Jaguar Big Cat Silhouette

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a species of the cat family, common in Central and South America. Older names for the jaguar are ounce, once or onza. After the tiger and the lion, the jaguar is the third largest cat in the world. It is the only species of the big cats (Pantherinae) occurring on the American double continent, since the smaller puma is taxonomically assigned to the small cats. The jaguar looks similar to the leopard that lives in Africa and Asia. Once the jaguar was widespread as far as the southern US states of California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Today, the jaguar is found primarily only in Central and South America. The word jaguar as a designation for the big cat comes from the Tupi language, an indigenous language of South America belonging to the Tupí-Guaraní languages.

The head-torso length of the jaguar is 112 cm to 185 cm, plus a 45-75 cm long tail. The shoulder height is on average about 70 cm. Although overall more powerful and massively built than the leopard, its tail is significantly shorter than that of its African-Asian relative. Body weight varies greatly between different regions, ranging from 36 to 158 kg. Females are about 10-20% smaller and correspondingly lighter than males. Compared to a leopard, the jaguar has a more massive build, is much heavier and appears very "compact" and powerful. Particularly characteristic are the muscular legs, which are somewhat shorter than in the leopard, the broader and rounder head of the big cat and the extremely strong jaw bones and the extremely strong jaw musculature. The skull is very robust.

The domestic cat (Felis catus) is the pet form of the dun cat. It is one of the most popular pets. In pedigree cat breeding often only those animals are called domestic cat, which do not belong to any recognized cat breed. The dun cat is the wild ancestral form (wild form) of the domestic cat (Felis catus). As a pet or domestic animal, the domestic cat is found worldwide in almost all areas populated by humans. It can live as a wild or feral animal but only in climatically warm or temperate zones independent of subsidiary human influences. It is considered a cultural successor. Even in the biogeographically long isolated habitats of Australia and New Zealand, to which it was introduced by humans, it was able to adapt relatively quickly, but there, together with a variety of other neozoa, it influences the existing unique ecosystems. It is currently estimated (2012-2014) that there are 8.4 million domestic cats in Germany, 27.4 million throughout Central and Western Europe, and more than one billion worldwide (including feral and semi-feral populations). Cats are the better people ;)