Jaguars of Brazil - Dynamics,Lifestyle,Datas,Studies,Reports

[Balam]

@Dark Jaguar I definitely think that peccary and feral hog are prey items underestimated in Cerrado jaguars based on the study I read. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if hogs are the main prey item for certain males in the region. Do you know much about how common these hogs are in the Cerrado and in areas surrounding the Emas National Park?

And yes, that data of Caatinga jaguars being 20% melanistic is very interesting, my personal opinion is that Caatinga jaguars have Cerrado roots and their size difference is more recent, thanks to the poaching of prey in the biome. It'd be interesting to see how Caatinga jaguars looked at the end of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene when human intervention had not been as dramatic.

What I find the most interesting about Cerrado and Caatinga jaguars presenting melanism is that they live in grasslands and dessert environments, when you'd think melanism would only be present in forest populations. Perhaps the links between the jaguars who cross between the Cerrado to the Amazon brought the genes to the Cerrado, and from there to Caatinga, but why the Pantanal and Atlantic forest haven't receive those genes is a mystery. Reply