Utente:BlackPanther2013/Sandbox/rapaci: differenze tra le versioni

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Riga 1:
{{Tassobox
|nome=MegatteraGiaguaro
|statocons=LCNT
|statocons_versione=iucn3.1
|statocons_ref=<ref name=iucn>{{IUCN|summ=1300615953|autore=CookeQuigley, JH.G, Foster, R., Petracca, L., Payan, E., Salom, R. & Harmsen, B. 20182017}}</ref>
|immagine=[[File:HumpbackStanding Whale underwater_shotjaguar.jpg|230px]]
[[File:Humpback whale size (color).svg|230px]]
|didascalia=
|dominio=[[Eukaryota]]
Riga 24 ⟶ 23:
|infraclasse=
|superordine=
|ordine=[[ArtiodactylaCarnivora]]
|sottordine=[[Feliformia]]
|infraordine=[[Cetacea]]
|superfamiglia=
|famiglia=[[BalaenopteridaeFelidae]]
|sottofamiglia=[[Pantherinae]]
|tribù=
|sottotribù=
|genere='''Megaptera'''[[Panthera]]
|genereautore=[[John Edward Gray|J. E. Gray]], [[1846]]
|sottogenere=
|specie='''MP. novaeangliaeonca'''
|sottospecie=
|biautore=([[Georg Heinrich BorowskiLinneo|BorowskiLinnaeus]]
|binome=MegapteraPanthera novaeangliaeonca
|bidata=[[17811758]])
|triautore=
|trinome=
|tridata=
|sinonimi=''BalaenaFelis gibbosaonca''<br/>{{zoo|ErxlebenLinnaeus|17771758}}<br/>
''Balaena boops''<br/>{{zoo|Fabricius|1780}}<br/>
''Balaena nodosa''<br/>{{zoo|Bonnaterre|1789}}<br/>
''Balaena longimana''<br/>{{zoo|Rudolphi|1832}}<br/>
''Megaptera longimana''<br/>{{zoo|Gray|1846}}<br/>
''Kyphobalaena longimana''<br/>{{zoo|Van Beneden|1861}}<br/>
''Megaptera versabilis''<br/>{{zoo|Cope|1869}}
|nomicomuni=
|suddivisione=[[Areale]]
|suddivisione_testo=[[File:Cypron-RangePanthera Megapteraonca novaeangliaedistribution.svg|230px]]<br/>{{legenda|red|areale attuale}}{{legenda|pink|areale storico}}
}}
Il '''giaguaro''' ('''''Panthera onca''''') è una grossa [[specie]] di [[Felidae|felino]], unico rappresentante [[Neontologia|vivente]] del [[Genere (tassonomia)|genere]] ''[[Panthera]]'' originario delle [[America|Americhe]]. Con una lunghezza (coda esclusa) che può raggiungere i 185 cm e un peso che può raggiungere i 158 kg, è il più grande felino delle Americhe e il terzo più grande del mondo. Il suo manto caratteristico presenta una colorazione di fondo dal giallo pallido al marroncino ricoperta da macchie che si dispongono a formare rosette sui fianchi, sebbene alcuni esemplari [[Melanismo|melanici]] presentino un manto interamente nero. Il potente morso del giaguaro gli consente di perforare il [[Guscio di tartaruga|carapace]] di [[Testudines|tartarughe]] e [[Testudinidae|testuggini]] e di utilizzare un insolito modo per uccidere le [[Predazione|prede]], mordendo direttamente il cranio dei [[Mammalia|mammiferi]] tra le orecchie per sferrare un colpo fatale al cervello.
La '''megattera''' ('''''Megaptera novaeangliae''''') è un [[Mysticeti|cetaceo misticeto]], nello specifico una [[Balaenopteridae|balenottera]] (cioè un membro della famiglia dei [[Balaenopteridae|Balenotteridi]]), [[Monospecifico|unica specie]] del [[Genere (tassonomia)|genere]] '''''Megaptera'''''. Gli adulti misurano 14-17 metri di lunghezza e possono pesare fino a 40 tonnellate. Ha una sagoma caratteristica, con lunghe [[Pinna pettorale|pinne pettorali]] e una testa bitorzoluta. I suoi salti (''[[breaching]]'') e altri distintivi [[Comportamenti di superficie dei cetacei|comportamenti di superficie]] la hanno resa popolare tra i ''[[Osservazione dei cetacei|whale-watchers]]''. I maschi producono un [[Canto delle balene|canto]] complesso, di durata variabile dai 4 ai 33 minuti.
 
Gli antenati del moderno giaguaro probabilmente raggiunsero le Americhe dall'[[Eurasia]] durante il [[Pleistocene inferiore]] attraverso il [[Ponte continentale|ponte di terra]] che un tempo attraversava lo [[stretto di Bering]]. Attualmente, l'areale della specie si estende dagli [[Stati Uniti sud-occidentali|Stati Uniti sud-occidentali]] al [[Paraguay]] e all'[[Argentina]] settentrionale, attraverso il [[Messico]], gran parte dell'[[America centrale]] e la [[Amazzonia|foresta amazzonica]]. Abita una gran varietà di terreni forestali e aperti, ma predilige gli [[habitat]] is [[tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest]], [[wetland]]s and wooded regions. It is adept at swimming and is largely a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush [[apex predator]]. As a [[keystone species]], it plays an important role in stabilizing [[ecosystem]]s and in regulating prey populations.
Diffuse negli [[Oceano|oceani]] e nei [[Mare|mari]] di tutto il mondo, le megattere effettuano generalmente [[Migrazione|migrazioni]] annuali anche di {{M|16000}} chilometri, alimentandosi nelle acque [[Regioni polari|polari]] e spostandosi verso quelle [[Zona torrida|tropicali]] o [[Clima subtropicale|subtropicali]] per accoppiarsi e partorire. La loro dieta consiste per lo più di [[Euphausiacea|krill]] e piccoli [[Pesce|pesci]], che catturano creando reti di bolle. Sono animali [[Promiscuità|promiscui]] ed entrambi i sessi hanno più partner. Loro predatori naturali principali sono le [[Orcinus orca|orche]].
 
Gli antenati del giaguaro moderno probabilmente entrarono nelle Americhe dall'Eurasia durante il Pleistocene inferiore attraverso il ponte di terra che un tempo attraversava lo stretto di Bering. Oggi, la gamma del giaguaro si estende dal centro degli Stati Uniti sudoccidentali attraverso il Messico e gran parte dell'America centrale, la foresta pluviale amazzonica e il sud fino al Paraguay e all'Argentina settentrionale. Abita una varietà di terreni boscosi e aperti, ma il suo habitat preferito è la foresta di latifoglie umide tropicali e subtropicali, le zone umide e le regioni boscose. È abile nel nuoto ed è in gran parte un predatore all'apice solitario, opportunista, inseguitore e agguato. Come specie chiave di volta, svolge un ruolo importante nella stabilizzazione degli ecosistemi e nella regolazione delle popolazioni di prede.
Come altri grandi cetacei, anche le megattere sono state oggetto di una [[Caccia alla balena|caccia]] intensa, che le ha spinte fin quasi all'[[estinzione]]; negli anni '60 la loro popolazione si era ridotta a circa {{M|5000}} individui. Al giorno d'oggi, anche se la popolazione complessiva è nuovamente risalita a {{M|135000}} capi, gli intrappolamenti nelle [[Rete da pesca|reti da pesca]], le collisioni con le navi e l'[[inquinamento acustico]] continuano a costituire gravi minacce.
 
The jaguar is threatened by [[habitat loss]], [[habitat fragmentation]], [[poaching]] for trade with its body parts and killings in [[human–wildlife conflict]] situations, particularly with [[ranch]]ers in Central and [[South America]]. It has been listed as [[Near Threatened]] on the [[IUCN Red List]] since 2002. The wild population is thought to have declined since the late 1990s. Priority areas for jaguar [[wildlife conservation|conservation]] comprise 51 Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs), defined as large areas inhabited by at least 50 breeding jaguars. The JCUs are located in 36 geographic regions ranging from Mexico to Argentina.
== Tassonomia ==
 
La megattera venne identificata per la prima volta come ''baleine de la Nouvelle Angleterre'' da [[Mathurin-Jacques Brisson]] nel suo ''Regnum Animale'' del 1756. Nel 1781, [[Georg Heinrich Borowski]] descrisse la specie, convertendo il nome datole da Brisson nel suo equivalente [[Lingua latina|latino]], ''Balaena novaeangliae''. Nel 1804, [[Bernard Germain de Lacépède]] tolse la megattera dalla famiglia dei [[Balaenidae|Balenidi]], ribattezzandola ''B. jubartes''. Nel 1846, [[John Edward Gray]] creò il genere ''Megaptera'', classificando l'animale come ''Megaptera longipinna'', ma nel 1932 Remington Kellogg riportò in auge l'appellativo specifico coniato da Borowski, ''novaeangliae''.<ref name=WJ>{{cita libro | autore=Stephen Martin | titolo=The Whales' Journey | url=https://books.google.it/books?id=M0jN8JM0pIYC&pg=PA251&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false | anno=2001 | p=251 | editore=Allen & Unwin | isbn=978-1-86508-232-5}}</ref> Il nome comune inglese ''humpback whale'', «balena gobba», si deve all'abitudine di questa specie di piegare il dorso quando si immerge. Il nome ''Megaptera'' deriva dal [[Lingua greca antica|greco antico]] ''mega-'' / μεγα («gigante») e ''ptera'' / πτερα («ala»)<ref name=LiddellScott2015>{{cita libro | autore=Henry George Liddell e Robert Scott | titolo=Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon, Abridged | url=https://books.google.it/books?id=7_sKrgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y | data=2 febbraio 2015 | editore=Martino Fine Books | isbn=978-1-61427-770-5}}</ref> e si riferisce alle grandi pinne pettorali. L'appellativo specifico significa «della Nuova Inghilterra» e probabilmente le venne attribuito da Brisson in seguito ai regolari avvistamenti di megattere al largo delle coste di [[Nuova Inghilterra|questa regione]].<ref name=WJ/>
The jaguar has featured prominently in the mythology of [[indigenous peoples of the Americas]], including those of the [[Aztec]] and [[Maya civilization]]s.
{{Approfondimento
 
