Scientific classification
Kingdom: |
Animalia |
Phylum: |
Chordata |
Class: |
Mammalia |
Order: |
Carnivora |
Family: |
Felidae |
Genus: |
Panthera |
Species: |
P.
onca |
Binomial
name
Panthera
onca
Linnaeus,
1758
The jaguar (Panthera
onca) (Brazilian Portuguese: onça pintada) is a New World mammal of
the Felidae family and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera
genus, along with the tiger, lion and leopard of the Old World. The jaguar is
the third-largest feline after the tiger and lion, being on average the largest
and most powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range
extends from Mexico (with occasional sightings in the southwestern United
States) across much of Central America and south to Paraguay and northern
Argentina.
The spotted cat most
closely resembles the leopard physically, although it is of sturdier build and
its behavioural and habitat characteristics are closer to those of the tiger.
While dense jungle is its preferred habitat, the jaguar will range across a
variety of forested and open terrain. It is strongly associated with the
presence of water and is notable, along with the tiger, as a feline that enjoys
swimming. The jaguar is a largely solitary, stalk-and-ambush predator, and is
opportunistic in prey selection. It is also an apex and keystone predator,
playing an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating the
populations of prey species. The jaguar has developed an exceptionally powerful
bite, even relative to the other big cats.[2] This allows it to
pierce the shells of armoured reptiles and to employ an unusual killing method
with mammals: it bites directly through the skull of prey between the ears to
deliver a fatal blow to the brain.[3]
The etymology of the word jaguar
is unclear. Some sources suggest a borrowing from the South American Tupi
language to English via Portuguese,[4] while others attribute the
term to the related Guaraní languages. In the Tupi language, the original and
complete indigenous name for the species is jaguara, which has been
reported as a denotation for any carnivorous animal[4][5]—in the
compound form jaguareté, -eté means "true".[5]
In the related Guaraní languages, yaguareté has been variously
translated as "the real fierce beast",[6]
"dog-bodied",[7] or "fierce dog".[8]
Early etymological reports were that jaguara means "a beast that
kills its prey with one bound," and this claim persists in a number of
sources.[9] However, this has been challenged as incorrect.[5]
In many Central and South American countries, the cat is referred to as el
tigre ("the tiger").
The first component of its
scientific designation, Panthera onca, is often presumed to derive from
Greek pan- ("all") and ther ("beast"), but
this may be a folk etymology. Although it came into English through the
classical languages, panthera is probably of East Asian origin, meaning
"the yellowish animal," or "whitish-yellow".[10]
Onca is said to denote "barb"
or "hook", a reference to the animal's powerful claws but the most
correct etymology is simply that it is an adaptation of the current Portuguese
name for the animal, onça (on-sa), with the cedilla dropped for
typographical reasons.
The jaguar, Panthera
onca, is the only New World member of the Panthera genus. DNA
evidence shows that the lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, snow leopard and clouded
leopard share a common ancestor and that this group is between six and ten
million years old;[11] the fossil record points to the emergence of Panthera
just two to 3.8 million years ago.[11][12] The clouded leopard (Neofelis
nebulosa) is generally placed at the basis of this group.[11][13][14][15]
The position of the remaining species varies between studies and is effectively
unresolved. Most studies place the snow leopard within the genus Panthera
[11][13][15] and there is no consensus whether the scientific name
of the snow leopard should be Uncia uncia [1][16] or Panthera
uncia.[11][13][14][15]
Based on morphological
evidence, British zoologist Reginald Pocock concluded that the jaguar was most
closely related to the leopard.[15] However, DNA evidence is
inconclusive and the position of the jaguar relative to the other species
varies between studies.[11][13][14][15] Fossils of extinct Panthera
species, such as the European jaguar (Panthera gombaszoegensis) and the
American lion (Panthera atrox), show characteristics of both lions and
jaguars.[15] Analysis of jaguar mitochondrial DNA has dated the
species lineage to between 280 000 and 510 000 years ago, later than
suggested by fossil records.[17]
The last taxonomic
delineation of jaguar subspecies was performed by Pocock in 1939. Based on
geographic origins and skull morphology, he recognized eight subspecies.
