The Jaguar Collection: Fill & Download for Free

The beautiful, savage jaguar… the Mayan and Aztec god. Yes, it’s true… the jaguar has been far less frequently featured as a performer, compared to the other Big Cats. This has mostly to do with their personality. A jaguar’s personality is different from the others. It differs in many ways, all of which contribute to its refusal to be “tamed”. Here are some of those differences:Jaguars kill differently. Nearly all mammal predators kill in the same way. They go for the neck, either in back or the throat in front. Jaguars attack the head. They have been known to rip the cranial cap right off their prey. They have the strongest jaw strength of all the cats. Twice that of a lion. They can open their jaws further than any other cat. They sink their teeth into the skull. This indicates less intimidation. They don’t worry about getting right in the face of their victims, literally. This lack of intimidation plays a part in the elevated danger of trying to interact with a jaguar you are trying to tame.They are the most unpredictable of all the cats. You simply can’t get into the head of a jaguar. They are less emotive. Have fewer signals of what they may do. Without notice, they will lunge for you even through a fence, which by the way nearly happened to me!They are the moodiest of the cats. In captivity, they most often brood, rather than be openly aggressive. They don’t react to stimuli in the same way that the other cats do. This is another aspect of their unpredictability.In the wild, they are the most apt to migrate. They have traditional migration corridors that they follow, that are vast. The fact that they are the most able to adapt to different terrain, gives them the option of migrating if and when they feel like it. They migrate for mating, for food, due to weather. In captivity, this option is taken from them, which likely contributes to their brooding nature.There is a smaller availability of captive jaguars; for many of the reasons I’ve listed above, and due to the fact that the jaguar is the most solitary of all the big cats. Of course lions have prides. But even though both tigers and leopards are both solitary hunters, they often live in close proximity to humans. Jaguars are the most difficult to locate because they live in the most desolate, unattainable areas. So not only are they hard to find and hard to collect, they also go to the greatest pains to physically separate themselves from all signs of civilization. This indicates a stronger “dislike” of things that indicate civilization, and therefore less of a tolerance to captivity. Also, although captive jaguar siblings do okay together, they are the most difficult of the cats to keep with others of their own kind.For the reasons I’ve mentioned above, there are fewer performing jaguars, therefore there are fewer people that have any knowledge of the special pains, different methods, and extra level of bravery (i.e. cojones) needed to train jaguars. The lion, tiger and leopard live in areas where the capture and training of these animals has gone on for centuries. Therefore there is more knowledge in their taking and their handling.In South America, there is no centuries-old tradition like this. Jaguars were either feared and killed or feared and worshiped. Sometimes both.For all these reasons, the jaguar has been fortunate enough to not suffer the humiliation of being trained, as much as the other cats. He’s just too much of a handful to make it worth the effort. They just don’t “break”. They aren’t necessarily the most dangerous of the cats, for the simple reason that they will avoid you at all costs; more so than the other cats; with the caveat that you leave them alone. If you break that unspoken contract, they will break you before you break them.Jaguars are just… different.

MAN-EATERS! The Big Cats! Since the “dawn of man”, even before you could call our ancestors “man”… the felines have hunted us, prowling our world. There are those who surmise that certain of the saber-tooth cats were in fact specialists in hunting early man. Yet, somehow we survived, and even got the last laugh, as all the saber-tooth and dagger-tooth felines couldn’t stand the changing times… couldn’t adapt, for various reasons, and in the end Man prevailed. However, we weren’t out of the woods yet, because certain lines of those early felines did adapt and did survive. In fact, they kept right on preying on us for our entire history, right up to modern times. I’d go so far as to say that somewhere in the world, on this very day in our modern world of 2019, someone was killed by a cat; a Big Cat. Today, the most ferocious carnivores that we have to contend with are those killing machines known as the Big Cats. The traditional members of this club are tigers, lions, leopards and jaguars. Let’s have a look at these guys and find out if our fear of them as man-eaters is justified.~ TIGERS: Tigers have and will gobble you up. From the various islands of Indonesia, to India, up through the Asian continent to the vast forests of Siberia… tigers have attacked and eaten men, women and children. Reports state that even as recently as the early 1900’s, close to a thousand people a year have certainly been attacked, and quite a large percentage of them eaten, by the various sub-species of tigers across the eastern hemisphere. Of course, man being man… and doing what man does… over the last hundred fifty years, we have pretty much eradicated them from the Earth. So, if nothing else, we are at least safe from being eaten by a tiger. Yeah, not really. Man-eating tigers are still a thing. From a random BBC article by Jay Mazoomdaar in 2014, we get these quotes:17 people killed by tigers in the past five weeks in the four Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.In Tamil Nadu's Nilgiri district, schools in the Dodabetta region have been shut for over a week now, and are under Tiger Curfew.Those types of news stories are relatively common. In this day and age, 75 to 85 people are killed or injured - accidentally or otherwise - each year, by a tiger. But, if it makes you feel any better… many times more die of snakebites or rabies. So… there’s that.