#was never scared of Jaguar because even without understanding Mexican culture it’s always been calming and reassuring to me. safe feeling.

[monster42069]

I love Jaguars, but people in Texas somehow don’t understand what a Jaguar is and say, “a panther/leopard?” every time. Sure….Yeah, they’re panthers, but they are a specific panther, a special panther, an all-American panther. And no, they are not a leopard. They aren’t on the same continent. One has a central and southern American-given name for a reason. “True wild beast that overcomes it’s prey at a bound”(Tupi-Guarani). Yaguara, Jaguareté. They don’t attack throats to make the kill like most large cats in their family and genus. Jaguars purposely grab the skull of any prey or threat and crush the skull with their teeth. They are beautiful and terrifying and important and in major danger from human intervention in forests and poaching from European settlers. They have a rich history with Indigenous religions. Luckily, they have multiple regions in the Americas that take this seriously and have reservations and breedings programs to get their numbers back up, as scary as they are. I am glad they’re mostly in Central and Southern American countries because I don’t want to be old one day and have to explain to a child that the iconic predator is gone like the used-to-be-iconic-and-known Californian Grizzly Bear.