However, he did not have access to sufficient specimens to critically evaluate
all subspecies, and he expressed doubt about the status of several. Later
consideration of his work suggested only 3 subspecies (P. o. onca, P.
o. paraguensis or P. o. palustris, P. o. hernandesii) should
be recognized.[18]
Recent studies have also
failed to find evidence for well defined subspecies, and are no longer
recognized.[19] Larson (1997) studied the morphological variation in
the jaguar and showed that there is clinal north–south variation, but also that
the differentiation within the supposed subspecies is larger than between them
and thus does not warrant subspecies subdivision.[20] A genetic
study by Eizirik and coworkers in 2001 confirmed the absence of a clear
geographical subspecies structure, although they found that major geographical
barriers such as the Amazon river limited the exchange of genes between the
different populations.[17] A subsequent, more detailed, study
confirmed the predicted population structure within the Colombian jaguars.[21]
Pocock's subspecies
divisions are still regularly listed in general descriptions of the cat.[22]
Seymore grouped these in three subspecies.[18]
1.
Panthera
onca onca:
Venezuela, south and east to Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, including
o P. onca peruviana: Coastal Peru
2.
P.
onca hernandesii:
Western Mexico, including
o P. onca centralis: Central America—El Salvador to
Colombia
o P. onca arizonensis: Eastern Arizona to Sonora, Mexico
o P. onca veraecrucis: Southeastern Mexico to central
Texas
o P. onca goldmani: Yucatan Peninsula to Guatemala and
Belize
3.
P.
onca palustris or P.
onca paraguensis: Paraguay and northeastern Argentina [23][18]
4.
The jaguar is a compact and
well-muscled animal. There are significant variations in size: weights are
normally in the range of 56–96 kilograms (124–211 lb). Larger animals have been
recorded as weighing 131–151 kilograms (288–333 lb) (matching the average for
female lions and tigers), and smaller ones have extremely low weights of 36
kilograms (80 lb). Females are typically 10–20% smaller than males. The length
of the cat varies from 1.62–1.83 meters (5.3–6 feet), and its tail may add a
further 75 centimeters (30 in). They stand about 67–76 centimeters (27–30 in)
tall at the shoulders.[24]
Jaguar at
the Henry Doorly Zoo
Further variations in size
have been observed across regions and habitats, with size tending to increase
from north to south. A study of the jaguar in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere
Reserve on the Mexican pacific coast, showed ranges of just 30–50 kilograms
(66–110 lb), about the size of the puma.[25] By contrast, a study of
jaguars in the Brazilian Pantanal region found average weights of 100 kilograms
(220 lb).[26] Forest jaguars are frequently darker and considerably
smaller than those found in open areas (the Pantanal is an open wetland basin),
possibly due to the fewer large herbivorous prey in forest areas.[27]
A short and stocky limb
structure makes the jaguar adept at climbing, crawling and swimming.[24]
The head is robust and the jaw extremely powerful. It has been suggested that
jaguars have the strongest bite of all felids, and the second strongest of all
mammals; this strength is an adaptation that allows jaguars to pierce turtle
shells.[3] A comparative study of bite force adjusted for body size
ranked them as the top felid, alongside the clouded leopard and ahead of the
lion and tiger.[28] It has been reported that "an individual
jaguar can drag an 800-pound [360 kg] bull 25 feet [8 m] in its jaws and
pulverize the heaviest bones".[29] The jaguar hunts wild
animals weighing up to 300 kilograms (660 lb) in dense jungle, and its short
and sturdy physique is thus an adaptation to its prey and environment.
A
melanistic form of jaguar.
The base coat of the jaguar
is generally a tawny yellow, but can range to reddish-brown and black. The cat
is covered in rosettes for camouflage in its jungle habitat. The spots vary
over individual coats and between individual jaguars: rosettes may include one
or several dots, and the shape of the dots varies. The spots on the head and
neck are generally solid, as are those on the tail, where they may merge to
form a band. The underbelly, throat and outer surface of the legs and lower
flanks are white.[24]
A condition known as
melanism occurs in the species. The melanic form is less common than the
spotted form — six percent has been reported for its South American range[30]
— and is the result of a dominant allele.[31] Jaguars with melanism
appear entirely black, although their spots are still visible on close
examination. Melanistic jaguars are informally known as black panthers, but do
not form a separate species. Rare albino individuals, sometimes called white
panthers, occur among jaguars, as with the other big cats.[27]
The jaguar closely
resembles the leopard, but is sturdier and heavier, and the two animals can be
distinguished by their rosettes: the rosettes on a jaguar’s coat are larger,
fewer in number, usually darker, and have thicker lines and small spots in the
middle that the leopard lacks. The head of the jaguar is rounder, and it has
shorter, stockier limbs.[32]
Image:Jaguarcub.jpg
A cub is
groomed by its mother.
