Jaguarundi Animal Facts
What did I just see? If you came here because you think you saw a jaguarundi in the U.S., it’s possible, but it’s more likely this. Click to reveal the mystery animal.
Misc: While Jaguarundis are not native to the south-eastern United States, it is believed that a feral population exists in Florida, established from an introduced population of escaped pets in the 1940’s. They were reported to be quite easy to “tame” by early Central American natives, and were used to control rodent populations around villages. Today, it is not recommended to keep these or any other wild animal, as pets. Jaguarundis are one of the only felines to not have contrasting colors on the backs of their ears.
Size and Appearance: The jaguarundi is unique in its appearance among the felids in that it more closely resembles a weasel. They have slender, elongated bodies, short legs, a small flattened head, long “otter-like” tail, and a sleek, unmarked coat. Adults can weigh as little as 6 pounds or as much as 20. They stand 10-14 inches at the shoulder, and reach a length of 35-55 inches. Coats occur in 3 main color variations: black, brownish-grey, or red. Any or all colors can occur in a single litter, but generally the darker colors are usually found in the rain forest, while the paler color is found in the drier environments. The red color was once considered a separate species – F. eyra.
Jaguarundi #102 Mammals
Habitat: A cat of the lowlands, not generally found above 6500 ft., Jaguarundis occupy a wide range of both open and closed habitats – from dry scrub, swamp and savannah woodland to primary forest. The factor used to determine habitat suitability is access to dense ground vegetation. Of all of the New World felines, Jaguarundis are the most adaptable in its ability to occupy diverse environments.
Reproduction and Offspring: After a gestation of approximately 70-75 days, females produce a litter of 1-4 kittens. Like cougars and lions, newborns are spotted, and the spots soon disappear. They begin to take solid foods around the age of 6 weeks, and attain sexual maturity between 24-36 months.
Social System and Communication: Jaguarundis are known to be solitary or travel and forage in pairs. They have a wide variety of vocalizations, with 13 distinct calls having been documented.
Jaguarandi By Pemberton Ashlyn
Hunting and Diet: Their primary diet is quite varied and is comprised of small rodents, rabbits, armadillos, opossums, quail, wild turkey, reptiles, frogs, fish and domestic poultry. They have also been recorded eating fish stranded in puddles.
Principal Threats: Generally not exploited for trade, they are still caught by traps that were intended for commercially valuable species. They are notorious for raiding domestic poultry and have become nuisance animals and threatened by farmers because of it. Their biggest threat is habitat destruction and human encroachment.
Felid TAG recommendation: Jaguarundi (Herpailurus jaguarondi). Jaguarundis are uncommon in zoos, and the founder size of most zoo-held populations is only two individuals. Unless a significant number of founders are obtained from range countries, the captive population is probably not viable. Therefore, the TAG recommends this species for Phase-Out in North America. At the Annual AZA Conference (September 1999), the following four species were recommended by the Felid TAG to be ‘down-graded’ to a Phase-Out populations. For the jaguarundi, tigrina, and Geoffroy’s cat, these recommendations were made because of limited space available, the limited number of founders in these populations, and limited potential for acquiring additional founders.
The Jaguarundi A Little Known Feline
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Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.) is a wild cat native to the Americas. Its range extds from ctral Argtina in the south to northern Mexico, through Ctral and South America east of the Andes. The jaguarundi is a medium-sized cat of slder build. Its coloration is uniform with two color morphs, gray and red. It has an elongated body, with relatively short legs, a small, narrow head, small, round ears, a short snout, and a long tail, resembling mustelids in these respects. It is about twice as large as a domestic cat (Felis catus), reaching nearly 360 mm (14 in) at the shoulder, and weighs 3.5–7 kg (7.7–15.4 lb).
Small Cat Spotlight: Jaguarundi
Secretive and alert, the jaguarundi is typically solitary or forms pairs in the wild, though captive individuals are more gregarious. Unlike other sympatric cats such as the ocelot, the jaguarundi is more active during the day and hunts mainly during daytime and eving hours. Individuals live in large home ranges, and are sparsely distributed within a region. The jaguarundi is an efficit climber, but typically prefers hunting on ground. It feeds on various kinds of prey, especially ground-feeding birds, reptiles, rodts and small mammals. Mating occurs throughout the year, with peaks at differt times of the year across the range. After a gestation period of 70 to 75 days, a litter of one to four kitts is born. Lifespans of up to 15 years have be recorded in captivity.
The jaguarundi inhabits a broad array of both closed and op habitats ranging from tropical rainforests and deciduous forests to deserts and thorn scrubs. It is fairly common in Brazil, Peru, and Vezuela, but may be extirpated from the United States. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, but populations are in decline in many parts of its range due to loss and fragmtation of habitat, as well as persecution for killing poultry.
In 1803 Étine Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire described two jaguarundi skins and skulls from unknown locations in Ctral America and proposed the scitific name Felis yagouarundi.
Sharp Eyed Mongabay Readers Spot A Jaguarundi (commentary)
In 2017, the IUCN Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy and recognises the jaguarundi as a monotypic taxon of the gus Herpailurus.
These three species comprise the Puma lineage, one of the eight lineages of Felidae; the Puma lineage diverged from the rest 6.7 million years ago. The sister group of the Puma lineage is a clade of smaller Old World cats that includes the gera Felis, Otocolobus and Prionailurus.
The Puma lineage appears to have migrated from Asia to North America after crossing the Bering Strait, arriving in South America via the Isthmus of Panama by the Late Plioce or Early Pleistoce. This was possibly followed by the bifurcation of the lineage into the cougar and Herpailurus (represted by H. pumoides) in South America around 4 to 3 million years ago betwe the Late Plioce and Early Pleistoce. H. pumoides wt extinct around Middle Pleistoce, around the time the modern jaguarundi came into existce; the oldest fossils of the modern jaguarundi date back to the Late Pleistoce in Brazil around 0.5 million years ago. The original North American cougars were extirpated during the Pleistoce extinctions around 10, 000 years ago; North America was th recolonized by South American cougars and jaguarundis 10, 000–8, 000 years ago.
Tree Of Life Cr
The jaguarundi is a medium-sized cat of slder build and uniform coloration that differs significantly from other neotropical cats — such as the small, spotted cats in the gus Leopardus — in its external appearance. This has be attributed to variations in its karyotype — the jaguarundi has 38 chromosomes, unlike the 36 in other small South American cats, and the chromosomal features resemble those of Old World cats such as the leopard cat (Prionailurus bgalsis).
In fact, the jaguarundi shows several features se in mustelids such as otters and weasels — it has an elongated body with relatively short legs, a small, narrow head, small, round ears, a short snout and a long tail.
The head-and-body lgth is betwe 53 and 77 cm (21 and 30 in); the strong, muscular tail is 31–52 cm (12–20 in) long. Around twice as large as the domestic cat, the jaguarundi reaches nearly 36 cm (14 in) at the shoulder and weighs 3.5–7 kg (7.7–15.4 lb), though larger individuals weighing around 9 kg (19.8 lb) have be reported.
How To Draw A Jaguarundi
The coat is uniformly colored with at most a few faint markings on the face and the belly, though kitts are spotted for a short duration. Black and white marks on the lips and the snout, similar to those of the cougar, can be clearly se in juviles and some adults. Two color morphs are known (though intermediate shades are also se) — gray (blackish to brownish-gray fur with a grizzled look due to bright and dark rings on individual hairs)
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