- Jaguars live in the wild for 11-15 years, in captivity they can live over 20 years.
- The jaguar is the 3rd largest of the big cats after the tiger and the lion.
- The first jaguar preserve - the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize - was created in 1986.
- Jaguars are great swimmers, so they choose habitats rich in water resources.
- The word 'jaguar' is thought to derive from the Tupian word yaguara , meaning "beast of prey".
- Jaguars (panthera onca) and leopards (panthera pardus) may seem identical, but a leopard's rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and do not have central spots as jaguars do.
- Jaguars have incredibly powerful jaws, strong enough to pierce a skull and crack a sea turtle’s shell.
- Many ancient American cultures such as the Maya and Aztec, featured the jaguar in their mythologies, it was often regarded as a symbol of strength.
- The jaguar also appears in banknotes of Brazilian real.
- Adult jaguars weigh between 45 to 113 kilograms.
Source of the photo: Pixabay, CC0 Creative Commons