|allineamento=sinistra
==Etymology==
|titolo=<small>[[Albero filogenetico]] di sei specie di cetacei misticeti<ref name=Arnason_etal_2018>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=U. Árnason, F. Lammers, V. Kumar, M. A. Nilsson e A. Janke | titolo=Whole-genome sequencing of the blue whale and other rorquals finds signatures for introgressive gene flow | rivista=[[Science Advances]] | volume=4 | numero=4 | pp=eaap9873 | anno=2018| bibcode=2018SciA....4.9873A | doi=10.1126/sciadv.aap9873 | pmid=29632892 | pmc=5884691}}</ref></small>
The word "jaguar" is possibly derived from the [[Tupi-Guarani]] word {{lang|und|yaguara}} meaning 'wild beast that overcomes its prey at a bound'.<ref name=Guggisberg1975>{{Cite book |last=Guggisberg |first=C. A. W. |title=Wild Cats of the World |year=1975 |publisher=Taplinger Publishing |___location=New York |isbn=978-0-8008-8324-9 |chapter=Jaguar ''Panthera onca'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |pages=247–265}}</ref><ref name=Seymour/> In North America, the word is pronounced disyllabic {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|æ|g|w|ɑːr}}, while in British English, it is pronounced with three syllables {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|æ|g|juː|ər}}.<ref>{{cite book |author=Qualls, E. J. |year=2012 |title=The Qualls Concise English Grammar |publisher=Danaan Press |isbn=9781890000097 |chapter=The dialects of English |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjrd5UnFT2gC&pg=PT29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Jaguar |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/jaguar |website=[[Cambridge Dictionary]] |access-date=16 November 2021 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112012608/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/jaguar |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Indigenous peoples in Guyana]] call it {{lang|gyn|jaguareté}}.<ref>{{cite book |author=Labat, J.B. |author-link=Jean-Baptiste Labat |year=1731 |chapter=Once, espèce de Tigre |title=Voyage du chevalier Des Marchais en Guinée, isles voisines, et à Cayenne, fait en 1725, 1726 & 1727 |___location=Amsterdam |publisher=La Compagnie |volume=III |page=285 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dfdWAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA6-PA5 |access-date=13 August 2020 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021340/https://books.google.com/books?id=dfdWAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA6-PA5 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|contenuto=
"Onca" is derived from the Portuguese name {{lang|pt|onça}} for a spotted cat in Brazil that is larger than a [[lynx]]; cf. [[Snow leopard|''ounce'']].<ref>{{cite book |author=Ray, J. |author-link=John Ray |year=1693 |chapter=Pardus an Lynx brasiliensis, ''Jaguara'' |title=Synopsis Methodica Animalium Quadrupedum et Serpentini Generis. Vulgarium Notas Characteristicas, Rariorum Descriptiones integras exhibens |publisher=S. Smith & B. Walford |___location=London |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/synopsismethodic00rayj/page/168/mode/1up |page=168}}</ref> The word "panther" is derived from [[classical Latin]] {{lang|la|panthēra}}, itself from the [[ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|πάνθηρ}} ({{transliteration|grc|pánthēr}}).<ref>{{cite book |author1=Liddell, H. G. |author2=Scott, R. |year=1940 |name-list-style=amp |script-chapter=el:πάνθηρ |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |edition=Revised and augmented |___location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2377441 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=11 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411203109/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2377441 |url-status=live}}</ref>
{{clade|style=font-size:75%;line-height:75%;width:350px;
 
|label1=[[Balaenopteridae]]
== Taxonomy and evolution ==
|1={{clade
===Taxonomy===
|1=[[Balaenoptera acutorostrata|Balenottere minori]]
In 1758, [[Carl Linnaeus]] described the jaguar in his work ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' and gave it the [[scientific name]] ''Felis onca''.<ref name=Linn1758>{{cite book |author=Linnaeus, C. |year=1758 |chapter=''Felis onca'' |title=Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis |edition=Decima, reformata |language=la |___location=Holmiae |publisher=Laurentius Salvius |volume=I |page=42 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/mobot31753000798865#page/41/mode/2up}}</ref>
|2={{clade
In the 19th and 20th centuries, several jaguar [[type specimen]]s formed the basis for descriptions of [[subspecies]].<ref name=MSW3/> In 1939, [[Reginald Innes Pocock]] recognized eight subspecies based on the geographic origins and skull [[morphology (biology)|morphology]] of these specimens.<ref name=Pocock1939>{{cite journal |last=Pocock |first=R. I. |year=1939 |title=The races of jaguar (''Panthera onca'') |journal=Novitates Zoologicae |volume=41 |pages=406–422 |url=https://archive.org/details/cbarchive_123320_theracesofjaguarpantheraonca9999}}</ref>
|1={{clade
Pocock did not have access to sufficient [[zoological specimen]]s to critically evaluate their subspecific status but expressed doubt about the status of several. Later consideration of his work suggested only three subspecies should be recognized. The description of ''P. o. palustris'' was based on a [[fossil]] skull.<ref name=Seymour>{{cite journal |last=Seymour |first=K. L. |year=1989 |title=''Panthera onca'' |journal=Mammalian Species |issue=340 |pages=1–9 |url=http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/VHAYSSEN/msi/pdf/i0076-3519-340-01-0001.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620231016/http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/VHAYSSEN/msi/pdf/i0076-3519-340-01-0001.pdf |archive-date=20 June 2010 |doi=10.2307/3504096 |jstor=3504096}}</ref>
|1=''[[Balaenoptera musculus|B. musculus]]'' (balenottera azzurra)
By 2005, nine subspecies were considered to be [[Valid name (zoology)|valid]] taxa.<ref name=MSW3 />{{Collapsible list
|2=''[[Balaenoptera borealis|B. borealis]]'' (balenottera boreale)
| title = Formerly recognized subspecies
}}
| ''P. o. onca'' {{small|(Linnaeus, 1758)}} was a jaguar from Brazil.<ref name=Linn1758 />
|2={{clade
| ''P. o. peruviana'' {{small|([[Henri de Blainville|De Blainville]], 1843)}} was a jaguar skull from Peru.<ref>{{cite book |author=Blainville, H. M. D. de |year=1843 |chapter=''F. leo nubicus'' |title=Ostéographie ou description iconographique comparée du squelette et du système dentaire des mammifères récents et fossils pour servir de base à la zoologie et la géologie |language=fr |___location=Paris |publisher=J. B. Baillière et Fils |volume=II |page=Plate VIII |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6538959f/f171.item |access-date=13 August 2020 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021313/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6538959f/f171.item |url-status=live }}</ref>
|1=''[[Eschrichtius robustus]]'' (balena grigia)
| ''P. o. hernandesii'' {{small|([[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1857)}} was a jaguar from [[Mazatlán]] in Mexico.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Gray, J. E. |year=1857 |title=Notice of a new species of jaguar from Mazatlan, living in the gardens of the Zoological Society |journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London |volume=25 |page=278 |url=https://archive.org/details/lietuvostsrmoksl56liet/page/278/mode/2up}}</ref>
| ''P. o. palustris'' {{small|([[Florentino Ameghino|Ameghino]], 1888)}} was a [[fossil]] jaguar [[mandible]] excavated in the [[Sierras Pampeanas]] of [[Córdova District]], Argentina.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ameghino, F. |year=1888 |chapter=Formación Pampeana |title=Los Mamíferos fósiles de la República Argentina |language=es |___location=Buenos Aires |publisher=Pablo E. Coni é hijos |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/mamferosfsil00ameg/page/476/mode/1up |pages=473–493}}</ref>
| ''P. o. centralis'' {{small|([[Edgar Alexander Mearns|Mearns]], 1901)}} was a skull of a male jaguar from [[Talamanca (canton)|Talamanca]], Costa Rica.<ref name=Mearns>{{cite journal |author=Mearns, E. A. |year=1901 |title=The American Jaguars |journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington |volume=14 |pages=137–143 |url=https://archive.org/details/3908800952802714biolrich/page/138/mode/2up}}</ref>
| ''P. o. goldmani'' {{small|(Mearns, 1901)}} was a jaguar skin from Yohatlan in [[Campeche]], Mexico.<ref name=Mearns />
| ''P. o. paraguensis'' {{small|([[Ned Hollister|Hollister]], 1914)}} was a skull of a male jaguar from Paraguay.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hollister, N. |year=1915 |title=Two new South American jaguars |journal=Proceedings of the United States National Museum |volume=48 |issue=2069 |pages=169–170 |url=https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofuni481915unit/page/168/mode/2up |doi=10.5479/si.00963801.48-2069.169}}</ref>
| ''P. o. arizonensis'' {{small|([[Edward Alphonso Goldman|Goldman]], 1932)}} was a skin and skull of a male jaguar from the vicinity of [[Cibecue, Arizona]].<ref name=Goldman1932>{{cite journal |author=Goldman, E. A. |year=1932 |title=The jaguars of North America |journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington |volume=45 |pages=143–146 |url=https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofbi451932biol/page/142/mode/2up}}</ref>
| ''P. o. veraecrucis'' {{small|([[Edward William Nelson|Nelson]] and Goldman, 1933)}} was a skull of a male jaguar from [[San Andrés Tuxtla]] in Mexico.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Nelson, E. W. |author2=Goldman, E. A. |year=1933 |name-list-style=amp |title=Revision of the jaguars |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=221–240 |doi=10.2307/1373821 |jstor=1373821}}</ref>
}}
 
