They are the third largest, of the "big" cats, and they're an endangered species. The jaguar, a lithe, muscled cat, likes to hang out along rivers of South and Central America, where they feed on fish, otters, snakes and turtle eggs.
The males are larger than the females, averaging 125 lbs. although specimens as large as 350 lbs. and six feet in length do occur in the wild. Their typical coloring is black spots on a gold coat, but melanistic, or pure black, and albino jaguars have also been sighted on occasion. At that size, their only natural enemy in the jungle, is the anaconda snake.
Jaguars hunt with stealth at night, and kill by jumping on their prey and biting through the neck. Their name comes from the Indian word "yaguar", which means "he who kills at one leap".
Over-hunted and driven from their natural habitat by the encroachment of Man, the jaguar is slowly making a comeback in such places as the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Park, which has the only natural jaguar preserve in the world.
This unique, 150 square mile area of lush tropical forest and rivers, is filled with stands of mahogany and cedar, where you'll find howler monkeys and over 300 species of birds. There are 200 resident jaguars as well, but visitors seldom see the nocturnal hunting cats.
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