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TROPICAL AMERICA AND ITS ANIMALS 



Jaguar. 



The order Insectivora is unrepresented in Central and South 

 America, the reported occurrence of a shrew {Blarina brevicauda) 

 in Costa Rica being incorrect. We accordingly pass on to the Carnivora, of which 

 the largest South American representative is the jaguar (Fells onca), which ranges 

 from Louisiana to the Rio Negro on the borders of Patagonia. Needless to say, 

 with such an extensive range, the species includes several local races. Although 

 with a relatively bigger head, the Brazilian jaguar may be compared in size to a 

 large leopard. The general type of coloration is also leopard-like, but the black 



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JAOT'ARONDI. 



rosettes are larger and have a black spot in the centre of the enclosed light area; 

 a feature, sometimes at least, seen in Siamese leopards. The rosettes are generally 

 arranged more or less distinctly in seven or eight rows. 



Jaguars are partial to the neighbourhood of water, and in forest-districts 

 frequent the wooded banks of rivers and the reed-beds of lakes. Being excellent 

 climbers they live among trees, which, in some districts, they never abandon even 

 during floods. They are also, however, equally at home on the Argentine pampas, 

 where the numerous rodents afford them abundant food. In tropical forest districts 

 jaguars prey largely on monkeys, and on the Orinoco they feed on tortoises and 



