5 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Photo by G. IV. (Vilion &> Co., Ltd.l 



[Aberditn 



JAGUAR 



The largest and strongest of the Cats of America. A South American species 



THE AMERICAN CATS 



THE cats, great and small, of the New World resemble those of the Old, though not quite 

 so closely as the caribou, wapiti deer, and moose of the northern forests resemble the reindeer, 

 red deer, and elk of Europe. They are like, but with a difference. The Jaguar and the Ocelot 

 are respectively larger ar.d far more beautiful than their counterparts, the leopard and serval 

 cats. But the Puma, the one medium-sized feline animal which is unspotted, is something 

 unique. The jaguar and puma are found very far south in South America ; and though the 

 jaguar is really a forest animal, it seems to have wandered out on to the Pampas of Argen- 

 tina, perhaps attracted by the immense numbers of cattle, sheep, and horses on these plains. 



THE JAGUAR 



The JAGUAR is as savage as it is formidable, 

 but does not often attack men. Its headquarters 

 are the immense forests running from Central 

 America to Southern Brazil ; and as all great forests 

 are little inhabited, the jaguar is seldom encoun- 

 tered by white men. By the banks of the great 

 rivers it is semi-aquatic ; it swims and climbs with 

 equal ease, and will attack animals on board boats 

 anchored in the rivers. As there are few animals 

 of great size in these forests, its great strength is 

 not often seen exercised, as is that of the lion ; but 

 it is the personification of concentrated force, and 

 its appearance is well worth studying from that 

 point of view. The spots are larger and squarer than 

 in the leopard, the head ponderous, the forearms 

 and feet one mass of muscle, knotted under the 

 velvet skin. On the Amazons it draws its food 

 alike from the highest tree-tops and the river-bed; 

 in the former it catches monkeys in the branches, 



b, scholastic photo. Co., Panon'i Gntn fish in the shallows of the rivers, and scoops out 



PUMA turtles' eggs from the sand banks. Humboldt, who 



A puma in the act of lying down, like a domestic cat Visited these regions when the white population 



