The Evolution Of The Jaguar
They live in South America and can occasionally be found in North America and are listed as near threatened/vulnerable, with 150,000 left in the wild. They like to live in woodland and swamps with good thick coverage and good access to water. They are hunters and eat a wide and varied diet from Deers and Tapirs to even Frogs, Mice and Livestock. They prefer the dense forest and swamps so that they have perfect cover for stalking their prey and they also are strong swimmers.
The spotted fur of the Jaguar was highly sought after for fashion since the start of the 20th century so their numbers began to rapidly decline at this time. Although they still have a big range they are more sparsely spread out and the main populations are in the Amazon
Rainforest, however, even this habitat is declining.
Their primary threat is habitat loss and they have lost around 40% of their overall habitat in the last few decades due to humans deforesting large expanses of area and decreasing the movement which the Jaguars feel safe to go. The deforested areas become cities and towns or are drained and used for agricultural use, there are still pockets of forest around these areas so the fragmentation of the land means that the Jaguars do not roam as much and their territories are considerably smaller so there is less resources for them.
Even though it is illegal they are still poached for their fur by hunters who will go on to sell their pelts on the black market, there is increasing measures being put on trade of black market but more are killed every day. The jaguars are chased by dogs until they are cornered or run into a tree then they are either shot or speared when they leap at the hunters.
The open areas which have not yet been taken over by humans are dying from the smog from the cities so the Jaguars are losing long grass and hiding places for stalking prey. Although they have a large variety of prey the numbers of their prey are declining so there is even less resources for them to hunt and eat, this will have a massive effect on the Jaguars which are cut off from the main population and the Amazon Rainforest because they will be killed if they attempt to cross farmland to get to a better habitat.
The spotted fur of the Jaguar was highly sought after for fashion since the start of the 20th century so their numbers began to rapidly decline at this time. Although they still have a big range they are more sparsely spread out and the main populations are in the Amazon
Rainforest, however, even this habitat is declining.
Their primary threat is habitat loss and they have lost around 40% of their overall habitat in the last few decades due to humans deforesting large expanses of area and decreasing the movement which the Jaguars feel safe to go. The deforested areas become cities and towns or are drained and used for agricultural use, there are still pockets of forest around these areas so the fragmentation of the land means that the Jaguars do not roam as much and their territories are considerably smaller so there is less resources for them.
Even though it is illegal they are still poached for their fur by hunters who will go on to sell their pelts on the black market, there is increasing measures being put on trade of black market but more are killed every day. The jaguars are chased by dogs until they are cornered or run into a tree then they are either shot or speared when they leap at the hunters.
The open areas which have not yet been taken over by humans are dying from the smog from the cities so the Jaguars are losing long grass and hiding places for stalking prey. Although they have a large variety of prey the numbers of their prey are declining so there is even less resources for them to hunt and eat, this will have a massive effect on the Jaguars which are cut off from the main population and the Amazon Rainforest because they will be killed if they attempt to cross farmland to get to a better habitat.