Jaguar females reach sexual
maturity at about two years of age, and males at three or four. The cat is
believed to mate throughout the year in the wild, although births may increase
when prey is plentiful.[33] Research on captive male jaguars
supports the year-round mating hypothesis, with no seasonal variation in semen
traits and ejaculatory quality; low reproductive success has also been observed
in captivity.[34] Female estrous is 6–17 days out of a full 37-day
cycle, and females will advertise fertility with urinary scent marks and
increased vocalization.[33] Both sexes will range more widely than
usual during courtship.
Mating pairs separate after
the act, and females provide all parenting. The gestation period lasts 93–105
days; females give birth to up to four cubs, and most commonly to two. The
mother will not tolerate the presence of males after the birth of cubs, given a
risk of infant cannibalism; this behaviour is also found in tigers.[35]
The young are born blind,
gaining sight after two weeks. Cubs are weaned at three months but remain in
the birth den for six months before leaving to accompany their mother on hunts.[36]
They will continue in their mother's company for one to two years before
leaving to establish a territory for themselves. Young males are at first nomadic,
jostling with their older counterparts until they succeed in claiming a
territory. Typical lifespan in the wild is estimated at around 12 years; in
captivity, jaguars have lived up to 23 years, placing them among the
longest-lived cats.[26]
Like most cats, the jaguar
is solitary outside mother-cub groups. Adults generally meet only to court and
mate (though limited non-courting socialization has been observed anecdotally[35])
and carve out large territories for themselves. Female territories, from 25 to
40 square kilometers in size, may overlap, but the animals generally avoid one
another. Male ranges cover roughly twice as much area, varying in size with the
availability of game and space, and do not overlap.[35][37] Scrape
marks, urine, and feces are used to mark territory.[38]
Like the other big cats,
the jaguar is capable of roaring (the male more powerfully) and does so to warn
territorial and mating competitors away; intensive bouts of counter-calling
between individuals have been observed in the wild.[39] Their roar
often resembles a repetitive cough, and they may also vocalize mews and grunts.[26]
Mating fights between males occur, but are rare, and aggression avoidance
behaviour has been observed in the wild.[38] When it occurs,
conflict is typically over territory: a male's range may encompass that of two
or three females, and he will not tolerate intrusions by other adult males.[35]
The jaguar is often
described as nocturnal, but is more specifically crepuscular (peak activity
around dawn and dusk). Both sexes hunt, but males travel further each day than
females, befitting their larger territories. The jaguar may hunt during the day
if game is available and is a relatively energetic feline, spending as much as
50–60% of its time active.[27] The jaguar's elusive nature and the
inaccessibility of much of its preferred habitat make it a difficult animal to
sight, let alone study.
Like all cats, the jaguar
is an obligate carnivore, feeding only on meat. It is an opportunistic hunter
and its diet encompasses 85 species.[27] The jaguar prefers large
prey and will take deer, tapirs, peccaries, dogs, and even giant Anacondas and
Crocodilian caiman species; however, the cat will eat any small species that
can be caught, including frogs, mice, birds, fish, sloth and domestic
livestock.[40]
While the jaguar employs
the deep-throat bite-and-suffocation technique typical among Panthera,
it prefers a killing method unique amongst cats: it pierces directly through
the temporal bones of the skull between the ears of prey (especially capybaras)
with its canine teeth, piercing the brain. Emmons (1987) has suggested this is
an adaptation to "cracking open" turtle shells; following the late
Pleistocene extinctions, armoured reptiles such as turtles would have formed an
abundant prey base for the jaguar.[39][27] The skull bite is
employed with mammals in particular; with reptiles such as caiman, the jaguar
may leap on to the back of the prey and sever the cervical vertebrae,
immobilizing the target. While capable of cracking turtle shells, the jaguar
may simply reach into the shell and scoop out the flesh.[35] With
prey such as dogs, a paw swipe to crush the skull may be sufficient.
