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A jungle story
Conjure an image of hunting prowess in dark, steamy jungles and a jaguar might leap into mind. Ancient Mayans, in fact, celebrated him as a deity. Like all large predators, jaguars evoke fear, awe, and respect—sometimes simultaneously. While jungle stories and legends abound, and the magnificent creatures indeed inhabit lush, green corridors and tropical rainforests, we don’t realize that jaguars are just as happy to carve out an existence in the upland habitats of the southern United States and northern Mexico. In fact, jaguars have the ability to make a living wherever prey is plentiful and human disturbance is minimal.
The jaguar (Panthera onca) reigns supreme as the largest felid in the western hemisphere. He is immediately recognized by his large size (males may exceed 300 pounds and 8 feet in length) and, of course, those spots. Melanistic (black) jaguars are also in the wild, and often referred to as “black panthers.”
The historical range of the jaguar extended north from Mexico into southern Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. The current range reaches as far south as Argentina but toward the north their range barely spills over the U.S.-Mexico border. While breeding populations exist throughout Mexico and Central America, jaguar presence has been sporadic in the United States for the past 100 years. This is due in part to early ranching communities that viewed jaguars as a threat to livestock. Without protection, jaguars did not stand much chance of survival in northern latitudes during the 1900s.
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