Introduction: What's a Jaguar?: Delicate Balance

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What's a Jaguar?

Meet a Jaguar Biologist

Delicate Balance

Super Carnivore


	Delicate Balance The jaguar is the largest felid and top terrestrial predator in the Western Hemisphere. Like so many of its large cat relatives, the jaguar is a top predator, the top consumer in its ecosystem. Predators play a very important role in ecosystems. While they exist in relatively low densities, they control the populations of the species they eat. When predators are removed or their numbers are reduced, this can translate into a trophic cascade of effects in the ecosystem.

This is why conservation of large predators is so important. If a predator is removed, the prey species can grow to population numbers that are too high to be supported by the plants or animals they consume.

The fact that jaguars do exist in low densities makes them particularly vulnerable. While fearsome individually, the jaguar as a species is now quite delicate.

Large and carnivorous, it needs lots of room to hunt, an environment in which many prey species are abundant, and a sizable population of its own species to maintain its genetic diversity.

All of these needs put the wild jaguar at the mercy of people, who can either protect or further destroy the wilderness upon which jaguar depend. Although jaguar conservationists are working hard to set aside wilderness for jaguars, the animal has lost 50% of its habitat since 1900 to human development.

Examine the links below to learn more about jaguars:

Jaguar Fact Sheet

Jaguar Range Map. Low Res (135K) | High Res (928K)

Threat #1: Habitat Loss

As human population increases, jaguars lose more and more habitat every day. This loss can be from conversion of land to agriculture, logging, urban growth, or other reasons. Even when entire stretches of habitat aren't destroyed, they are often fragmented by roads or small pieces of habitat that are lost. This poses a great problem for jaguars because they need large stretches of habitat in which to hunt and find a mate. The more fragmented their habitat becomes, the more jaguars come into contact with humans, which increases their potential to be killed.


	1. Where do jaguars live? Look at the jaguar range map and write down all the countries in the jaguar’s range. 2. Is the jaguar an endangered species? Read the Jaguar Fact Sheet and jot down its status on different animal-watch lists. 3. What features of a cat make it such a good hunter? Note down three.

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VIDEO
Jaguar's ecological role

Think about it.
If jaguars eat deer and deer eat the leaves of a particular tree species, what will happen to that tree if there are no jaguars around to eat deer?

Draw three lines on a graph representing jaguar, deer, and tree populations showing what you think the trend would look like over time.

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