A day in the life of the Word Jaguar

Why hello young Earth Cubs! I’m the Word Jaguar. Join me for a day of fun in the Amazon Rainforest.

There are around 170,000 of us jaguars here. My name ‘Jaguar’ comes from the ancient ingenious name “yaguar” which means ‘the killer which overcomes its prey in a single bound’.

I see you looking at my beautiful spots. Sometimes I get confused with my cousin Lionel the Leopard. He’s got spots too. My spots are called rosettes and have black dots in the middle which Lionel is lacking. Plus Lionel lives a few thousand miles away in Africa. Folklore says that I dabbed mud on myself with my paws to camouflage in the shadows.

The Super Slow Sloth called me ‘chunky’ the other day. That’s a good thing as it means I can take on big prey like the giant caiman. I’ve got the most powerful bite of all my cat cousins - I can bite through crocodile skin and even the hard shells of turtles.

Talking of food, why don’t you come and join me by the riverside. Unlike your pet cat I really enjoy water and can cross large rivers. I’ve got a great way to catch fish for my dinner. I dip my tail into the water like a fishing line! I’ve got the moves like Jaguar…!

I’m not a fussy eater - deer, iguanas, fish, monkeys, even tapirs! They are all on the menu! I’ve got sharp pointed bumps on my tongue which I use to scrape meat off those bones. My eyesight is 6 times better than yours at nighttime. I have a special layer of tissue at the back of my eye that reflects light.

Pamela the panther is much stealthier than me. It’s because she’s never spotted….

When I call out to my friends, it’s called a ‘saw’ because it sounds like the sawing of wood. Which is ironic as my home is at risk due to deforestation from logging. As my home decreases, so does my prey. I sometimes hunt livestock like cows as I’m hungry. I then get in trouble with humans and they shoot at me.

Thanks for joining me today. I’ve got my own video! Check it out and Learn the World!