~ LIONS: If we move over one continent, we come to the land of lions. When we talk about the man-eating lions of Africa, the infamous Man-Eaters of Tsavo come to mind. Reportedly, in 1897–1898, 140 railroad-builders were eaten. A couple of movies and a bunch of books have been written about this time of terror. Actually, it’s been determined that only about 35 people were killed. But that was 120 years ago. Let’s move forward to safer times. Let’s talk about The Man-Eaters of Njombe! Tzavo was nothin’. If you want to talk about man-eaters, this pride of 15 lions actually did claim hundreds of lives. As many as 1,500, in fact! … between 1932 and 1947, in southern Tanzania. So how about the 21st century? Well, exact and reliable records are difficult to compile for the entire continent of Africa. What I do have is some numbers for the country of Tanzania (which is by far the most likely country in which to get eaten by a lion). From 1988 to 2009, just over 1,000 people have been attacked by a lion in the country of Tanzania, alone. Of those, about 700 were fatal, most of which the victim was actually consumed. This works out to an average of about 35 fatal attacks per year by Tanzanian lions, with the rest of the continent’s lions adding another 40- 60 (est.) per year. In the end, the averages are comparable to the tiger averages.~ LEOPARDS: From the News18 website, out of New Delhi, just several weeks ago in December 2018:A Buddhist monk has been killed by a leopard while meditating in Ramdegi forest of Maharashtra, the fifth such attack in the area this month.From the South African daily newspaper The Times, in May 2018:In the night of Friday the 4th of May, 2018, a leopard consumed a toddler in an un-fenced part of a safari lodge in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. The 3-year-old toddler, whose mother was a ranger at the park, had been following a nanny outdoors without the latter's knowledge when he was attacked.Other recent headlines:"Two boys aged 3 and 10 are killed in fresh leopard attacks in Uttarakhand". The Daily Mail."Man, grandson die in leopard attack in Kolar". The Deccan Herald."Leopard mauls five, beaten to death". PTI. Zee News"Two villagers injured in leopard attack in Madhya Pradesh". The Hindustan TimesI could go on and on listing current news stories of leopard attacks, including the one where a grandmother, last year, stuck her arm down the attacking leopard’s throat and killed it with a hatchet to the head, or the one where the 72 year old man killed an attacking leopard by ripping it’s tongue out. Those two were not fatal, but certainly terrifying. These are all recent, and all quite common.Leopards attacking humans, current day, easily surpass the totals of both tigers and lions, combined. This leads to quite a number of man-eating leopards. They seem to be the most comfortable with, and adaptable to, human civilization. There is even a city in India where a group of leopards actually enters the city, to prowl and hunt at night! The smallest of the Big Cats, and having a territory that, and population that, spreads across more of the world than any of the others, this cat is a force to be reckoned with. Although exact numbers of actual attacks are difficult, if not impossible to acquire, it’s well accepted that leopard attacks world-wide are in the “several hundreds” per year!Now… finally, we get to the man-eating jaguars… the final member of the original Big Cats.~ JAGUAR: The skull-crushing jaws of this cat are legendary. They live in yet another continent, to the west of the other cats. Their territory reaches from the southwestern United States, all the way to Argentina and even parts of Chile. Like the other cats above, the territory of the jaguar has been greatly diminished. 300 years ago, it was found across 70% of Argentina; today… less than 6%. All throughout Mexico, Central America and South America. It is in many countries, but it’s territory is extremely fragmented. This means it cannot travel from one area to another because their relatively small enclaves are surrounded by farms, villages, ranches and other gatherings of civilization. Even though throughout much of it’s area, there are deep thick jungles, humanity is in every direction. And for this cat, the Big Cat that craves isolation from all things “man”, more so than any of the others, they cannot get away from man’s encroachment.Jaguars are the most secretive of these cats. But just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they can’t see you. Sightings of jaguars are fewer than any of the others. They stick to themselves more than any of the other. Yet, despite this, they are illegally hunted. The problem is… the ranches. South America has the highest percentage of cattle ranching land in a Big Cat’s territory of all. And due to the circumstances, cattle has become a major part of their prey. In certain areas, at certain times of year, it can be up to 70% of their prey. Obviously, this is frowned upon by the ranchers, and all too frequently, the result is bad for the jaguar.This is all illegal, of course. But the various governments and wildlife agencies/organizations are trying to find solutions to this major problem. The jaguar is highly reviled by ranchers, whether