Celebrate Jaguars- Did You Know?

Did you know April 10th is World Jaguar Day? The jaguar got its name from the South American native word 'yaguara'. Jaguars are the largest cat in the western hemisphere. The IUCN Red List have listed jaguars as near threatened with a decreasing population. They play a very important role in the environment by regulating prey populations which helps prevent overgrowth of plants, and a balance in the food chain and biodiversity. The jaguar has three main threats. These threats include livestock conflicts, poaching and illegal trafficking conflicts, and habitat conflicts. CITES has listed jaguars under Appendix I, in hopes of protecting these cats.

Jaguars are born blind and open their eyes after two weeks. Their eyesight allows them to see six times better than humans can. They can rotate their ears 180 degrees. They cannot purr, but they can roar. They have an incredible sense of smell including between 45 million and 80 million olfactory receptors. Jaguars look similar to leopards, only jaguars have spots in the middle of their rosettes. Jaguars can be albino or melanistic. Jaguars have around 473 taste buds and 32 teeth, and 87 different prey species. The Amazon Rainforest fire burned over 769,000 hectares, killing or injuring 500 adult jaguars. This area is home to one in ten species on Earth.

We have been working on the Chaco Jaguar Conservation Project since 2008. Recently they put up camera traps and came across a beautiful jaguar walking right in front of their camera! Celebrate this beautiful species and learn what you can do to help protect them!

Celebrate World Jaguar Day today, April 10th!