Native United States jaguars totally disappeared by 1950. The most abundant place to look for jaguars is in Brazil (Geocities, 1998: 2).
Food Habits.
More than 85 species have been recorded in the jaguar's diet. Large prey, such as peccaries, tapirs and deer, may be preferred, but a jaguar will eat almost anything it can catch. The jaguar is the only big cat that will regularly kill its prey by piercing the skull with their canines, between the ears, and crush its skull. They are then known to bury their prey and then return later to eat it. They primarily hunt at dusk and dawn by stalking or ambushing their prey. Jaguars are known to be able to survive within a circular territory of three miles in diameter. If food is scarce the jaguar will often roam over an area of 200 square miles in search of food. The jaguar is the best tree climber of the great cats and many times it will climb trees to lie in wait for prey. They are also very rapid runners except that they tire quickly (World, 1996: 2).
Reproduction.
The jaguar reaches sexual maturity at 3 years of age. It engages in non-seasonal mating in the tropical regions while in the extremes of the range the mating season is during early autumn. Gestation lasts from 93-110 days. A mother gives birth to 1-4 cubs annually. The cubs are born blind and do not leave the den for two weeks. They learn how to hunt after six months and stay with their mother for up to two years (Animal, 2000: 1).
Behavior.
The jaguar is a solitary animal. Male and female interaction only occurs during mating and the male leaves directly afterwards, leaving the female to raise her young alone. The jaguar is very territorial and will mark their territory by urinating and scraping trees. Although the jaguar has been characterized as primarily nocturnal, radio telemetry has shown that they are often active during the daytime, with activity peaks around dawn and dusk.