JAGUAR

Jaguar

One of the largest members in the family Felidae, this spotted cat, similar in appearance to the leopard ranges from Northern Mexico to Northern Argentina. The jaguar is a proficient hunter of a variety of small and large vertebrates on the ground and in the trees, in its preferred dense jungle habitat, though it is also found in forested or even open terrain often associated with water or wetlands like the Pantanal. 

Highly territorial over an extensive home range of up to about eighty square miles (200 sq km), it lives a solitary life ??? except during the breeding season, when male and female come together to mate and reproduce.

Hunting for sport and pelt are the primary reasons for the decline of this species, although deforestation and habitat loss have contributed as well.