Amazonian Jaguar

[Balam]

(11-16-2023, 05:26 AM)Ngonya Wrote: @Balam Hello, is the average weight of the jaguars in the Araguaian River (Amazonian/Cerrado) the same as the one u sent previously? (83,6 kg)

Hi friend, the jaguars from the Araguaia River are very fascinating and are currently being reserached by the Instituto Onça Pintada (IOP) since the river is one of the most important natural corridors for jaguars in the country.

To date, we don't possess any public data on the weights of jaguars from the Araguaia-Tocantins basin. IOP may have performed captures, but if they have, no data has been released on it.

What I can tell you is that the jaguars from the Araguaia-Tocantins basin will almost certainly surpass in size those from Mamiraua which harbors some of the smallest jaguars in the world as jaguars in that area and aren't forced into the tree canopy for a month on end to rely on tiny arboreal prey during the monsoon season like the ones from Mamiraua are. 

Recently we showed this case of a massive river dolphin killed by a female jaguar in the Araguaia River. Capybara, peccary, caiman, deer, and tapir are also common, as well as occasionally cattle. That, combined with the gene flow that they get of jaguars from the Cerrado almost guarantees better morphological fitness compared to other areas of the inner Amazon. Whether their weights on average would be around 84 kg would depend on multiple factors, but I do think that kind of body mass would be reasonable as a median for an adult male from that area.

The Xingu River which covers the northern part of the Arguaia-Tocantins basin is known for producing huge jaguars, as an example, see this melanistic male from the area. Xingu is also the area where sisters Mariua and Juruna from the Iberá Project were sourced from, and they have grown to become stout Amazonian females with a bull-dog-like build:

*This image is copyright of its original author

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