The jaguar is a
stalk-and-ambush rather than a chase predator. The cat will walk slowly down
forest paths, listening for and stalking prey before rushing or ambushing. The
jaguar attacks from cover and usually from a target's blind spot with a quick
pounce; the species' ambushing abilities are considered nearly peerless in the
animal kingdom by both indigenous people and field researchers, and are
probably a product of its role as an apex predator in several different
environments. The ambush may include leaping into water after prey and a jaguar
is quite capable of carrying a large kill while swimming; its strength is such
that carcasses as large as a heifer can be hauled up a tree to avoid flood
levels.[35]
On killing prey, the jaguar
will drag the carcass to a thicket or other secluded spot. It begins eating at
the neck and chest, rather than the midsection. The heart and lungs are
consumed, followed by the shoulders.[35] The daily food requirement
of a 34 kilograms animal, at the extreme low end of the species' weight range,
has been estimated at 1.4 kilograms.[41] For captive animals in the
50–60 kilogram range, more than 2 kilograms of meat daily is recommended.[42]
In the wild, consumption is naturally more erratic; wild cats expend
considerable energy in the capture and kill of prey, and may consume up to 25
kilograms of meat at one feeding, followed by periods of famine.[43]
The range
of the jaguar
The jaguar has been
attested in the fossil record for two million years[22] and it has
been an American cat since crossing the Bering Land Bridge during the
pleistocene; the immediate ancestor of modern animals is Panthera onca
augusta, which was larger than the contemporary cat (see below).[21]
Its present range extends from Mexico, through Central America and into South
America, including much of Amazonian Brazil.[44] The countries
included in this range are Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa
Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, US and Venezuela. The jaguar is now extinct
in El Salvador and Uruguay.[1] The largest protected jaguar habitat
is the 400 square kilometer Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.
The inclusion of the United
States in the list is based on occasional sightings in the southwest,
particularly in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. In the early 1900s, the jaguar's
range extended as far north as Southern California and western Texas.[41]
Jaguars are a protected species in the United States under the Endangered Species
Act, which has stopped the shooting of the animal for its pelt. In 2004,
wildlife officials in Arizona photographed and documented jaguars in the south
of the state. For any permanent population to thrive in Arizona, protection
from killing, an adequate prey base, and connectivity with Mexican populations,
are essential.[45]
The historic range of the
species included much of the southern half of the United States, and in the
south extended much farther to cover most of the South American continent. In
total, its northern range has receded 1000 kilometers southward and its
southern range 2000 km northward. Ice Age fossils of the jaguar, dated between
40 000 and 11 500 kya, have been discovered in the United States, including
some at an important site as far north as Missouri. Fossil evidence shows
jaguars of up to 190 kilograms (420 lbs), much larger than the contemporary
average for the animal.[46]
The habitat of the cat
includes the rain forests of South and Central America, open, seasonally
flooded wetlands, and dry grassland terrain. Of these habitats, the jaguar much
prefers dense forest;[27] the cat has lost range most rapidly in
regions of drier habitat, such as the Argentinean pampas, the arid grasslands
of Mexico, and the southwestern United States.[1] The cat will range
across tropical, subtropical, and dry deciduous forests (including,
historically, oak forests in the United States). The jaguar is strongly
associated with water and it often prefers to live by rivers, swamps, and in
dense rainforest with thick cover for stalking prey. Jaguars have been found at
elevations as high as 3800 m, but they typically avoid montane forest and are
not found in the high plateau of central Mexico or in the Andes.[27]
A Jaguar in
a wildlife rescue & rehabilitation centre in Argentina
The jaguar is an apex
predator, meaning that it exists at the top of its food chain and is not
regularly preyed on in the wild. The jaguar has also been termed a keystone
species, as it is assumed, through controlling the population levels of prey
such as herbivorous and granivorous mammals, apex felids maintain the
structural integrity of forest systems.[25][47] However, accurately
determining what effect species like the jaguar have on ecosystems is
difficult, because data must be compared from regions where the species is
absent as well as its current habitats, while controlling for the effects of
human activity. It is accepted that mid-sized prey species see population
increases in the absence of the keystone predators and it has been hypothesized
that this has cascading negative effects,[48] however, field work
has shown this may be natural variability and that the population increases may
not be sustained. Thus, the keystone predator hypothesis is not favoured by all
scientists.[49]
The jaguar also has an
effect on other predators. The jaguar and the puma, the next largest feline of
the Americas, are often sympatric (related species sharing overlapping
territory) and have often been studied in conjunction. Where sympatric with the
jaguar, pumas are smaller than normal. The jaguar tends to take larger prey and
the puma smaller, reducing the latter's size.[50] This situation may
be advantageous to the puma. Its broader prey niche, including its ability to
take smaller prey, may give it an advantage over jaguars in human-altered
landscapes;[25] while both are classified as near-threatened
species, the puma has a significantly larger current distribution.