Reginald Innes Pocock placed the jaguar in the [[genus]] ''Panthera'' and observed that it shares several morphological features with the [[leopard]] (''P. pardus''). He, therefore, concluded that they are most closely related to each other.<ref name=Pocock1939 /> Results of [[Morphology (biology)|morphological]] and [[genetics|genetic]] research indicate a [[cline (population genetics)|clinal]] north–south variation between populations, but no evidence for subspecific differentiation.<ref name=Eizirik /><ref name=Larson>{{cite journal |last=Larson |first=S. E. |year=1997 |title=Taxonomic re-evaluation of the jaguar |journal=[[Zoo Biology]] |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=107–120 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1098-2361(1997)16:2<107::AID-ZOO2>3.0.CO;2-E}}</ref> [[DNA]] analysis of 84 jaguar samples from South America revealed that the [[gene flow]] between jaguar populations in [[Colombia]] was high in the past.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Ruiz-Garcia, M. |author2=Payan, E. |author3=Murillo, A. |author4=Alvarez, D. |year=2006 |name-list-style=amp |title=DNA microsatellite characterization of the jaguar (''Panthera onca'') in Colombia |journal=Genes & Genetic Systems |volume=81 |issue=2 |pages=115–127 |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ggs/81/2/81_2_115/_pdf |doi=10.1266/ggs.81.115 |doi-access=free |pmid=16755135 |access-date=13 December 2014 |archive-date=16 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216093206/https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ggs/81/2/81_2_115/_pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Since 2017, the jaguar is considered to be a [[monotypic taxon]].<ref name="catsg">{{cite journal |author1=Kitchener, A. C. |author2=Breitenmoser-Würsten, C. |author3=Eizirik, E. |author4=Gentry, A. |author5=Werdelin, L. |author6=Wilting, A. |author7=Yamaguchi, N. |author8=Abramov, A. V. |author9=Christiansen, P. |author10=Driscoll, C. |author11=Duckworth, J. W. |author12=Johnson, W. |author13=Luo, S.-J. |author14=Meijaard, E. |author15=O'Donoghue, P. |author16=Sanderson, J. |author17=Seymour, K. |author18=Bruford, M. |author19=Groves, C. |author20=Hoffmann, M. |author21=Nowell, K. |author22=Timmons, Z. |author23=Tobe, S. |year=2017 |name-list-style=amp |title=A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group |journal=Cat News |volume=Special Issue 11 |pages=70–71 |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/32616/A_revised_Felidae_Taxonomy_CatNews.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y#page=70 |access-date=13 May 2018 |archive-date=30 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730142355/https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/32616/A_revised_Felidae_Taxonomy_CatNews.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y#page=70 |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
===Evolution===
[[File:Panthera onca augusta.JPG|thumb|right|Fossil skull of ''P. o. augusta'']]
The ''Panthera'' [[Lineage (evolution)|lineage]] is estimated to have [[Genetic divergence|genetically diverged]] from the [[common ancestor]] of the [[Felidae]] around {{Ma|9.32|4.47|million years ago}} to {{Ma|11.75|0.97|million years ago}},<ref name="Johnson2006">{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=W. E. |last2=Eizirik |first2=E. |last3=Pecon-Slattery |first3=J. |last4=Murphy |first4=W. J. |last5=Antunes |first5=A. |last6=Teeling |first6=E. |last7=O'Brien |first7=S. J. |name-list-style=amp |title=The late miocene radiation of modern Felidae: A genetic assessment |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=311 |issue=5757 |pages=73–77 |date=2006 |pmid=16400146 |doi=10.1126/science.1122277 |bibcode=2006Sci...311...73J |s2cid=41672825 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1230866 |access-date=24 November 2021 |archive-date=4 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004075725/https://zenodo.org/record/1230866 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Werdelin2010">{{cite book |last1=Werdelin |first1=L. |last2=Yamaguchi |first2=N. |last3=Johnson |first3=W. E. |last4=O'Brien |first4=S. J. |name-list-style=amp |chapter=Phylogeny and evolution of cats (Felidae) |date=2010 |pages=59–82 |publisher=Oxford University Press |___location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-19-923445-5 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266755142 |editor1-last=Macdonald |editor1-first=D. W. |editor2-last=Loveridge |editor2-first=A. J. |title=Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids |access-date=24 November 2021 |archive-date=25 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925141956/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266755142 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Li_al2016>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=G. |last2=Davis |first2=B. W. |last3=Eizirik |first3=E. |last4=Murphy |first4=W. J. |name-list-style=amp |date=2016 |title=Phylogenomic evidence for ancient hybridization in the genomes of living cats (Felidae) |journal=Genome Research |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.1101/gr.186668.114 |pmid=26518481 |pmc=4691742}}</ref>
and the geographic origin of the genus is most likely northern Central Asia.<ref name=Tseng2014>{{cite journal |author1=Tseng, Z. J. |author2=Wang, X. |author3=Slater, G. J. |name-list-style=amp |author4=Takeuchi, G. T. |author5=Li, Q. |author6=Liu, J. |author7=Xie, G. |date=2014 |title=Himalayan fossils of the oldest known pantherine establish ancient origin of big cats |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=281 |issue=1774 |page=20132686 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2013.2686|pmid=24225466 |pmc=3843846 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
Some genetic analyses place the jaguar as a [[sister species]] to the lion with which it diverged {{Ma|3.46|1.22|million years ago}},<ref name=Johnson2006/><ref name="Werdelin2010"/> but other studies place the lion closer to the leopard.<ref name="davis2010">{{cite journal |last1=Davis|first1=B. W. |last2=Li |first2=G. |last3=Murphy |first3=W. J. |name-list-style=amp |title=Supermatrix and species tree methods resolve phylogenetic relationships within the big cats, ''Panthera'' (Carnivora: Felidae) |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |year=2010 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=64–76 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2010.01.036 |pmid=20138224 |url=https://www.academia.edu/12157986}}</ref><ref name="mazak2011">{{cite journal |last1=Mazák|first1=J. H. |last2=Christiansen |first2=P. |last3=Kitchener |first3=A. C. |last4=Goswami |first4=A. |name-list-style=amp |title=Oldest known pantherine skull and evolution of the tiger |journal=PLOS ONE |year=2011 |volume=6 |issue=10 |pages=e25483 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0025483 |pmid=22016768 |pmc=3189913 |bibcode=2011PLoSO...625483M|doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
The lineage of the jaguar appears to have originated in Africa and spread to Eurasia 1.95–1.77 mya. The modern species may have descended from ''[[Panthera gombaszoegensis]]'', which is thought to have entered the American continent via [[Beringia]], the land bridge that once spanned the [[Bering Strait]].<ref name=Argant2011>{{cite journal |first1=A. |last1=Argant |first2=J. |last2=Argant |name-list-style=amp |title=The ''Panthera gombaszogensis'' story: the contribution of the Château Breccia (Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France) |journal=Quaternaire |issue=Hors-serie 4 |year=2011 |pages=247–269 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286036249 |access-date=24 November 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021307/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286036249_The_Panthera_Gombaszogensis_story_The_contribution_of_the_chateau_breccia_Saone-Et-Loire_Burgundy_France |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jiangzuo|first1=Q. |last2=Liu |first2=J. |name-list-style=amp |year=2020|title=First record of the Eurasian jaguar in southern Asia and a review of dental differences between pantherine cats|journal=Journal of Quaternary Science |volume=35|issue=6|pages=817–830 |doi=10.1002/jqs.3222|bibcode=2020JQS....35..817J |s2cid=219914902}}</ref> Fossils of modern jaguars have been found in North America dating to over 850,000 years ago.<ref name=Seymour/> Results of [[mitochondrial DNA]] analysis of 37 jaguars indicate that current populations evolved between 510,000 and 280,000 years ago in northern South America and subsequently recolonized North and Central America after the extinction of jaguars there during the [[Late Pleistocene]].<ref name=Eizirik>{{cite journal |author1=Eizirik, E. |author2=Kim, J. H. |author3=Menotti-Raymond, M. |author4=Crawshaw P. G. Jr. |author5=O'Brien, S. J. |author6=Johnson, W. E. |year=2001 |name-list-style=amp |title=Phylogeography, population history and conservation genetics of jaguars (''Panthera onca'', Mammalia, Felidae) |journal=Molecular Ecology |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=65–79 |url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/5bd14c9ccc8cc43ed15352fc86075b8d6b8cccee |doi=10.1046/j.1365-294X.2001.01144.x |pmid=11251788 |s2cid=3916428 |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021257/https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Phylogeography%2C-population-history-and-conservation-Eizirik-Kim/5bd14c9ccc8cc43ed15352fc86075b8d6b8cccee |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
Two extinct subspecies of jaguar are recognized in the fossil record: the North American ''[[Panthera onca augusta|P. o. augusta]]'' and South American ''[[Panthera onca mesembrina|P. o. mesembrina]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chahud|first1=A. |last2=Okumura|first2=M. |year=2020|title=The presence of ''Panthera onca'' Linnaeus 1758 (Felidae) in the Pleistocene of the region of Lagoa Santa, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil |journal=Historical Biology |volume=33|issue=10|pages=2496–2503 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2020.1808975 |s2cid=225408043}}</ref>
{{clade gallery |align=left |width=520px; |main-caption=[[Phylogenetics|Phylogenetic]] relationships of the jaguar as derived through analysis of
|header1=nuclear DNA:<ref name=Johnson2006 />
|cladogram1={{clade |label1=Felidae
|1={{clade |label2=Pantherinae
|1=Felinae [[File:Felis torquata - 1834 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam -(white background).jpg|70 px]]
|2={{clade |label1=''Panthera''
|1={{clade
|1={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=[[Lion]] (''P. leo'') [[File:Felis leo - 1818-1842 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam -(White Background).jpg|70 px]]
|2='''Jaguar''' [[File:Felis onca - 1818-1842 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam - (white background).jpg|70 px]]}}
|2=[[Leopard]] (''P. pardus'') [[File:Felis pardus - 1818-1842 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam - (white background).jpg|70 px]]}}
|2={{clade
|1=[[Tiger]] (''P. tigris'') [[File:Stamp-russia2014-save-russian-cats-(tiger).png|70 px]]
|1=''[[Balaenoptera physalus|B. physalus]]'' (balenottera comune)
|2=[[Snow leopard]] (''P. uncia'') [[File:Stamp-russia2014-save-russian-cats-(snow leopard).png|70 px]]}} }}
|2='''''Megaptera novaeangliae''''' ('''megattera''')
|2=''[[Neofelis]]'' [[File:Studienblatt Felis macroscelis Nebelparder (white background).jpg|70 px]]}} }} }}
}}
|header2=mitochondrial DNA:<ref name=Li_al2016 />
}}
|cladogram2={{clade |label1=Felidae
}}
|1={{clade |label2=Pantherinae
}}
|1=Felinae [[File:Felis torquata - 1834 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam -(white background).jpg|70 px]]
}} }}
|2={{clade |label1=''Panthera''
Le megattere sono [[Balaenopteridae|balenottere]], cioè membri della [[Famiglia (tassonomia)|famiglia]] dei [[Balaenopteridae|Balenotteridi]], che comprende le [[Balaenoptera musculus|balenottere azzurre]], [[Balaenoptera physalus|comuni]], [[Balaenoptera edeni|di Bryde]], [[Balaenoptera borealis|boreali]] e [[Balaenoptera acutorostrata|minori]]. Uno studio genetico del 2018 ha rivelato che la linea evolutiva delle balenottere si separò da quelle degli altri cetacei misticeti nel [[Miocene]] superiore, tra 10,5 e 7,5 milioni di anni fa. La megattera e la balenottera comune si sono rivelate essere [[Sister taxon|specie sorelle]].<ref name=Arnason_etal_2018/> L'esistenza di un ibrido megattera/balenottera azzurra nel [[Oceano Pacifico|Pacifico meridionale]] è stata segnalata dal biologo marino Michael Poole.<ref name=Reeves>{{cita libro | autore=R. R. Reeves, P. J. Stewart, J. Clapham e J. A. Powell | titolo=Whales, dolphins, and porpoises of the eastern North Pacific and adjacent Arctic waters: A guide to their identification | città=New York | editore=[[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]] | pp=234-237 | anno=2002}}</ref><ref name=Hatch>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=L. T. Hatch, E. B. Dopman e R. G. Harrison | titolo=Phylogenetic relationships among the baleen whales based on maternally and paternally inherited characters | rivista=[[Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution]] | volume=41 | numero=1 | pp=12-27 | anno=2006| doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2006.05.023 | pmid=16843014}}</ref>
|1={{clade
|1={{clade
|1={{clade
|1={{clade|1=Lion [[File:Felis leo - 1818-1842 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam -(White Background).jpg|70 px]]|2=Leopard [[File:Felis pardus - 1818-1842 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam - (white background).jpg|70 px]]}}
|2=Snow leopard [[File:Stamp-russia2014-save-russian-cats-(snow leopard).png|70 px]]}}
|2='''Jaguar''' [[File:Felis onca - 1818-1842 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam - (white background).jpg|70 px]]}}
|2=Tiger [[File:Stamp-russia2014-save-russian-cats-(tiger).png|70 px]]}}
|2=''Neofelis'' [[File:Studienblatt Felis macroscelis Nebelparder (white background).jpg|70 px]]}} }} }}
}}{{clear|left}}
 