it is deserved or not. Despite the fact that jaguars do indeed prey on their cattle, the amount of predation is commonly highly exaggerated. It is perceived to be much higher than it is. Studies have proven that it is rarely above 1% - 2% of a rancher’s stock that is taken. Also, jaguars frequently get blamed for predation by cougars, who also take calves. It’s a fact that losses to jaguars are less than losses to disease, birthing complications, venomous snakes, human rustling, and even dogs; as well as various other hazards that free-range cattle face. Yet still, hundreds are killed per year. So you can’t blame these ferocious predators for having a grudge on humanity, in general. Have jaguars attacked people? Yes. They have.I’ll describe some of these, below. I am including one photo of head injuries to this first victim, so if you are squeamish, scroll slowly so that you can then pass it by quickly if you wish. This first attack happened in Guyana.In 2014, a three-year-old Amerindian girl was attacked by a jaguar in the remote Isseneru Village, in dense jungle When attacked, she was with her mother at the Mazaruni River, as they were every morning, to bathe and wash clothes.Her mother says that she turned away from the child to tend to the clothes when she heard “screams and then saw the jaguar ripping away at her”. The large adult jaguar apparently pounced on the girl from the bushes and, with its jaws clamped on her head, dragged the child about 60 feet into nearby bushes. It released her only after other residents, who had heard her screams, forced the jaguar to drop the child and then shot the animal. The attack caused grievous injuries. Thinking that the child was already dead, the family left her at the river bank and ran to get the health center nurse. When the nurse got to the child, she found a pulse, and so began an epic 5-hour journey by river boat, speed boat, carrying, and finally airplane, to her to a hospital.Upon arriving at the hospital, the little girl’s scalp and head looked like this.What was beneath the hair, after shaved, was considerably more serious than you can see here. However… after some miraculous surgery and healing, the girl eventually healed!This next case happened in 2008, in Brazil.The victim was sleeping in a tent with the entrance closed. The animal entered the tent and inflicted bites to the head of the fisherman (bilaterally, with tissue and bone loss) as well as claw scratches and punctures, especially in the pectoral region and the back of the shoulders and limbs. The body was dragged approximately 60 m into the woods and recovered by fishermen who responded to a radio warning from the victim’s father. The attack was classified as predatory.This attack was particularly bad, and made the previous injuries to the little girl seem like a slight bruise. If you are curious, and have a strong stomach and/or have a medical background, there are photos in the following link. However… I’m being extremely serious when I say they are not for the faint-hearted. Seriously.OQUE UMA ONÇA FAZ COM VOCEIf you didn’t look at the link, the left side of the skull and face is missing. It was, once again, a typical jaguar method of attack, as their specialty is puncturing the skull of any prey with their fangs.A third attack, also in Brazil:Around 6 PM on July 14, 2010, a 17-year-old white male from Mateus Lemos (Minas Gerais State) was attacked while returning from a fishing trip in Cáceres, Mato Grosso State, in North Pantanal. His companions reported that a jaguar jumped out of a ravine onto the boat and bit the victim on the right shoulder, tipping him into the water. Shortly after, the jaguar surfaced in the river with the victim’s head between its teeth. The boat skipper then smashed an iron pipe into the jaguar and the animal released the victim and escaped into the ravine. The first responder on scene applied compressive bandaging to the injuries of the scalp. En route to medical care they encountered another boat that had a doctor aboard; that doctor improved placement of the compressive bandages, established venous access, and administered intravenous saline solution, an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory, and analgesics. He also recommended the administration of rabies and tetanus vaccinations.The victim was admitted to a hospital about 8 hours after the attack. Physical examination showed perforations from the jaguar’s fangs (marked in the fractured and extracted bone fragments of the skull) and facial, right arm, and right back scratches, as well as perforations to the victim’s body. He was diagnosed with cranial- encephalic trauma, with brain and bone tissue loss on the left side of the head. Surgeons removed bone fragments and devitalized brain tissue, repaired the dura mater, and sutured skin lesions with rigorous attention to hemostasis of affected vessels. The victim survived and currently has a memory deficit (traumatic amnesia and aphasia) and awaits further surgery for placement of a cranial acrylic prosthesis.Finally, a fourth example.In May 2007, a 40-year-old male Aweti Indian suffered a nonfatal attack while traveling through the woods on the shores of Lake Ipawu in the Upper Xingu Indian Reserve. The victim was traveling to a cassava plantation early in the morning accompanied by 2 dogs. The dogs attacked a jaguar lurking just off the trail, about 300 m from the village. Initially, the jaguar avoided confrontation with the dogs but eventually attacked them after dropping from the tree where it had been cornered. Armed with a machete and a stick of wood, the victim tried to help the dogs by fighting the jaguar. He saw that his dogs had been killed and he tried to flee but he was bitten