Panthera onca

This species has been placed in the genus Felis by some authors.

Large range extends from the southwestern U.S. to northern Argentina, but distribution and abundance have been drastically reduced due to habitat destruction, overexploitation, and illegal and excessive hunting.

The jaguar once ranged throughout tropical lowlands of Mexico, Central America, and South America (to central Argentina). In the United States, there are records from southern California, Arizona (Hoffmeister 1986, Johnson and Van Pelt 1997), New Mexico (Findley et al. 1975, Frey 2004), Texas (Schmidly 2004), and perhaps farther east in Louisiana; most records are from Arizona, where a minimum of 64 jaguars have been killed since 1900; some believe that a breeding population formerly existed in portions of the southwestern United States (Federal Register, 13 July 1994, 22 July 1997, which see for a state-by-state review of records). The species is now absent from much of the former range; it has been extirpated as a resident in most or all of the northern extent of the range in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico (see Federal Register, 13 July 1994, p. 35676, for discussion of recent records), El Salvador, Uruguay, developed areas of Brazilian coast, Chile, all but the northernmost parts of Argentina (Cuyckens et al. 2017, Jedrzejewski et al. 2018), and elsewhere. The largest remaining population is in Amazonian Brazil (Seymour 1989). In recent decades, jaguars occasionally have strayed into the United States in southern Arizona-New Mexico, with camera traps recording individuals six times in 2023 (Gilbert 2024).

The number of occurrences or subpopulations is difficult to define for this species (individuals of which may range over vast areas) and not a very meaningful measure of conservation status. Population size and area of occupancy are more relevant considerations. However, see Sanderson et al. (2002), who identified jaguar-occupied areas that could be regarded as distinct occurrences or subpopulations.

Historical and current declines are due to two main factors: habitat loss and hunting.

Rapid declines occurred in Central and South America during the 1960s due to human exploitation. During this period more than 15,000 skins were brought out of the Brazilian Amazon alone each year (see Weber and Rabinowitz 1996). Approximately 13,500 pelts entered the United States in 1968 (Nowak 1999). Subsequent national and international conservation agreements appear to have reduced the kill (Nowak 1999), but declines have continued, mostly illegal, hunting, human take due to conflicts with the livestock industry, and exploitation of jaguar prey (Weber and Rabinowitz 1996, Quigley et al. 2017, USFWS 2018). Populations isolated by deforestation probably incur increased vulnerability to killing by humans (many are shot on sight regardless of protection).

Habitat loss is primarily due to agricultural expansion as well as ranching, commercial and housing development (Quigley et al. 2017, USFWS 2018). Habitat loss also causes fragmentation of populations and the consequent loss of gene flow.

Mortality from vehicle strikes is also a threat wherever heavily-trafficked paved roads intersect jaguar habitat (USFWS 2018).