==Description==
Le attuali popolazioni di megattera ebbero origine nell'emisfero australe circa {{M|880000}} anni fa e colonizzarono l'emisfero boreale {{M|200000}}-{{M|50000}} anni fa. Uno studio genetico del 2014 ha rivelato che le popolazioni dell'Atlantico settentrionale, del Pacifico settentrionale e dei mari del sud presentano un [[flusso genico]] limitato e sono distinte abbastanza da essere considerate [[sottospecie]], denominate rispettivamente ''M. n. novaeangliae'', ''M. n. kuzira'' e ''M. n. australis''.<ref name=subspecies>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Jennifer A. Jackson, Debbie J. Steel, P. Beerli, Bradley C. Congdon, Carlos Olavarría, Matthew S. Leslie, Cristina Pomilla, Howard Rosenbaum e C. Scott Baker | anno=2014 | titolo=Global diversity and oceanic divergence of humpback whales (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') | rivista=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences | volume=281 | numero=1786 | doi=10.1098/rspb.2013.3222 | pmid=24850919 | pmc=4046397}}</ref> Una popolazione stanziale presente nel [[mar Arabico]] è rimasta isolata dalle altre per {{M|70000}} anni.<ref name=Pomilla>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Cristina Pomilla, Ana R. Amaral, Tim Collins, Gianna Minton, Ken Findlay, Matthew S. Leslie, Louisa Ponnampalam, Robert Baldwin e Howard Rosenbaum | anno=2014 | titolo=The World's Most Isolated and Distinct Whale Population? Humpback Whales of the Arabian Sea | rivista=PLOS ONE | volume=9 | numero=12 | p=e114162 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0114162 | pmid=25470144 | pmc=4254934 | bibcode=2014PLoSO...9k4162P}}</ref>
{{multiple image |direction=vertical |align=right
|image1=Description iconographique comparée du squelette et du système dentaire des mammifères récents et fossiles (Panthera onca skull).jpg |caption1=Skull of a jaguar
|image2=Cheetah, leopard & jaguar (en).jpg |caption2=Illustration of [[cheetah]], leopard and jaguar
|image3=Black Jaguar (Panthera onca).JPG |caption3=A black jaguar. Such [[melanistic]] jaguars as well as leopards are commonly called [[black panther]]s}}
 
The jaguar is a compact and well-muscled animal. It is the largest cat native to the Americas and the third largest in the world, exceeded in size only by the tiger and the lion.<ref name=Seymour /><ref name="sizes">{{cite journal |last1=Hayward |first1=M. W. |last2=Kamler |first2=J. F. |last3=Montgomery |first3=R. A. |last4=Newlove |first4=A. |year=2016 |name-list-style=amp |title=Prey Preferences of the Jaguar ''Panthera onca'' Reflect the Post-Pleistocene Demise of Large Prey |journal=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |volume=3 |page=148 |doi=10.3389/fevo.2015.00148 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="sizes22">{{cite journal |last1=Hope |first1=M. K. |last2=Deem |first2=S. L. |year=2006 |name-list-style=amp |title=Retrospective Study of Morbidity and Mortality of Captive Jaguars (''Panthera onca'') in North America: 1982–2002 |journal=Zoo Biology |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=501–512 |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/11687/Zoo%20Biology%2C%20Vol.%2025%2C%20Issue%206%20Retrospective%20Study%20of%20Morbidity%20and%20Mortality%20of%20Captive%20Jaguars....pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |doi=10.1002/zoo.20112 |access-date=12 September 2018 |archive-date=9 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909000241/https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/11687/Zoo%20Biology%2C%20Vol.%2025%2C%20Issue%206%20Retrospective%20Study%20of%20Morbidity%20and%20Mortality%20of%20Captive%20Jaguars....pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }}</ref> It stands {{cvt|68|to|75|cm|1}} tall at the shoulders.<ref>{{cite magazine |author1=Rich, M.S. |year=1976 |title=The jaguar |magazine=Zoonoz |volume=49 |issue=9 |pages=14–17}}</ref>
== Descrizione ==
Its size and weight vary considerably: weights are normally in the range of {{cvt|56|-|96|kg}}. Exceptionally big males have been recorded to weigh as much as {{cvt|158|kg}}.<ref name=r10 /><ref name="Animal">{{cite book |author1=Burnie, D. |author2=Wilson, D.E. |year=2001 |name-list-style=amp |title=Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife |___location=New York City |publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]] |isbn=978-0-7894-7764-4}}</ref>
[[File:Humpback Whale, blowholes.jpg|thumb|Un giovane con gli sfiatatoi ben visibili.]]
The smallest females weigh about {{cvt|36|kg}}. It is [[sexually dimorphic]], with females typically being 10–20% smaller than males. The length from the nose to the base of the tail varies from {{cvt|1.12|to|1.85|m|ftin}}. The tail is {{cvt|45|to|75|cm}} long and the shortest of any [[big cat]].<ref name=r10>{{cite book |author=Nowak, R.M. |year=1999 |title=Walker's Mammals of the World |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |___location=Baltimore |volume=2 |page=831 |url={{Google books|T37sFCl43E8C|page=PA831|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |isbn=978-0-8018-5789-8}}</ref>
Le megattere adulte misurano generalmente 14-15 metri di lunghezza, sebbene siano stati segnalati anche esemplari di 16-17 metri. Le femmine sono di solito 1-1,5 metri più lunghe dei maschi.<ref name=Perrin>{{cita libro | curatore=William F. Perrin, Bernd Wursig e J. G. M. "Hans" Thewissen | titolo=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals | url=https://books.google.it/books?id=2rkHQpToi9sC&redir_esc=y | data=26 febbraio 2009 | editore=Academic Press | isbn=978-0-08-091993-5 | autore=Phillip J. Clapham | capitolo=Humpback Whale ''Megaptera novaeangliae'' | pp=582-84}}</ref> La specie può raggiungere le 40 tonnellate di peso. Alla nascita i piccoli misurano 4,3 metri di lunghezza per un peso di 680 chilogrammi.<ref name=Jefferson>{{cita libro | autore=Thomas A. Jefferson, Marc A. Webber e Robert L. Pitman | anno=2015 | titolo=Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification | editore=Academic Press | edizione=2 | pp=79-83 | isbn=978-0-12-409542-7}}</ref>
Its muscular legs are shorter than the legs of other ''Panthera'' species with similar body weight.<ref name=Gonyea1976 />
 
