Is a jaguar a tiger or a leopard? Why are their patterns so unique?

Jaguars, also known as jaguars, belong to the subgenus Panthera of cats and have 9 subspecies, but they all live in Central and South America and are the top carnivores in America.

Jaguar pattern Jaguar is one of the most mysterious cats and the third largest cat, second only to lions and tigers. Compared with cheetahs and leopards, leopards are bigger and shorter, which means they are not good at running and hunting. This is because the long tail helps leopards keep balance when running, and the long tail can help balance when turning, while the running ability of short-tailed leopards is not as good as cheetahs and leopards.

Jaguar's pattern is very unique, which belongs to rose-shaped spots, sparse but large in character, with solid spots in the middle. Studies have proved that this pattern can be used as a protective color to hide them in the surrounding environment.

Jaguar has another variant: panther. Although panthers are all black, they also have rose patterns, and you can see the changes between patterns under the sunlight. Moreover, there is no reproductive isolation between leopards and panthers, and they can still breed and produce leopards with normal colors, so to some extent, they belong to the same species.

Panthers don't have jaguar patterns and colors as protective colors, but they are more likely to hide their tracks when hunting at night, so blackening will not affect their survival, but will help them survive better.

Although jaguars with normal hair can't hide in black, their colors and patterns can make them blend in with the surrounding trees and rocks, which is beneficial to their hunting.

The reason why the patterns on their bodies are spots rather than stripes is mainly because their blood relationship is closer to leopards than tigers. In the process of evolution, their appearance gradually changed.

Jaguar hunts in America. Panthers are like lions to grasslands and tigers to forests. Although they are not as big as tigers and lions, they can catch fierce caimans.

When jaguars are young, their mothers will adapt them to water and its environment. When they grow up, jaguars can swim easily in the water, and sometimes they can directly catch the overlord Caiman in the water.

Once, a wildlife photography team observed a male jaguar of 1 1 year old. When he was young, his right eye was injured, which made him blind and inconvenient to hunt. Wildlife photographers observed that although jaguar has only 1 eye, it can still hunt caiman, and its main food is caiman. The reason is that hunting caiman does not require long-distance running, but relies on ambush strategy. Moreover, although the caiman is aggressive, it is not completely flawless. As long as it can bite the Caiman's neck, the Caiman has little strength to fight back.

More importantly, jaguars have a strong bite force, and they can drag their heavier prey to the tree and enjoy it slowly. Therefore, they can bite the Caiman's neck with amazing bite force and kill it.

However, although jaguars are fierce, there will be fights between them. Different from other animals, once a fight breaks out between jaguars of the same kind, it will be a very bloody and cruel battle. Therefore, some old and frail leopards will try their best to avoid conflicts with other mature leopards, even if the other party grabs their own territory and food, they will try their best to avoid them.

The breeding of jaguar big cats has a characteristic that there is no fixed estrus period. However, once a female has a cub to take care of, she will not be in heat until the cub grows up, which is no exception for jaguars.

Jaguar cubs will live with their mothers until they are about 2 years old. In the first six months, they will live on their mother's lotion. Although it will be weaned afterwards, it is no longer possible to hunt alone. Their food comes from their mother's prey.

During the two years when the cubs are with their mother, their mother will teach them many things, such as swimming, hunting skills and hiding skills. When they have the skills to survive alone, jaguars will leave their cubs and let them survive on their own.

However, it is difficult for most jaguar cubs to live to adulthood, because many male jaguars will kill their cubs in order to make females estrus as soon as possible. Some cubs will die prematurely due to diseases, food and other reasons.

But leopards who can live to adulthood usually live longer, about 18 years old in the wild environment and longer in the artificial environment.

Although jaguars are also called jaguars, they are closer to leopards than tigers, so their stripes are closer to leopard patterns than tiger patterns.

At present, jaguars are in a state of no danger, but if their habitat is shrinking, they will be in a state of danger or endangerment like other big cats.