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(04-16-2022, 12:00 AM)Twico5 Wrote: Jaguars are heavier in most places where they co-exist, except they co-exist in most of Central and South america where there are more freshwater ecosystems than anywhere else and where there are more freshwater fish and crocodillian species (the very prey jaguars have adapted to hunt) than anywhere else on earth.
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*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author Look at the red areas, these are the regions in which jaguars tend to be really large and pumas, smaller than jaguars. In western mexico there are 0 crocodillian species and very few freshwater ecosystems, it is dry and arid and both jaguars and pumas are hunting the same animals. Here are some hindfoot sizes of jaguars and pumas from there:
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*This image is copyright of its original author Western mexico isnt the only region in which jaguars and pumas are hunting the same prey. I posted a study a while back that had weights of pumas killed in the Pampas region of argentinea. If i recall correctly there were 5 weights given and two of these weights were 107kg and 110kg. The average was over 90 kilograms for all male pumas included in the study. Now, its possible that jaguars here, or in other parts of northern argentinea have a similar or higher average weight. But considering that pumas have to be quite a bit taller and longer than jaguars in order to be the same weight, do you think these jaguars would appear to be bigger in size? No, they wouldn’t. Both jaguars and pumas in northern Argentinea primarily hunt domestic animals such as cattle, horses, sheep. The pantanal on the other hand shouldnt even be brought up anymore if you want to fairly compare jaguar and puma sizes. It is home to around 10 million yacare caiman. There are far less capybara, deer and whatever else pumas are hunting here. The pantanal is also home to some of largest cattle herds in the entire South America. Not to mention pumas here are rare. Yet in the size comparison posted above we see a female puma being close in height to a big male jaguar. All of this should prove that jaguars arent simply larger on their own. Also, regarding interactions between the two species, both have a mutual avoidance of each other.
Completelly dissagree. Water sources has noting to do with the size, is the prey base available what influence the size of these cats. Other thing, paw prints are not a good predictor as we don't know which specific variations may be between the species, after all they are not just "cats" but completelly different species, so the paw size may have another explanation.
About the weights of 107 and 110 kg for pumas, I doubt them for the moment and I will like to see the sources of those figures. The heaviest puma reliably recorded was of 105 kg (Hornocker & Negri, 2010), so those figures should be exceptional, but I will like to check its reliability first.
Definitelly, in every study jaguars are significavely heavier than pumas, the bodies are more massive and the skulls are bigger, there is no comparison.
And I support Pckts on this, jaguar dominate over pumas, no such thing as avoidance and also here in Guatemala pumas are smaller than jaguars and there is a case of a jaguar killing a puma in Belice.
Finally, from Sunquist & Sunquist (2002):
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*This image is copyright of its original author
This studies clearly shows that pumas are smaller than jaguars.