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| Photo courtesy of theanimalfiles.com |
Description and Ecology
The jaguar is the world's third largest feline species, and the largest feline species living in the Americas. With
a large body and powerful jaws, jaguars are a top level carnivore. Usually a
jaguar will have a yellow and tan coat, however they can also be reddish brown
or even black. As a carnivore, the jaguar hunts prey animals like deer and
capybaras. Jaguars sometimes climb trees in order to make a leaping ambush on
they prey. Jaguars also regularly consume fish. This is because unlike other
cats, jaguars are good swimmers and do not avoid the water.
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| Photo courtesy of jukani.co.za |
Jaguars typically
weigh from 100-250 pounds, and they usually live for 12-15 years in the wild. The
age of sexual maturity for jaguars depends on the gender: female jaguars become
sexually mature at 2 years old, while males become sexually mature at 3-4 years
old. One interesting fact is that the male jaguar does not play a role in
raising its children. After mating, the male and female jaguar will go their
separate ways. As babies, jaguars are blind and helpless at birth. To combat
this, jaguars learn to hunt by living with their mothers for the first few years of
their life.
Geographic and Population Changes
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| Photo courtesy of news.mongabay.com |
Historically, jaguars could be seen from the southern United
States all the way to central South America. Today, their geographic range has been
greatly diminished. Jaguar populations have been almost completely destroyed in
the United States, and decent sized populations of jaguars now only exist in
remote areas of central and southern South America. In 1950, it was estimated
that there were about 450,000 jaguars living in the wild. Today, the number of
jaguars in the wild is estimated to be 15,000.
The jaguar species has been in trouble for decades now. The
species was originally listed by the Endangered Species Conservation Act (ESCA)
in 1969. When the ESCA was replaced by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in
1973, an oversight caused the jaguar to be protected only for foreign
populations. Populations of jaguars in the United States did not become protected
until 1997. The recovery plan for jaguars was released in April 2012.
Cause of Listing and Main Threats to Continued Existence
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| Graph courtesy of sites.google.com/site/jaguarvl2012/endangered-species |
The main cause of jaguar population decline is humans. Much
of their habitat has been taken by humans. As a result, jaguar populations are
mostly in remote areas away from humans. Another reason that jaguars are
endangered is poaching. Jaguars are hunted for their fur. In the 1960s and 70s,
approximately 18,000 jaguars were killed every year for their fur. Today
poaching is not as great a risk to jaguars, but it is still a continuing
problem for jaguar populations. The continued impact by humans means that
the jaguar population is unlikely to completely recover.
Description of Recovery Plan
One objective of the recovery plan is to learn more about
the status and conservation needs of jaguars. In addition, conservationists are
trying to improve the connectivity between jaguar populations, which in turn
would increase the long term survival of subpopulations. The plan also calls
for the protection of remaining jaguar habitats, and maybe even restore some
historical jaguar habitats. As hunting continues to be a problem for
jaguars, a main objective of the Recovery Plan is to limit the killing of both
jaguars and their prey.
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| Photo courtesy of topwalls.net |
Sources
http://www.defenders.org/jaguar/basic-facts
http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/049777%20-%20Jaguar%20Recovery%20Outline%20-%20April%202012_2.pdf
http://www.animalport.com/endangered-animals/jaguar.html
http://www.theanimalfiles.com/mammals/carnivores/jaguar.html
https://sites.google.com/site/jaguarvl2012/endangered-species
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/jaguar/
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