IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Guix, J.C. | |
| El jaguar en la pluvisilva atlantica de Brasil | |
| 1992 Vida Silvestre (71): 33-37 | |
One of the most important areas where the jaguar is found is in the south-east part of Sao Paulo state. This region, despite being situated in the main economic and industrial zone of the country, contains the most important area of continuous Atlantic rainforest. The jaguar or "on‡ pintada" as it is known in Brazil. attains 2.70 m in length, including the tail, and more than 120kg in weight. Like most big cats jaguars are solitary and can be active by day as well as by night. They hunt on land and in water and, contrary to what was imagined earlier, have a very varied diet, ranging from large forest animals such as the tapir (Tapirus terrestris), peccary (Tayassu pecari and T. tajacu) and deer (Mazama spp.) to monkeys, sloths, armadillos, agutis, birds, caimans, lizards as well as fish. They appear to prefer larger prey which when killed are dragged into the forest to a safe place. It is generally considered that the big cats, such as tigers, lions, leopards and jaguars, catch their large prey with a bite to the nape of the neck, causing the rupture of the spinal cord, or else to the throat, holding on to asphyxiate it (see, for example, Loreznz and Leyhausen, 1971). Thus in the case of bites on the back of the neck the hypothesis was put forward that the shape of the canines of the cats acts as a "wedge", facilitating the penetration of the tooth into a space between the vertebrae. |
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