Comparing Cats: A Discussion of Similarities & Differences

[Balam]

I wanted to show this difference in body build more clearly, as jaguars show an incredible amount of morphological differences depending on the habitat they inhabit. Jaguars from open terrains and savannah ecosystems don't necessarily posses the usual proportions we associate with jaguars, as the "standard" jaguar build appears to be more prevalent in populations that live in more forested and swampy areas. 

Savannah jaguars have longer legs and bodies (the body claim can be disputed as we are missing data on body length for jaguars in the Cerrado and Llanos), the proportions seem more akin to what is seen with lions to an extent. This makes sense as the environments and lifestyles they live are more cursorial and require them to walk longer distance and perhaps chase prey items like deer in longer periods. 

To illustrate this point here we have a young male from the Venezuelan Llanos, and another one from the Bolivian Amazon:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

I've also shared this observation before but haven't had the data to back this up, the tail with jaguars in the Llanos seems longer to me as opposed to those from other areas, and I think the first male above shows this perfectly. If correct that would be yet another trait these jaguars have developed to the more cursorial lifestyle they live. Of course these kinds of differences will be present to different degrees among different individuals, but on general terms I believe they may seem more common in one population over the other.

It's hard to believe these two are even the same species with such drastic differences in body promotions, but it only goes to show how adaptable jaguars are to their environments. This was the reason that allowed them to survive the Pleistocene mass extinction. Reply