across wide rivers, play in shallows and have been tracked swimming more than 1.3 km (0.8 mi) between islands and shore. They climb trees well but less often than cougars.

The jaguar is one of the four “roaring” cats. Its long-distance call is a deep, hoarse series of five or six grunts, often compared to a saw cutting wood. Mothers and cubs also use soft snorts, called prusten, and meows.

Reproduction and lifespan

Jaguars can breed at any time of year. A female comes into heat for about 7–15 days, during which she calls and rolls restlessly, and a pair stays together for up to about five days. Pregnancy lasts about 91–111 days, and the mother gives birth in a hidden den among rocks, roots or thick vegetation.

Litters usually contain one to four cubs, most often two. The cubs are born blind and open their eyes at about two weeks. They are weaned at around three months but stay near the den until about six months old, when they start following their mother on hunts. Young jaguars stay with their mother for up to two years before setting off to find a territory of their own. Females first breed at about two to three years old, males at three to four.

Wild jaguars rarely live more than 11–12 years. In zoos they can live to about 22 years.

Predators and threats

An adult jaguar is an apex predator with no natural enemies apart from other jaguars. Cubs are sometimes killed by adult male jaguars or other large predators. The jaguar’s real threats all come from people:

• Habitat loss. Deforestation for cattle pasture, soybean farms, roads and settlements is the biggest threat, and it cuts the corridors that connect jaguar populations.
• Conflict with ranchers. Jaguars that kill cattle are often shot or poisoned in retaliation.
• Poaching and trade. Hunters target jaguars and their prey, and fangs, skins and other parts are smuggled, including to buyers in Asia.

From the 1960s to the early 1970s, the fur trade killed many thousands of jaguars a year. That trade collapsed after international commercial trade was banned under CITES in the 1970s.

Conservation status

The IUCN Red List classifies the jaguar as Near Threatened, with a decreasing population. The status has been unchanged since 2002. One 2018 estimate put the total wild population at roughly 170,000 animals, but numbers in Mexico, Central America, the Atlantic Forest and northern Argentina are much smaller and often isolated.

The jaguar is listed on CITES Appendix I, and hunting it is banned or restricted in nearly every country where it lives. Conservation plans focus on large “Jaguar Conservation Units” connected by corridors of forest so that young cats can move between populations. In Mexico, a national census estimated that jaguar numbers rose from about 4,000 in 2010 to about 4,800 in 2018. In the United States the jaguar is listed as endangered, and critical habitat has been designated in southern Arizona and New Mexico; read are there jaguars in the US?

Myths and facts

Myth: Jaguars and leopards are the same animal. They are separate species on different continents. The jaguar lives only in the Americas, the leopard in Africa and Asia.

Myth: Black panthers are a separate species. A black panther is simply a dark-coated jaguar or leopard.

Fact: Jaguars eat caimans. In the Pantanal, jaguars regularly catch yacare caimans in rivers, one of the best-documented examples of a big cat hunting crocodilians.

Jaguars and people

The jaguar has been a symbol of power for thousands of years. The Olmec carved “were-jaguar” figures, Maya rulers wore jaguar skins and used the name balam, and Aztec elite warriors were known as jaguar warriors. The name “jaguar” is thought to come from a Tupi-Guarani word, yaguara.

Attacks on people are rare and usually involve cornered or wounded animals. Today jaguar-watching boat trips in the Pantanal bring income to local communities, giving ranchers and guides a reason to protect the cats.