Class: MAMMALIA

Order: CARNIVORA

Family: FELIDAE

Genus: PANTHERA

Species: ONCA

The third big cat in order of size, just smaller than the lion and tiger, at some 70 centimetres at the shoulder. Although some eight or so sub-species of jaguar were recognised as valid in former years, modern research has shown that these populations are not different enough to be regarded as sub-species in their own right. However, different populations of jaguar, despite appearing somewhat similar, do have morphological differences - the jaguar of the rainforest is more compact-built than that that lives in the open desert. All jaguars are typically found from areas of Mexico southward to central Argentina, though sightings are sometimes recorded in southern states of America. The phylogenetic placement of the jaguar remains uncertain - some studies put it as a sister-species to the lion, but others put it on its own branch. It is thought that extant jaguar populations all derive from lineages that existed some 500,000 years ago.