Jaguars Habitat

Here are some of the best Flickr photographs of the jaguars habitat. I have described where jaguars live; the areas, range or distribution as it is called of this Americas wildcat. In brief the range extends down from Arizona (it is thought) through Mexico to, and including, South America. As its habitat is being reduced year on year, mainly through deforestation, the countries in South America where it is found is shrinking. However, in order to illustrate this page I have selected photographs from some major reserves and wildlife sanctuaries, the names of which are stated as a caption/watermark on each photograph and which show typical the jaguar habitat.

Above - Photo by Dirk's Photography

The jaguar prefers dense forest with plenty of cover. The rainforests of South America meet this preference. But the jaguar is also found in grassland but less so. They are good fishers and swimmers and like swampland too. It strong jaws are adapted to piercing turtle shells.

The readitnews.com website writes on 19th Feb 2009 about a very rare (perhaps unique jaguar) that had made an area southwest of Tucson, Arizona, his home (see photo, right for an idea of what this landscape looks like).

This sole male cat was found to the same one that had been photographed over a 13 year period. Sadly, he was euthanized not long after the February sighting, on Monday March 2, 2009 having been diagnosed with kidney failure. However, his presence indicates that the jaguars habitat extends well beyond the preferred rainforest.

Above – Photo by awater

In fact, the jaguars habitat extends to:

• open, seasonally flooded wetlands;
• dry grassland terrain;
• the drier habitat of for example the Argentinean pampas and
• the arid grasslands of Mexico;
• the south-western United States;
• tropical, subtropical, and dry deciduous forests, liking to live
• by water in the form of rivers and swamps and avoiding
• montane forest

Here are some more pictures of well known park reserves that protect the jaguars habitat:

Immediately above – photo by penkoad

Immediately above – photo by teamperks The approximately 15,000 km² Manú National Park in Peru is an important habitat for the jaguar.

From Jaguars habitat to Wild Cat Species