Jaguar — big cat of the jungle

Press, 6 March 1984, Page 14

Jaguar — big cat of the jungle

The jaguar which mauled a man at the Auckland zoo last week is a member of the large family of cats which includes lions and tigers as well as domestic cats. In New Zealand we are lucky that we can walk through our forests without coming across an animal as ferocious as the jaguar. But if we were walking through a forest in South America, the situation could be quite different. There we could turn a corner and come face to face with a jaguar in its natural habitat. The jaguar is the fiercest and largest of the great cats of America. Its natural habitat is the forests of South America and the

pampas of Argentina. Jaguars like to eat all sorts of flesh, including that of birds, monkeys, turtles, fish, sheep and cattle as well as man. In the forests the jaguars hide in trees to spring on unsuspecting birds and monkeys. Sometimes they track harmless animals such as the shy tapir, a large animal something like a cross between a horse and a rhinoceros and which has a long snout. Jaguars are usually found on their own, and they also prey upon horses and dogs. The cry of this great cat is heard at night and most frequently during the mating season. It is a deep and hoarse cry.

Cats are generally nocturnal in habit. They see best in semi-darkness and rely mostly on sight in hunting, although hearing is also keen.

The retina of the cat’s eye is made extra sensitive to light by a layer of guanine, a substance that causes the eye to shine at night in a strong light.

Cats are typically solitary animals, hunting their prey by stealth and overwhelming their victims in a short, quick rush or leap. Foot pads help them stalk their prey in silence. They can move very fast in a short dash but are not built for sustained speed. For example, the cheetah is usually credited with being the fastest mammal since it is capable of speeds of up to 100 km per hour, but it has little endurance and is soon exhausted.

The largest living cat is the tiger which has been

known to reach a weight of more than 227 kg, a height of 1.5 metres and length of 4.2 metres. The jaguar is nearly 1.8 metres long with a further 60cm of striped tail. It looks rather like the leopard but is more heavily built with short, very strong legs and a large, heavy head. However its movements are rapid and it is as agile as its more graceful relative. The jaguar’s coat is usually golden brown with black markings. Along its back and sides these markings are in the form of rosettes, but on the head, legs and underpart of the body they are black spots. Some jaguars have a yellow or almost white coat with black spots and some are nearly black but these are

very rare. All cats, from the lion and tiger down to the smallest jungle cats and domestic

cats, are very much alike in structure. They are powerfully built animals but very supple. Because their muscle movements are well co-ordinated and they are adept at using their tails for balance, cats almost always land on their feet when they fall or are dropped. Cats have highly developed teeth and claws which help them in their quest for meat to eat. There are two types of teeth in the cat’s mouth — those for stabbing and those for cutting. The canine teeth, which are long and pointed, are capable of making deep puncture wounds. These are the teeth used in killing prey. The cutting is done with

two teeth on each side in the back of the mouth which work against each other like the blades of a pair of

shears. They are used for cutting their victims into pieces small enough to swallow.

The cat’s other weapon for subduing and holding, prey is strong, sharp claws.' These have a remarkable muscle mechanism which allows the cat to withdraw the claws when they are not in use, and prevents them from becoming blunted by wearing against the ground.

Towards the end of the year the female has between two and four cubs which are able to follow their mother 35 days after birth.

The jaguar is a member of the cat family which includes lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, lynx, cheetah and numerous species of smaller cats including the domestic cat. The history of the cat family can be traced back through fossil records about 40 million years.