Further variations in size have been observed across regions and habitats, with size tending to increase from north to south. Jaguars in the [[Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve]] on the Pacific coast of central Mexico weighed around {{cvt|50|kg}}, which is about the size of a female [[cougar]] (''Puma concolor'').<ref name=foodhabits>{{cite journal |author1=Nuanaez, R. |author2=Miller, B. |author3=Lindzey, F. |year=2000 |name-list-style=amp |title=Food habits of jaguars and pumas in Jalisco, Mexico |journal=[[Journal of Zoology]] |volume=252 |issue=3 |pages=373–379 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=58851 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.2000.tb00632.x |access-date=8 September 2006 |archive-date=10 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810211518/http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=58851 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Il corpo è massiccio, con un rostro sottile e pinne pettorali proporzionalmente lunghe, ognuna della quali di lunghezza pari a un terzo di quella del corpo.<ref name=mammalian>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Phillip J. Clapham e James G. Mead | anno=1999 | titolo=Megaptera novaeangliae | rivista=Mammalian Species | numero=604 | pp=1-9 | url=http://www.science.smith.edu/msi/pdf/i0076-3519-604-01-0001.pdf | doi=10.2307/3504352 | jstor=3504352}}</ref> La pinna dorsale è breve e a seconda degli individui varia da un abbozzo a malapena visibile a una struttura lunga e ricurva. Come tutte le balenottere, presenta delle scanalature dalla punta della mandibola all'ombelico.<ref name=Perrin/> Esse, tuttavia, in numero variabile da 14 a 35, sono relativamente poche rispetto ad altre specie.<ref name=plan>{{cita libro | titolo=Final Recovery Plan for the Humpback Whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') | autore=[[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]] | anno=1991 | url=http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/recovery/whale_humpback.pdf | accesso=30 giugno 2011 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613025919/http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/recovery/whale_humpback.pdf}}</ref> La bocca è rivestita da 270-400 fanoni per lato.<ref name=mammalian/>
Jaguars in Venezuela and [[Brazil]] are much larger, with average weights of about {{cvt|95|kg}} in males and of about {{cvt|56|-|78|kg}} in females.<ref name=Seymour />
 
The jaguar's [[Animal coat|coat]] ranges from pale yellow to tan or reddish-yellow, with a whitish underside and covered in black spots. The spots and their shapes vary: on the sides, they become [[rosette (zoology)|rosettes]] which may include one or several dots. The spots on the head and neck are generally solid, as are those on the tail where they may merge to form bands near the end and create a black tip. They are elongated on the middle of the back, often connecting to create a median stripe, and blotchy on the belly.<ref name=Seymour /> These patterns serve as [[camouflage]] in areas with dense vegetation and patchy shadows.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Allen, W.L. |author2=Cuthill, I.C. |author3=Scott-Samuel, N.E. |author4=Baddeley, R. |year=2010 |name-list-style=amp |title=Why the leopard got its spots: relating pattern development to ecology in felids |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=278 |issue=1710 |pages=1373–1380 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2010.1734 |pmc=3061134 |pmid=20961899}}</ref>
Jaguars living in forests are often darker and considerably smaller than those living in open areas, possibly due to the smaller numbers of large, herbivorous prey in forest areas.<ref name=CAP>{{cite book |author1=Nowell, K. |author2=Jackson, P. |year=1996 |name-list-style=amp |chapter=Jaguar, ''Panthera onca'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |title=Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan |publisher=IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group |___location=Gland, Switzerland |chapter-url=http://carnivoractionplans1.free.fr/wildcats.pdf#page=143 |pages=118–122 |access-date=31 August 2006 |archive-date=7 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807215533/http://carnivoractionplans1.free.fr/wildcats.pdf#page=143 |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
The jaguar closely resembles the leopard but is generally more robust, with stockier limbs and a more square head. The rosettes on a jaguar's coat are larger, darker, fewer in number and have thicker lines, with a small spot in the middle.<ref name=Gonyea1976>{{cite journal |author=Gonyea, W.J. |year=1976 |title=Adaptive differences in the body proportions of large felids |journal=Acta Anatomica |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=81–96 |doi=10.1159/000144663 |pmid=973541}}</ref>
It has powerful jaws with the third-highest bite force of all felids, after the tiger and the lion.<ref name=Wroe2006>{{cite journal |author1=Wroe, S. |author2=McHenry, C. |author3=Thomason, J. |year=2006 |name-list-style=amp |title=Bite club: comparative bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behavior in fossil taxa |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=272 |issue=1563 |pages=619–625 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2004.2986 |doi-access=free |pmc=1564077 |pmid=15817436}}</ref>
It has an average bite force at the [[Canine tooth|canine]] tip of 887.0 [[Newton (unit)|Newton]] and a [[bite force quotient]] at the canine tip of 118.6.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Christiansen, P. |year=2007 |title=Canine morphology in the larger Felidae: implications for feeding ecology |journal=Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=91 |issue=4 |pages=573–592 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00819.x |doi-access=free}}</ref>
A {{cvt|100|kg}} jaguar can bite with a force of {{cvt|4.939|kN|lbf}} with the canine teeth and {{cvt|6.922|kN|lbf}} at the [[carnassial]] notch.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hartstone-Rose |first1=A. |last2=Perry |first2=J.M.G. |last3=Morrow |first3=C.J. |year=2012 |name-list-style=amp |title=Bite Force Estimation and the Fiber Architecture of Felid Masticatory Muscles |journal=The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology |volume=295 |issue=8 |pages=1336–1351 |doi=10.1002/ar.22518 |doi-access=free |pmid=22707481 |s2cid=35304260}}</ref>
 
===Color variation===
[[Melanistic]] jaguars are also known as [[black panther]]s. The black [[Morph (biology)|morph]] is less common than the spotted one.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Brown, D.E. |author2=Lopez-Gonzalez, C.A. |date=2001 |name-list-style=amp |title=Borderland jaguars: tigres de la frontera |publisher=University of Utah Press |___location=Salt Lake City, UT}}</ref>
Black jaguars have been documented in Central and South America. Melanism in the jaguar is caused by deletions in the [[melanocortin 1 receptor]] gene and inherited through a [[dominant allele]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Eizirik, E. |author2=Yuhki, N. |author3=Johnson, W.E. |author4=Menotti-Raymond, M. |author5=Hannah, S.S. |author6=O'Brien, S.J. |year=2003 |name-list-style=amp |title=Molecular Genetics and Evolution of Melanism in the Cat Family |journal=Current Biology |volume=13 |issue=5 |pages=448–453 |doi=10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00128-3 |pmid=12620197 |s2cid=19021807 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
In 2004, a camera trap in the [[Sierra Madre Occidental]] mountains photographed the first documented black jaguar in Northern Mexico.<ref name=Dinets>{{cite journal |last1=Dinets |first1=V. |last2=Polechla |first2=P.J. |year=2005 |name-list-style=amp |title=First documentation of melanism in the jaguar (''Panthera onca'') from northern Mexico |journal=Cat News |volume=42 |page=18 |url=http://dinets.travel.ru/blackjaguar.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926024755/http://dinets.travel.ru/blackjaguar.htm |archive-date=26 September 2006}}</ref> Black jaguars were also photographed in Costa Rica's [[Alberto Manuel Brenes Biological Reserve]], in the mountains of the [[Cordillera de Talamanca]], in [[Barbilla National Park]] and in eastern [[Panama]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Núñez, M.C. |author2=Jiménez, E.C. |year=2009 |name-list-style=amp |title=A new record of a black jaguar, ''Panthera onca'' (Carnivora: Felidae) in Costa Rica |journal=Brenesia |volume=71 |pages=67–68 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313473228 |access-date=12 April 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021258/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313473228_New_record_of_a_black_jaguar_Panthera_onca_Carnivora_Felidae_in_Costa_Rica |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Mooring, M. S. |author2=Eppert, A. A. |author3=Botts, R. T. |year=2020 |name-list-style=amp |title=Natural Selection of Melanism in Costa Rican Jaguar and Oncilla: A Test of Gloger's Rule and the Temporal Segregation Hypothesis |journal=Tropical Conservation Science |volume=13 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.1177/1940082920910364 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Sáenz-Bolaños, C. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Montalvo, V. |author3=Fuller, T.K. |author4=Carrillo, E. |year=2015 |title=Records of black jaguars at Parque Nacional Barbilla, Costa Rica |journal=Cat News |issue=62 |pages=38–39}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Yacelga, M. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Craighead, K. |year=2019 |title=Melanistic jaguars in Panama |journal=Cat News |issue=70 |pages=39–41 |url=https://www.academia.edu/41977728 |access-date=17 April 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021257/https://www.academia.edu/41977728 |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
==Distribution and habitat==
{{multiple image |direction=vertical |align=right
|image1=Jaguar (Panthera onca palustris) female Piquiri River.JPG |caption1=A female jaguar at [[Piquirí River (São Lourenço)|Piquiri River]], [[Mato Grosso]] state, Brazil
|image2=Jaguar (Panthera onca) male back in the water (29173428825).jpg |caption2=A jaguar in [[São Lourenço River (Mato Grosso)|São Lourenço River]]
}}
{{See also|North American jaguar|South American jaguar}}
In the 19th century, the jaguar was still sighted at the [[North Platte River]] in [[Colorado]] and coastal [[Louisiana]].<ref name="Daggett">{{cite journal |author1=Daggett, P. M. |author2=Henning, D. R. |year=1974 |name-list-style=amp |title=The Jaguar in North America |journal=American Antiquity |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=465–469 |doi=10.2307/279437 |jstor=279437|s2cid=160927286}}</ref>
In 1919, sightings of jaguars were reported in the [[Monterey, California]] region.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Merriam, C.H. |author-link=Clinton Hart Merriam |year=1919 |title=Is the Jaguar entitled to a place in the Californian fauna? |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=38–42 |doi=10.1093/jmammal/1.1.38 |url=https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article-abstract/1/1/38/875846?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=18 November 2018 |archive-date=18 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118210048/https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article-abstract/1/1/38/875846?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1999, its historic range at the turn of the 20th century was estimated at {{cvt|19000000|km2}}, stretching from the southern United States through Central America to southern Argentina. By the turn of the 21st century, its global range had decreased to about {{cvt|8750000|km2}}, with most declines in the southern United States, northern Mexico, northern Brazil, and southern Argentina.<ref name=Sanderson2002>{{cite journal |last1=Sanderson |first1=E. W. |last2=Redford |first2=K. H. |last3=Chetkiewicz |first3=C. L. B. |last4=Medellin |first4=R. A. |last5=Rabinowitz |first5=A. R. |author5-link=Alan Rabinowitz |last6=Robinson |first6=J. G. |last7=Taber |first7=A. B. |year=2002 |name-list-style=amp |title=Planning to save a species: the jaguar as a model |journal=Conservation Biology |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=58–72 |url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/75d8d4f608e8e10f86dd0b1f2b35dce207decd76 |doi=10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.00352.x |pmid=35701976 |s2cid=3955250 |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021309/https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Planning-to-Save-a-Species%3A-the-Jaguar-as-a-Model-Sanderson-Redford/75d8d4f608e8e10f86dd0b1f2b35dce207decd76 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Its present range extends from Mexico through Central America to South America comprising [[Belize]], [[Guatemala]], [[Honduras]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Costa Rica]], particularly on the [[Osa Peninsula]], [[Panama]], [[Colombia]], [[Venezuela]], [[Guyana]], [[Suriname]], [[French Guiana]], [[Ecuador]], [[Peru]], [[Bolivia]], Brazil, [[Paraguay]] and [[Argentina]]. It is considered to be [[locally extinct]] in [[El Salvador]] and [[Uruguay]].<ref name=iucn />
 