The jaguar is considered
near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources,[1] meaning it may be threatened with extinction
in the near future. The loss of parts of its range, including its virtual
elimination from its historic northern areas and the increasing fragmentation
of the remaining range, have contributed to its status. Jaguar populations are
currently declining. Detailed work performed under the auspices of the Wildlife
Conservation Society reveal that the animal has lost 37% of its historic range,
with its status unknown in an additional 18%. More encouragingly, the
probability of long-term survival was considered high in 70% of its remaining
range, particularly in the Amazon basin and the adjoining Gran Chaco and
Pantanal.[44]
The major risks to the
jaguar include deforestation across its habitat, increasing competition for
food with human beings,[1] and the behaviour of ranchers who will
often kill the cat where it preys on livestock. When adapted to the prey,
jaguars have been shown to take cattle as a large portion of their diet; while
land clearance for grazing is a problem for the species, the jaguar population
may have increased when cattle were first introduced to South America as the
animals took advantage of the new prey base. This willingness to take livestock
has induced ranch owners to hire full-time jaguar hunters, and the cat is often
shot on sight.[26]
The jaguar is regulated as
an Appendix I species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES): all international trade in jaguars or their parts is
prohibited. Any hunting of jaguars is prohibited in Argentina, Colombia, French
Guiana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, the US (where it is
listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act), Uruguay and Venezuela.
Hunting of jaguars is restricted to "problem animals" in Brazil,
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, while trophy hunting is still permitted
in Bolivia. The species has no legal protection in Ecuador or Guyana.[22]
Current conservation
efforts often focus on educating ranch owners and promoting ecotourism.[51]
The jaguar is generally defined as an "umbrella species"—a species
whose home range and habitat requirements are sufficiently broad that, if
protected, numerous other species of smaller range will also be protected.[52]
Umbrella species serve as "mobile links" at the landscape scale, in
the jaguar's case through predation. Conservation organizations may thus focus
on providing viable, connected habitat for the jaguar, with the knowledge that
other species will also benefit.[51]
Given the inaccessibility
of much of the species' range—particularly the central Amazon—estimating jaguar
numbers is difficult. Researchers typically focus on particular bioregions, and
thus species-wide analysis is scant. In 1991, 600–1000 animals were estimated
to be living in Belize. A year earlier, 125–180 jaguars were estimated to be
living in Mexico’s 4000 square kilometer (2400 mi²) Calakmul Biosphere Reserve,
with another 350 in Chiapas state. The adjoining Maya Biosphere Reserve in
Guatemala, with an area measuring 15,000 square kilometers (9,000 mi²), may
have 465–550 animals.[53] Work employing GPS-telemetry in 2003 and
2004 found densities of only six to seven jaguars per 100 square kilometers in
the critical Pantanal region, compared with 10 to 11 using traditional methods;
this suggests that widely used sampling methods may inflate the actual numbers
of cats.[54]
Main
article: Jaguars in Mesoamerican culture [55]
In Central and South
America, the jaguar has long been a symbol of power and strength. The Chavín
cult of the Jaguar became accepted over most of what is today Peru by 900 BC.
Concurrent with Chavin, the Olmec, the progenitor culture of Pre-Columbian
Mesoamerica, developed a distinct "were-jaguar" motif of sculptures
and figurines showing stylized jaguars or humans with jaguar characteristics.
In the later Maya civilization, the jaguar was believed to facilitate
communication between the living and the dead and to protect the royal
household. The Maya saw these powerful felines as their companions in the
spiritual world, and kings were typically given a royal name incorporating the
word jaguar. The Aztec civilization shared this image of the jaguar as the
representative of the ruler and as a warrior. The Aztecs formed an elite
warrior class known as the jaguar knights. In Aztec mythology, the jaguar was
considered to be the totem animal of the powerful deity Tezcatlipoca.
The jaguar is widely used
as a symbol in contemporary culture. It is the national animal of Guyana and
features in the country's coat of arms.[56] It is widely used as a
product name, most prominently for a luxury car brand. In the early 1960s
Fender Musical Instruments introduced an electric guitar called the Jaguar,
geared toward practitioners of surf music.
The name has been adopted
by sports franchises, including the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars and the Mexican
national soccer league team the Jaguares de Chiapas. The jaguar serves as the
mascot for IUPUI, Southern University (Baton Rouge), Spelman College, and the
University of South Alabama. The crest of Argentina's national federation in
rugby union features a jaguar; however, because of a historic accident, the
country's national team is nicknamed Los Pumas. Nevertheless, the South
American international rugby union team that played South Africa during the
1980s did adopt the name of the South American Jaguars.
1.
