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.

The jaguar’s morphology is strikingly similar in many ways to the leopard of the old-world, though there are several identifiable differences between either species. The build of the jaguar is comparatively more stocky than that of a regular leopard; the neck less exaggerated. The rosettes on a golden jaguar’s coat are also more large in size; and hence less abundant, but several of these rosettes may also have smaller ‘dots’ inside. Similar to the leopard, the hide of the jaguar is typically yellow; though the shade of yellow is variable amongst populations. Golden jaguars do not constitute the entirety of the jaguar population either – ‘black’ jaguars [a melanistic form of the jaguar, which can appear almost entirely jet black, though rosettes may be visible under correct conditions], which are comparatively rare, also exist. Golden jaguars are not entirely yellowish – the underside of the golden jaguar is marked with white fur, though this has no impact on the rosettes’ occurrence. The typical jaguar is a metre tall at the shoulder, and about 2 metres in length, though this too is rather variable amongst populations. The sexes vary notably in size – in that the female jaguar may weigh as much as 100 kilogrammes, where the male may weigh upwards of this, as much as 120 kilogrammes, though one male jaguar was found to weigh 150 kilogrammes.