While all members of the Felidae family, that is- cats, share many features, they are found in many different places around the world and each have their particular characteristics. You would never, for example, confuse a tiger with a lion, because they look very different and live in different places. But some cats are very similar to one another and hard to tell apart.
HOW
DO YOU TELL A JAGUAR FROM A LEOPARD?
To tell a jaguar from a leopard,
look at the circular markings, or so-called rosette.
The jaguar has spots at the center of its rosettes
and the leopard does not.
Other differences: the jaguar is somewhat larger
and heavier than the leopard. And while the leopard
is found in parts of Africa and Asia, the jaguar's
home is in Central and South America.
Within the cat family, cats are subdivided into
several groups, each group called a genus. Taxonomists
– people who sort out how animals are related- make
these groupings based on how animals are related.
The close relationship of the two species is reflected
by their scientific names.
Jaguars and leopards are closely related. In fact,
they are in the same genus, Panthera. In
scientific names, the first name indicates the genus
and the last name indicates the species. The leopard
is Panthera pardus, the jaguar Panthera
onca.
JAGUAR
NICKNAMES
The jaguar is a cat with many names. Throughout Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries it often called "el tigre." Its English name, jaguar, only came into usage sometime in the past century. The word is believed to come from the word yaguara, of the Tipi-Guarani language of Amazonia. This word has been reported to mean different things: "eater of us", "body of a dog", and most recently, "the wild beast that overcomes its prey at a bound" (Hoogesteijn and Mondolfi 1993). Before the term jaguar emerged, English speakers might call it "tiger" or an American or Mexican "leopard" since the two species look so much alike.
In the following pages
you will find field guides to eight of the world's
big cats. Using what you know about scientific names,
as well as information about their characteristics
and geography, place the eight cats (plus the jaguar)
in this taxonomic
tree. Explain your choices. Turn your answers
in to your teacher.
Hint! Use the genus names to group similar cats together on the taxonomic tree.
© 2006 Wildlife Conservation Society.