As the largest cat native to North America and the third largest cat in the world, the jaguar (Panthera onca) ranges from Arizona to Argentina and has long been esteemed for its unequivocal power and striking beauty.

Commonly identified by their spotted coats, jaguars have golden yellow/brownish fur with individually unique, dark rosette markings. Jaguars can be distinguished from their leopard cousins by the small irregular shapes within these larger markings. Called tigre mariposo, the spot patterns found on northern jaguars can conjure images of butterflies.

Jaguars sport stocky, muscular bodies and thick chests, large and broad heads, relatively compact limbs, paws the size of saucers, and short tails compared to mountain lions. They measure five to eight feet from nose to tail and often appear larger than they actually are. Weighing between 90 to 150 pounds, jaguars found in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands are noticeably petite compared to their South American relatives.

Unlike mountain lions who kill prey by grabbing the throat, jaguars pierce their prey’s skull or neck from behind with one swift bite – demonstrating the amazing strength of their powerful jaws and impressive teeth. As strong climbers and excellent swimmers, jaguars are perfectly adapted to capture deer, javelina, bighorn sheep, birds, turtles, snakes, and fish. More than 100 different species have been recorded in their diet.

Jaguars will mate any time of year, although births tend to peak during the rainy season. Males and females are only together for courtship and mating, leaving the female to raise her young alone. Following a roughly three-month gestation period, a female jaguar will give birth to a litter of two to four cubs. The cubs are blind at birth and do not leave the den for several weeks. They learn how to hunt after six months and will stay with their mothers for up to two years before striking out to find their own territory. In the wild, the average lifespan of a jaguar is 12 to 16 years.

Like many large, solitary predators, jaguars can wander and cover an immense territory with documented home ranges of hundreds of miles. They flag their territories with urine, scent markings, and by scratching trees. While these elusive cats once roamed throughout the southern United States, only seven jaguars have been seen in Arizona and New Mexico since the mid-1990s. The species is endangered in both the U.S. and Mexico.

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