Jaguars have been occasionally sighted in [[Arizona]], [[New Mexico]] and [[Texas]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Brown, D. E. |author2=González, C. A. L. |year=2000 |name-list-style=amp |title=Notes on the occurrences of jaguars in Arizona and New Mexico |journal=The Southwestern Naturalist |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=537–542 |doi=10.2307/3672607 |jstor=3672607}}</ref><ref name=Pavlik>{{Cite journal |last=Pavlik |first=S. |year=2003 |title=Rohonas and spotted Lions: The historical and cultural occurrence of the Jaguar, ''Panthera onca'', among the native tribes of the American Southwest |journal=Wíčazo Ša Review |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=157–175 |doi=10.1353/wic.2003.0006 |jstor=1409436 |s2cid=161236104}}</ref>
Le megattere sono gli unici grandi cetacei ad avere protuberanze o [[Tubercolo|tubercoli]] sulla testa e sul margine anteriore delle pinne pettorali; la pinna caudale ha il margine posteriore sfrangiato.<ref name=Perrin/><ref name=mammalian/> I tubercoli sulla testa sono larghi 5-10 centimetri alla base e sporgono fino a 6,5 centimetri. Per lo più cavi al centro, spesso contengono un piccolo pelo che sporge per 1-3 centimetri dalla pelle, dello spessore di 0,1 millimetri. I tubercoli si sviluppano già nell'utero e potrebbero avere una funzione sensoriale, in quanto sono ricchi di nervi.<ref name=tubercles>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Eduardo Mercado III | anno=2014 | titolo=Tubercles: What Sense Is There? | rivista=Aquatic Mammals | volume=40 | numero=1 | pp=95-103 | doi=10.1578/AM.40.1.2014.95 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269519644}}</ref>
Between 2012 and 2015, a male [[Vagrancy (biology)|vagrant]] jaguar was recorded in 23 locations in the [[Santa Rita Mountains]].<ref>{{cite report |author=Culver, M. |title=Open-File Report |year=2016 |chapter=Jaguar surveying and monitoring in the United States |publisher=U.S. Geological Survey |___location=Reston, VA |series=2016-1095 |doi=10.3133/ofr20161095 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
The jaguar prefers dense forest and typically inhabits dry [[deciduous forest]]s, [[tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests]], [[rainforest]]s and [[cloud forest]]s in Central and South America; open, seasonally flooded [[wetland]]s, dry [[grassland]] and historically also [[oak forest]]s in the United States. It has been recorded at elevations up to {{cvt|3800|m}} but avoids [[montane forest]]s. It favors riverine habitat and [[swamp]]s with dense vegetation cover.<ref name=CAP /> In the Mayan forests of Mexico and Guatemala, 11 GPS-collared jaguars preferred undisturbed dense habitat away from roads; females avoided even areas with low levels of human activity, whereas males appeared less disturbed by human population density.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Colchero, F. |author2=Conde, D. A. |author3=Manterola, C. |author4=Chávez, C. |author5=Rivera, A. |author6=Ceballos, G. |year=2011 |name-list-style=amp |title=Jaguars on the move: modeling movement to mitigate fragmentation from road expansion in the Mayan Forest |journal=Animal Conservation |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=1–9 |doi=10.1111/J.1469-1795.2010.00406.X |s2cid=62820463 |url=https://www.demogr.mpg.de/publications/files/4097_1300970681_1_ArticlePdf.pdf |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126211109/https://www.demogr.mpg.de/publications/files/4097_1300970681_1_ArticlePdf.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> A young male jaguar was also recorded in the [[Semi-arid climate|semi-arid]] [[Sierra de San Carlos]] at a waterhole.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Caso, A. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Domínguez, E. F. |year=2018 |title=Confirmed presence of jaguar, ocelot and jaguarundi in the Sierra of San Carlos, Mexico |journal=Cat News |issue=68 |pages=31–32}}</ref>
Il lato dorsale, o superiore, della megattera è generalmente nero, mentre quello ventrale, o inferiore, presenta una livrea screziata nera e bianca.<ref name=Perrin/> Gli esemplari dell'emisfero australe tendono a presentare una maggiore quantità di pigmentazione bianca. Anche le pinne pettorali variano dall'essere completamente bianche ad essere bianche solo sul lato inferiore.<ref name=Jefferson/> Il diverso schema dei colori e le cicatrici sulla coda consentono di distinguere i diversi individui.<ref name=KatonaWhitehead>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=S. K. Katona e H. P. Whitehead | anno=1981 | titolo=Identifying humpback whales using their mural markings | rivista=Polar Record | volume=20 | numero=128 | pp=439-444 | doi=10.1017/s003224740000365x | s2cid=130441450}}</ref><ref name=KaufmanSmultea>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=G. Kaufman, M. A. Smultea e P. Forestell | anno=1987 | titolo=Use of lateral body pigmentation patterns for photo ID of east Australian (Area V) humpback whales | rivista=Cetus | volume=7 | numero=1 | pp=5-13}}</ref> L'estremità della fessura genitale delle femmine è contrassegnata da un lobo rotondo, che consente di distinguere visivamente i due sessi.<ref name=mammalian/>
 
==Behavior Biologiaand ecology==
The jaguar is mostly active at night and during [[twilight]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Scognamillo, D. |author2=Maxit, I. E. |author3=Sunquist, M. |author4=Polisar, J. |year=2003 |name-list-style=amp |title=Coexistence of jaguar (''Panthera onca'') and puma (''Puma concolor'') in a mosaic landscape in the Venezuelan llanos |journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=259 |issue=3 |pages=269–279 |doi=10.1017/S0952836902003230}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Harmsen, B. J. |author2=Foster, R. J. |author3=Silver, S. C. |author4=Ostro, L. E. T. |author5=Doncaster, C. P. |year=2009 |name-list-style=amp |title=Spatial and temporal interactions of sympatric jaguars (''Panthera onca'') and pumas (''Puma concolor'') in a neotropical forest |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=612–620 |doi=10.1644/08-MAMM-A-140R.1 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Foster, V.C. |author2=Sarmento, P. |author3=Sollmann, R. |author4=Tôrres, N. |author5=Jácomo, A. T. |author6=Negrões, N. |author7=Fonseca, C. |author8=Silveira, L. |year=2013 |display-authors=4 |name-list-style=amp |title=Jaguar and Puma Activity Patterns and Predator-Prey Interactions in Four Brazilian Biomes |journal=Biotropica |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=373–379 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234153943 |doi=10.1111/btp.12021 |s2cid=86338173 |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021315/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234153943_Jaguar_and_Puma_Activity_Patterns_and_Predator-Prey_Interactions_in_Four_Brazilian_Biomes |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Humpback stellwagen edit.jpg|right|thumb|Le megattere effettuano frequentemente il ''[[breaching]]'', sollevando due-terzi o più del corpo fuori dall'acqua e atterrando sul dorso.]]
However, jaguars living in densely forested regions of the [[Amazon Rainforest]] and the [[Pantanal]] are largely active by day, whereas jaguars in the [[Atlantic Forest]] are primarily active by night.<ref name="Astate et al. 2008">{{cite journal |last1=Astete |first1=S.R. |last2=Sollmann |first2=R. |last3=Silveira |first3=L. |year=2008 |name-list-style=amp |title=Comparative ecology of jaguars in Brazil |journal=Cat News |issue=Special Issue 4 |pages=9–14 |citeseerx=10.1.1.528.3603}}</ref>
I gruppi di megattere, ad eccezione delle coppie madre e figlio, in genere rimangono uniti per pochi giorni o settimane al massimo.<ref name=Perrin/><ref name=claphamj>{{cita pubblicazione | doi=10.1111/j.1365-2907.1996.tb00145.x | rivista=Mammal New Studies | autore=P. J. Clapham | volume=26 | anno=1996 | titolo=The social and reproductive biology of humpback whales: an ecological perspective | numero=1 | pp=27-49 | url=https://pdf.zlibcdn.com/dtoken/1066ee9cf5d7c6a5fc81e25d5e2cfcf9/j.1365-2907.1996.tb00145.x.pdf}}</ref> Questi animali vengono generalmente avvistati in piccoli gruppi, sebbene gli esemplari nelle aree di alimentazione e i maschi che competono tra loro per le femmine possano formare anche grandi aggregazioni.<ref name=claphamj/> Le megattere possono interagire con altre specie di cetacei, quali [[Eubalaena|balene franche]], [[Balaenoptera physalus|balenottere comuni]] e [[Tursiops|tursiopi]].<ref name=Abrolhos>{{cita web | url=http://www.baleiajubarte.org.br/noticia.php?id=161 | titolo=Instituto Baleia Jubarte | sito=www.baleiajubarte.org.br | accesso=6 agosto 2016 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174740/http://www.baleiajubarte.org.br/noticia.php?id=161}}</ref><ref name=Mobley>{{cita web | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/29737686 | titolo=Fin Whale Sighting North of Kaua'i, Hawai'i | autore=Joseph R. Mobley | data=1 gennaio 1996 | sito=ResearchGate | accesso=2 novembre 2017 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623124245/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/29737686_Fin_Whale_Sighting_North_of_Kaua%27i_Hawai%27i}}</ref><ref name=Deakos>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Mark H. Deakos ''et al.'' | anno=2010 | titolo=Two Unusual Interactions Between a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and a Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Hawaiian Waters | rivista=Aquatic Mammals | volume=36 | numero=2 | pp=121-28 | doi=10.1578/AM.36.2.2010.121}}</ref> Sono estremamente attive in superficie ed esibiscono un'intera serie di comportamenti aerei, ad esempio saltando (''[[breaching]]'') e battendo la superficie con la coda (''[[lobtailing]]'') e le pinne pettorali. Tali attività potrebbero costituire una particolare forma di [[gioco]] e comunicazione e/o un sistema per rimuovere i parassiti.<ref name=Perrin/>
The activity pattern of the jaguar coincides with the activity of its main prey species.<ref name="Harmsen et al. 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Harmsen |first1=B.J. |last2=Foster |first2=R.J. |last3=Silver |first3=S. C. |last4=Ostro |first4=L.E.T. |last5=Doncaster |first5=C.P. |year=2011 |name-list-style=amp |title=Jaguar and puma activity patterns in relation to their main prey |journal=Mammalian Biology – Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=320–324 |doi=10.1016/j.mambio.2010.08.007}}</ref> Jaguars are good swimmers and play and hunt in the water, possibly more than tigers. They have been recorded moving between islands and the shore. Jaguars are also good at climbing trees but do so less often than cougars.<ref name=Seymour />
 