^ a
b c d
e f Nowell,
K., Breitenmoser, U., Breitenmoser, C. & Jackson (2002). Panthera onca.
2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11
August 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is near
threatened.
2.
^ Stephen
Wroe, Colin McHenry, and Jeffrey Thomason (2006). "Bite club: comparative
bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behaviour in
fossil taxa" (PDF). Proceedings of the Royal Society B Online. Retrieved on 2006-08-07.
3.
^ a
b Hamdig, Paul. Sympatric Jaguar and Puma. Ecology
Online Sweden. Retrieved on August 30, 2006.
4.
^ a
b "Jaguar". Online Etymology Dictionary.
Douglas Harper. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
5.
^ a
b c "Word to the
Wise". Take our word for it, issue 198, pg. 2. The Institute for
Etymological Research and Education. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
6.
^ "Yaguareté - La Verdadera Fiera" (Spanish). RED Yaguareté. Retrieved on September 27, 2006.
7.
^ Breve Vocabulario (Spanish). Faculty of Law, University of
Buenos Aires. Retrieved on September 29, 2006.
8.
^ Eduardo
Acevedo Díaz (1890). “Notas”, Nativas (in Spanish). Retrieved on 2006-09-29.
9.
^ Virtually all of the general
interest sources cited here repeat this apparently erroneous etymology.
10.
^ "Panther". Online
Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper. Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
11.
^ a
b c d
e f Johnson, W.E., Eizirik,
E., Pecon-Slattery, J., Murphy, W.J., Antunes, A., Teeling, E. & O'Brien,
S.J. 2006. The Late Miocene radiation of modern Felidae: A genetic assessment.
Science 311: 73-77
12.
^ Turner A (1987) New fossil
carnivore remains from the Sterkfontein hominid site (Mammalia: Carnivora). Ann Transvall Mus 34:319–347
13.
^ a
b c d
Yu L & Zhang YP (2005). Phylogenetic studies of pantherine cats (Felidae)
based on multiple genes, with novel application of nuclear beta-fibrinogen
intron 7 to carnivores. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35(2): 483-495.
14.
^ a
b c Johnson WE & Obrien
SJ (1997). Phylogenetic reconstruction of the Felidae using 16S rRNA and NADH-5
mitochondrial genes. Journal of Molecular Evolution 44: S98-S116.
15.
^ a
b c d
e f Dianne N. Janczewski, William S. Modi, J. Claiborne
Stephens, and Stephen J. O'Brien (1996). "Molecular Evolution of
Mitochondrial 12S RNA and Cytochrome b Sequences in the Pantherine Lineage of
Felidae". Molecular Biology and Evolution 12 (4): 690. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
16.
^ Felid Taxon Advisory Group: Alan H.
Shoemaker (1996) Taxonomic and Legal Status of the Felidae
17.
^ a
b Eizirik E, Kim
JH, Menotti-Raymond M, Crawshaw PG Jr, O'Brien SJ, Johnson WE. (2001).
"Phylogeography, population history and conservation genetics of jaguars
(Panthera onca, Mammalia, Felidae)". Molecular Ecology 10 (1): 65. Retrieved on 2006-08-07.
18.
^ a
b c Seymore, K.L. 1989.
Panthera onca. Mammalian Species 340: 1-9
19.
^ Ronald M. Nowak (1999) Walker's
Mammals of the World, 6th edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press,
Baltimore, Maryland ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
20.
^ Larson,
Shawn E. (1997). "Taxonomic re-evaluation of the jaguar". Zoo
Biology 16 (2): 107.
Retrieved on 2006-08-07.
21.
^ a b
Ruiz-Garcia M, Payan E, Murillo A & Alvarez D (2006). DNA microsatellite characterization of the
jaguar (Panthera onca) in Colombia. Genes & Genetic Systems 81(2):
115-127.
22.
^ a
b c "Guidelines for
Captive Management of Jaguars," Taxonomy, pp. 5-7, Jaguar Species Survival
Plan
23.
^ The description of the first is
based on a fossil, the later on living individuals
24.
^ a
b c "All about Jaguars:
ECOLOGY". Wildlife Conservation Society. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
25.
^ a
b c Rodrigo Nuanaez, Brian Miller, and Fred Lindzey
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29.
^ McGrath, Susan (August 2004).
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41.
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b Determination That Designation of Critical Habitat
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^ "Jaguars". The
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52.
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55.
^ See main article references for
bibliography on this section
56.
^ "Guyana," RBC Radio
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jaguar&action=history
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html