immediately on the left shoulder. The victim struck the animal in the head with the machete and the jaguar released its grip. When he struck more blows with the machete, the jaguar attacked from the front, scratching the victim deeply on the chest and left forearm. At that moment, another Indian and his dog came to the victim’s aid. The jaguar attacked and killed the third dog but the owner eventually drove the jaguar away and it disappeared into the woods. The victim was taken back to the village, where he was treated by the tribe’s shaman. The shaman applied herbal preparations to the injuries. He now only shows the scars of the scratches caused by the attack.So, there you have four described attacks of jaguars on humans. Let’s get some understanding of why these attacks happened. Were the jaguars out to get these two-legged intruders who are constantly shooting them for acting like jaguars? No, actually. They were all man-made. In the first three instances, despite being in very remote locations, these locations were also on the rout of popular tourist attractions. There has been a spate of eco-tourism in jaguar country over the last decade or so. Local guides are taking tourists on river trips in hopes of seeing jaguars along the bank. Jaguars are famously known water-lovers. They do as mush hunting in bodies of water, as they do on land, particularly in areas with seasonal flooding. Unfortunately, some of the guides have taken to baiting the river banks to encourage the jaguars to come into sight. This has lead to the jaguars counting on these free meals, and associating humans with said meals. I think you can see where this is going. In the first three examples, these were all on routes of the tourist boats.There are now very strict laws prohibiting baiting for tourist purposes. These laws are recent, and have come too late for a few people.The fourth example I gave above included harassment by dogs. As described, they ran off the trail, chased the jaguar who eventually treed… but then jumped down to deal with his tormentors. The man of course, was attacked because he jumped into the fray. His dogs paid the ultimate price. The dog’s owner, though alive, will never be the same. It’s unlikely the attack would have happened without the dogs harassing the cat.April of 2013, was a bad year for jaguar attacks in Colombia. A fisherman near Bogota was attacked and killed while checking his nets, and in a different part of Colombia that same month, a heavy machine operator was attacked while on his bulldozer (likely destroying more habitat, at the time). There is also a story from Charles Darwin, who claimed that a jaguar leaped from the banks of a river, into their boat and attacked the crew. Teddy Roosevelt had a story of one of his team getting pulled out of a tent at night, and dragged away by the leg, but was saved by other members in camp.And the last statistic… a biologist by the name of Jedrzejewski interviewed 485 hunters, farmers and other local people in Venezuela, collecting 923 records of jaguars from 1940 to 2015. Among them they found 22 reliable reports of attacks of jaguars on humans. Of these 22 attacks, 18 survived. The point to notice here is that this covered a time frame of 75 years, and over all that time, only four fatalities occurred, out of only 22 attacks.To wrap this up… I listed individual cases here because I wanted to draw attention to the fact that, unlike the larger tiger, who has been a terror for centuries from the frigid boreal forests to the tropical islands of the equator, slaughtering tens of thousands of humans, quite often dozens by a single man-eater…. and unlike the terrifying man-eating lions of the Dark Continent, who have similarly slaughtered tens of thousands over the centuries… unlike the man-eating leopards across two continents, who have somehow managed to out-eat the killer lions and tigers, and to this day continue to add to their score…. the reclusive, powerful jaguar has no such history. One must struggle and dig to find a mere handful of cases. Although a few jaguars have attacked man, none have become man-eaters, setting their eyes and appetites on their two-legged neighbors, despite the constant hunt against the jaguars of the Americas. Quite often the attacks are while they are being hounded by a pack of dogs, or after being baited for tourists. Even from the very few cases of attacks, only a small percentage have been truly predatory attacks.The beautiful and honorable jaguar just wants to be left alone. He can crush through the skull of any human with the greatest of ease, yet only a small number of attacks have proved fatal. And as far as actually consuming humans… as far as being a true “man-eater”… the facts simply and clearly prove otherwise. We persecute him, but he holds no grudge.We kill his prey, we take over his land, we chase him with dogs… and the worst of his retribution is a few calves taken, and the extremely rare case of a few individuals striking back.Some countries, like Argentina, have only around 250 jaguars left. Overall, in the entire western hemisphere, fewer than 15,000 exist. This cat who was praised and honored as a god, for centuries… now would be happy to quietly stay in the shadows and not call attention to himself. Would be happy to not be exterminated. The jaguar… the most honorable of all the Big Cats.

I'm not a divorce lawyer but many years ago when I was trying to buy a second-hand car I met a guy who collected Jaguar E-types. He told me he had bought one for just $5,000. At the time the value of these cars was about $30,000 and he bought it so cheaply because a guy had wanted to sell it way below value so that his wife couldn't get a decent share of all of their assets.