===Ecological role===
Le megattere riposano restando in superficie con il corpo disposto orizzontalmente.<ref name=Iwata>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Takashi Iwata, Martin Biuw, Kagari Aoki, Patrick James O’Malley Miller e Katsufumi Sato | anno=2021 | titolo=Using an omnidirectional video logger to observe the underwater life of marine animals: Humpback whale resting behaviour | rivista=Behavioural Processes | volume=186 | p=104369 | doi=10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104369 | pmid=33640487 | s2cid=232051037}}</ref> Nuotano più lentamente rispetto alle altre balenottere, procedendo ad una velocità di 7,9-15,1 km/h. Se minacciate, possono accelerare fino a 27 km/h.<ref name=mammalian/> Sembra che non si immergano mai al di sotto dei 150 metri e solo raramente si spingono oltre i 120 metri.<ref name=Dolphin>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=William Ford Dolphin | anno=1987 | titolo=Ventilation and dive patterns of humpback whales, ''Megaptera novaeangliae'', on their Alaskan feeding grounds | rivista=Canadian Journal of Zoology | volume=65 | numero=1 | pp=83-90 | doi=10.1139/z87-013}}</ref> Le immersioni in genere non si protraggono oltre i cinque minuti durante l'estate, ma normalmente durano dai 15 ai 20 minuti durante l'inverno.<ref name=mammalian/> Quando si immergono, le megattere in genere sollevano in alto la coda, esponendone il lato inferiore.<ref name=Perrin/>
[[File:Jaguar (Panthera onca palustris) male Three Brothers River 2.jpg|thumb|Jaguar at [[Three Brothers River]], Pantanal, Brazil]]
The adult jaguar is an [[apex predator]], meaning it is at the top of the [[food chain]] and is not preyed upon in the wild. The jaguar has also been termed a [[keystone species]], as it is assumed that it controls the population levels of prey such as [[Herbivore|herbivorous]] and [[Seed predation|seed-eating]] mammals and thus maintains the structural integrity of forest systems.<ref name=foodhabits /><ref>{{cite journal |author=Nijhawan, S. |year=2012 |title=Conservation units, priority areas and dispersal corridors for jaguars in Brazil |journal=Cat News |issue=Special Issue |pages=43–47 |url=http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/filesharing/5.Cat_News/5.3._Special_Issues/5.3.7._SI_7/Nijhawan_2012_Conservation_units_and_corrdors_for_jaguars_in_Brazil.pdf |access-date=17 August 2020 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021300/http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/filesharing/5.Cat_News/5.3._Special_Issues/5.3.7._SI_7/Nijhawan_2012_Conservation_units_and_corrdors_for_jaguars_in_Brazil.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Petracca, L.S. |author2=Ramírez-Bravo, O.E. |author3=Hernández-Santín, L. |year=2014 |name-list-style=amp |title=Occupancy estimation of jaguar ''Panthera onca'' to assess the value of east-central Mexico as a jaguar corridor |journal=Oryx |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=133–140 |doi=10.1017/S0030605313000069 |s2cid=86460403 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
However, field work has shown this may be natural variability, and the population increases may not be sustained. Thus, the [[keystone predator]] hypothesis is not accepted by all scientists.<ref name=r30>{{cite journal |author1=Wright, S. J. |author2=Gompper, M. E. |author3=DeLeon, B. |year=1994 |name-list-style=amp |title=Are large predators keystone species in Neotropical forests? The evidence from Barro Colorado Island |journal=Oikos |volume=71 |issue=2 |pages=279–294 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270356084 |doi=10.2307/3546277 |jstor=3546277 |access-date=18 June 2019 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021300/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270356084_Are_Large_Predators_Keystone_Species_in_Neotropical_Forests_The_Evidence_from_Barro_Colorado_Island |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
The jaguar is [[sympatric]] with the [[cougar]] (''Puma concolor''). In central Mexico, both prey on [[white-tailed deer]] (''Odocoileus virginianus''), which makes up 54% and 66% of jaguar and cougar's prey, respectively.<ref name=foodhabits /> In northern Mexico, the jaguar and the cougar share the same habitat, and their diet overlaps dependent on prey availability. Jaguars seemed to prefer [[deer]] and calves. In Mexico and Central America, neither of the two cats are considered to be the dominant predator.<ref name="GGLG2017">{{cite journal |last1=Gutiérrez-González |first1=C. E. |last2=López-González |first2=C. A. |year=2017 |name-list-style=amp |title=Jaguar interactions with pumas and prey at the northern edge of jaguars' range |journal=[[PeerJ]] |volume=5 |issue=5 |page=e2886 |doi=10.7717/peerj.2886 |pmc=5248577 |pmid=28133569}}</ref>
=== Alimentazione ===
In South America, the jaguar is larger than the cougar and tends to take larger prey, usually over {{cvt|22|kg}}. The cougar's prey usually weighs between {{cvt|2|and|22|kg|0}}, which is thought to be the reason for its smaller size.<ref name=r31>{{cite journal |author1=Iriarte, J. A. |author2=Franklin, W.L. |author3=Johnson, W.E. |author4=Redford, K.H. |year=1990 |name-list-style=amp |title=Biogeographic variation of food habits and body size of the America puma |journal=[[Oecologia]] |volume=85 |issue=2 |pages=185–190 |bibcode=1990Oecol..85..185I |doi=10.1007/BF00319400 |pmid=28312554 |s2cid=10134066}}</ref>
Le megattere si alimentano nel periodo che va dalla primavera all'autunno. Hanno un'alimentazione generalista e la loro dieta è costituita soprattutto da [[Euphausiacea|krill]] e piccoli pesci che si spostano in banco. Nell'emisfero australe, la specie di krill che viene consumata più comunemente è il [[Euphausia superba|krill antartico]], sostituito più a nord dal [[Meganyctiphanes norvegica|krill boreale]] e da varie specie dei generi ''Euphausia'' e ''Thysanoessa''. Tra i pesci oggetto di caccia vi sono [[Clupea (zoologia)|aringhe]], [[Mallotus villosus|capelani]], [[Ammodytidae|ammoditi]] e [[Scomber scombrus|sgombri dell'Atlantico]].<ref name=Perrin/><ref name=mammalian/> Come altre balenottere, le megattere sono degli «inghiottitori» (''gulp feeders'') che eseguono un affondo in avanti verso le prede, al contrario delle [[Eubalaena|balene franche]] e della [[Balaena mysticetus|balena della Groenlandia]], che filtrano le prede nuotando con le fauci aperte (''skimmers'').<ref name=claphamj/> La megattera aumenta la capacità della bocca espandendo le scanalature sulla gola.<ref name=Perrin/> L'acqua viene espulsa attraverso i fanoni.<ref name=Friedlaender>{{cita pubblicazione | doi=10.1163/000579511x570893 | titolo=Underwater components of humpback whale bubble-net feeding behaviour | anno=2011 | autore=Ari Friedlaender, Alessandro Bocconcelli, David Wiley, Danielle Cholewiak, Colin Ware, Mason Weinrich e Michael Thompson | rivista=Behaviour | volume=148 | numero=5-6 | pp=575-602}}</ref> Nell'emisfero australe le megattere sono state viste alimentarsi in grandi nuclei compatti che possono comprendere fino a 200 individui.<ref name=supergroup>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Ken P. Findlay, S. Mduduzi Seakamela, Michael A. Meÿer, Stephen P. Kirkman, Jaco Barendse, David E. Cade, David Hurwitz, Amy S. Kennedy, Pieter G. H. Kotze, Steven A. McCue, Meredith Thornton, O. Alejandra Vargas-Fonseca e Christopher G. Wilke | anno=2017 | titolo=Humpback whale "super-groups" – A novel low-latitude feeding behaviour of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') in the Benguela Upwelling System | rivista=PLOS ONE | volume=12 | numero=3 | p=e0172002 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0172002 | pmid=28249036 | pmc=5332018 | bibcode=2017PLoSO..1272002F}}</ref>
This situation may be advantageous to the cougar. Its broader prey niche, including its ability to take smaller prey, may give it an advantage over the jaguar in human-altered landscapes.<ref name=foodhabits />
[[File:Whales Bubble Net Feeding-edit1.jpg|right|thumb|Un gruppo di 15 megattere pesca con la rete di bolle nei pressi di [[Juneau]] (Alaska).]]
Le megattere catturano le loro prede creando la cosiddetta «[[rete di bolle]]». Un gruppo di esemplari nuota in un cerchio che si restringe mentre soffia aria dagli sfiatatoi, intrappolando le prede soprastanti in un cilindro di bolle. Quando eseguono questa tecnica possono immergersi anche per 20 metri. La rete di bolle può presentarsi in due forme principali: spirali verso l'alto e doppi anelli. Nel primo caso le megattere soffiano aria dallo sfiatatoio in continuazione mentre girano in circolo verso la superficie, creando una spirale di bolle. Il doppio anello è composto da un lungo e profondo anello di bolle che raggruppa le prede, seguito da un colpo di coda sulla superficie e quindi da un anello più piccolo che preannuncia la cattura finale. Sono state registrate anche combinazioni delle due tecniche. Dopo che le megattere hanno creato le «reti», ci nuotano all'interno con la bocca spalancata, pronte ad ingoiare.<ref name=Friedlaender/>
 
