50 



The Living Animals of the World 



fUolu bi/ U. II . I) ilMil A; Co., Lhl J 



JAGUAR. 

 The largest and strongest of the Cats of the New World, A South American species. 



L^tjcj't/tt/t. 



THE NEW WORLD CATS. 



The cats, great and small, of the Xew World resemble those of the Old, though not quite 

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

 red deer, and elk of Euro[>e. They are like, but with a difference. The Jaguar and the 

 Ocelot are respectively larger and far more beautiful than their counterparts, the leopard and 

 serval cats. Bat the Puma, the one medium-sized feline animal which is uns2:)otted, 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 Argentina, perhaps attracted by the immense numbers of cattle, sheep, and horses on these 



plains. 



The Jaguar. 



The Jacuar is as savage as it is formidable, 

 liut does not often attack men. Its headcjuarters 

 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 

 veUet 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, 

 fish in the shallows of the rivers, and scoops out 

 turtles' eggs from the sandbanks. Humboldt, who 

 visited these regions when the white population 



I'Uota by ticho{a.-!tic I'lwto. Co., Parsoa'a Gixen. 



PUMA. 



A puma in the act of lying do«n, like a domestic cat. 



