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Its
name in Guarani language means "The True Beast", King of
the jungles of tropical and subtropical America, it is the largest
feline in this continent and third in the world. A great swimmer,
indefatigable walker and powerful hunter, it can cover enormous
distances in just one night; even big rivers such as Iguazu or
Parana represent no serious obstacle to it.
Its adaptability allows it to live in thick jungles as well as open
savannas or flooded areas and even desertic ones. Although it
prefers large prey such as young tapirs, peccaries, corzuelas (fallow
deer) and paca, it also devours snakes and lizards, small rodents,
and even small birds. It catches typically arboreal species such as
monkeys, it fishes in rivers and creeks and occasionally it eats
fruits.
It frequents a great variety of habitats, dense forests,
"tacuara" (a type of bamboo cane) thickets, roads and
specially sites near water (river banks, marshes, wetlands, etc.).
Jaguars are solitary. There isn't enough data to determine the size
of its territory nor how it is defined, but it is estimated that an
adult male needs approximately 4,000 hectares (1,000 acres). It
lives alone and the members of opposite sex meet only during mating
season. In some cases they seem to mark their territory by roaring
and also by means of feces and scratching the bark of the trees.
The size of these territories is variable. For instance, Crespo
estimated a density of one animal per 55 square Kilometers (21
square miles) in Iguazu, Misiones, with a population of
approximately 10 to 15 individuals. In the Brazilian Mato Grosso,
near the Bolivian border, Schaller placed radio transmitters to
several subjects and estimated that the size of the territory of the
female was about 23 to 38 sq. Km ( 9.5 to 14.5 sq. miles) and the
male's was more than twice that.
It was found that there was an overlapping of the territories of
several females and that a male's territory could include that of
several females. Some studies done in Mexico show territories of
between 2 and 5 sq. Km. (almost one to two sq. miles).All this
demonstrates the variability on territory size caused by variation
in habitats. Some old individuals are found far from their habitual
area, and it is guessed that they had been displaced by younger
animals or by defostation, like both individuals in 2.004,
one
killed in Puerto Libertad,
(Misiones) inside the city and the other captured
alive in Guaycolec (Formosa)
in perfect health.
The jaguar's only important competitor is the cougar (Puma
concolor), with whom it
shares most of the areas in which it resides, and that hunts
basically the same prey; however it seems that they minimize the
competition by dividing the habitats. In some areas the jaguar
occupies the wetter areas and the puma the drier ones, moreover the
latter is mostly nocturnal, while the jaguar usually remains active
for two thirds of the day and has well defined periods of activity
and rest. But in areas where the human threat is more severe,
jaguars tend to increase their nocturnal activity. Also, pumas tend
to frequent the proximity of man while the jaguar prefers to avoid
it.
A lot has been written about combats between jaguars and anteaters,
and it is also said that this feline beats a retreat under the
attack of wild pigs; but probably these stories are based on
isolated facts, and have been largely distorted when passed from
mouth to mouth and from book to book (Cabrera and Yepes, 1960).
There is a story in Misiones, in the Montecarlo district, relating
that a jaguar and anteater were found dead in an embrace, apparently
after confronting each other.
Translated from Spanish by Beatriz Moisset
Willow Grove, Pensylvania, USA.
Red Yaguareté.
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Red Yaguarete (Jaguar Network).
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Bibliography: 1.
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