The Jaguar By RAE DAWN BRUSCH
The jaguar is Guyana’s national animal and two can be found proudly on Guyana’s Coat of Arms. Scientifically called panther onca, this majestic animal is the third largest feline, after the tiger and lion and the largest feline in the Americas. Its physical attributes are like the leopard’s; a compact body with a broad head and powerful jaws. Its coat is normally a golden tan colour with solid black spots emerging in large rosette shaped patterns along the side and back of the body. It has a white underbelly. While dense rainforest is its preferred habitat, the jaguar will range across a variety of forested and open terrains. Its preferred habitats are usually swamps and wooded regions, but jaguars also live in scrublands and deserts. They enjoy swimming and usually take baths, play and even hunt for fish in streams and pools. Being largely solitary and opportunistic, they like to stalk and ambush their predators. Being secretive, they take advantage of man-made trails and roads in the forests. You may spot one on the trail when driving through the Iwokrama Rain Forest.
The jaguar hunts mostly on the ground, but it sometimes climbs a tree and pounces on its prey from above. Their bite is powerful and can even pierce the shells of armored reptiles, targeting the skull of prey between their ears to ensure a fatal bite. Jaguars are known to eat deer, peccary, crocodiles, snakes, monkeys, deer, sloths, tapirs, turtles, eggs, frogs, fish and even domestic animals such as dogs and cattle. It is a keystone species, playing an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating the populations of the animals it hunts. However, they are a near-threatened species, only an estimated 15,000 jaguars remain in the wild and its numbers are declining due to loss and fragmentation of habitat and killing by humans. The Government of Guyana signed an agreement with the Panthera organization in 2013 to aid in the conservation of our jaguars. Panthera is the only organization in the world that is devoted exclusively to the conservation of the world’s 40 wild cat species and their landscapes.