===Hunting and diet===
Utilizzando lo strumento statistico dell'[[analisi delle reti sociali]], gli studiosi hanno affermato che alcune megattere hanno imparato ad impiegare il ''lobtailing'' nella caccia da altri esemplari del gruppo nel corso di 27 anni, in risposta al cambiamento della preda principale.<ref name=Lobtail>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Jenny Allen, Mason Weinrich, Will Hoppitt e Luke Rendell | titolo=Network-Based Diffusion Analysis Reveals Cultural Transmission of Lobtail Feeding in Humpback Whales | rivista=Science | data=26 aprile 2013 | volume=340 | numero=6131 | pp=485-8 | doi=10.1126/science.1231976 | pmid=23620054 | bibcode=2013Sci...340..485A | s2cid=206546227}}</ref><ref name=whaleculture>{{cita web | autore=Jane J. Lee | titolo=Do Whales Have Culture? Humpbacks Pass on Behavior | url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130425-humpback-whale-culture-behavior-science-animals/ | accesso=30 aprile 2013 | sito=National Geographic | data=25 aprile 2013 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501033924/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130425-humpback-whale-culture-behavior-science-animals/ | urlmorto=no}}</ref> I tubercoli sulle pinne pettorali bloccano l'[[Angolo di incidenza (fluidodinamica)|angolo di incidenza]], che massimizza la [[portanza]] e riduce al minimo la [[Resistenza fluidodinamica|resistenza]] («effetto tubercolo»). Questo, insieme alla forma delle pinne, consente alle megattere di compiere le brusche virate necessarie per creare le reti di bolle.<ref name=Fish>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Frank E. Fish. Paul W. Weber, Mark M. Murray e Laurens E. Howle | anno=2011 | titolo=The Tubercles on Humpback Whales' Flippers: Application of Bio-Inspired Technology | rivista=Integrative and Comparative Biology | volume=51 | numero=1 | pp=203-213 | doi=10.1093/icb/icr016 | pmid=21576119}}</ref>
[[File:Panthera onca at the Toronto Zoo 2.jpg|thumb|The jaguar has a powerful bite that allows it to pierce the shells of armored prey.]]
[[File:3 Jaguars killing a Caiman, Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas Thomas-Fuhrmann.jpg|thumb|Jaguars killing and feeding on a [[yacare caiman]]]]
The jaguar is an [[obligate carnivore]] and depends solely on flesh for its nutrient requirements. An analysis of 53 studies documenting the diet of the jaguar revealed that its prey ranges in weight from {{cvt|1|to|130|kg}}; it prefers prey weighing {{cvt|45-85|kg}}, with [[capybara]] (''Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris'') and [[giant anteater]] (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') being the most selected. When available, it also preys on [[marsh deer]] (''Blastocerus dichotomus''), [[southern tamandua]] (''Tamandua tetradactyla''), [[collared peccary]] (''Dicotyles tajacu'') and [[black agouti]] (''Dasyprocta fuliginosa'').<ref name="sizes" /> In floodplains, jaguars opportunistically take reptiles such as [[turtle]]s and [[caiman]]s. Consumption of reptiles appears to be more frequent in jaguars than in other big cats.<ref name="reptile">{{cite journal |last1=Miranda |first1=E |last2=Menezes |first2=J |last3=Rheingantz |first3=M. L. |year=2016 |name-list-style=amp |title=Reptiles as principal prey? Adaptations for durophagy and prey selection by jaguar (''Panthera onca'') |journal=Journal of Natural History |volume=50 |issue=31–32 |pages=2021–2035 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/3993366 |doi=10.1080/00222933.2016.1180717 |s2cid=89150920 |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021309/https://zenodo.org/record/3993366 |url-status=live }}</ref> One remote population in the Brazilian Pantanal is recorded to primarily feed on aquatic reptiles and fish.<ref name="Eriksson2021">{{cite journal|author=Eriksson, C.|display-authors=etal|year=2021|title=Extensive aquatic subsidies lead to territorial breakdown and high density of an apex predator|journal=Ecology|volume=103|issue=1|page=e03543|doi=10.1002/ecy.3543|pmid=34841521|s2cid=242197640}}</ref>
The jaguar also preys on livestock in [[cattle]] [[ranch]]ing areas where wild prey is scarce.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Amit, R. |author2=Gordillo-Chávez, E.J. |author3=Bone, R. |year=2013 |name-list-style=amp |title=Jaguar and puma attacks on livestock in Costa Rica |journal=Human-Wildlife Interactions |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=77–84}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Zarco-González, M.M. |author2=Monroy-Vilchis, O. |author3=Alaníz, J. |year=2013 |name-list-style=amp |title=Spatial model of livestock predation by jaguar and puma in Mexico: conservation planning |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=159 |pages=80–87 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2012.11.007}}</ref>
The daily food requirement of a captive jaguar weighing {{cvt|34|kg}} was estimated at {{cvt|1.4|kg}} of meat.<ref name=Emmons1987 />
 
The jaguar's bite force allows it to pierce the [[Turtle shell#Carapace|carapace]]s of the [[yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle]] (''Podocnemis unifilis'') and the [[yellow-footed tortoise]] (''Chelonoidis denticulatus'').<ref name=Emmons1987>{{cite journal |author=Emmons, L. H. |year=1987 |title=Comparative feeding ecology of fields in a neotropical rain forest |journal=Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=271–283 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225982805 |doi=10.1007/BF00292180 |s2cid=24990860 |access-date=13 April 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021300/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225982805_Comparative_Feeding_Ecology_of_Felids_in_a_Neotropical_Rain-Forest |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Emmons, L. H. |year=1989 |title=Jaguar predation on chelonians |journal=Journal of Herpetology |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=311–314 |doi=10.2307/1564460 |jstor=1564460}}</ref> It employs an unusual killing method: it bites mammalian prey directly through the [[skull]] between the ears to deliver a fatal bite to the brain.<ref name=rosa>{{cite book |last1=Rosa |first1=C. L. de la |last2=Nocke |first2=C. C. |year=2000 |name-list-style=amp |chapter=Jaguar (''Panthera onca'') |title=A guide to the carnivores of Central America: natural history, ecology, and conservation |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x5ihAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT39 |pages=39–? |isbn=978-0-292-71604-9 |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021333/https://books.google.com/books?id=x5ihAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT39 |url-status=live}}</ref> It kills capybara by piercing its [[canine tooth|canine teeth]] through the [[temporal bone]]s of its skull, breaking its [[zygomatic arch]] and [[mandible]] and penetrating its brain, often through the ears.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Schaller, G.B. |author1-link=George Schaller |author2=Vasconselos, J.M.C. |year=1978 |name-list-style=amp |title=Jaguar predation on capybara |journal=Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde |volume=43 |pages=296–301 |url=https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Zeitschrift-Saeugetierkunde_43_0296-0301.pdf |access-date=16 August 2020 |archive-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625121230/https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Zeitschrift-Saeugetierkunde_43_0296-0301.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Corteggiamento e riproduzione ===
It has been hypothesized to be an adaptation to "cracking open" turtle shells; armored reptiles may have formed an abundant prey base for the jaguar following the late [[Pleistocene extinction]]s.<ref name=Emmons1987 /> However, this is disputed, as even in areas where jaguars prey on reptiles, they are still taken relatively infrequently compared to mammals in spite of their greater abundance.<ref name="reptile" />
[[File:HIHWNMS - humpback and calf - Permit14682-37906 (26491391423).jpg|thumb|Una femmina con il piccolo.]]
L'accoppiamento e la riproduzione hanno luogo durante i mesi invernali, quando le femmine entrano in [[Ciclo estrale|estro]] e nei maschi viene raggiunto il picco dei livelli di testosterone e di sperma.<ref name=Perrin/> Le megattere sono [[Promiscuità|promiscue]] ed entrambi i sessi hanno più partner.<ref name=Perrin/><ref name=Clapham97>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Phillip J. Clapham e Per J. Palsbøll | data=22 gennaio 1997 | titolo=Molecular analysis of paternity shows promiscuous mating in female humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae, Borowski) | rivista=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences | volume=264 | numero=1378 | pp=95-98 | doi=10.1098/rspb.1997.0014 | issn=0962-8452 | pmc=1688232 | pmid=9061965 | bibcode=1997RSPSB.264...95C}}</ref> I maschi seguono frequentemente le femmine solitarie e quelle accompagnate dai piccoli. Questi esemplari vengono detti «scorte»: il maschio più vicino alla femmina, conosciuto come «scorta principale», si scontra con gli altri corteggiatori, noti come «sfidanti». Altri maschi, chiamati «scorte secondarie», seguono a maggiore distanza e non sono direttamente coinvolti nel conflitto.<ref name=Herman>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Elia Y. K. Herman, Louis M. Herman, Louis M. Pack, Greg Marshall, C. Michael Shepard e Mehdi Bakhtiari | anno=2007 | titolo=When Whales Collide: Crittercam Offers Insight into the Competitive Behavior of Humpback Whales on Their Hawaiian Wintering Grounds | rivista=Marine Technology Society Journal | volume=41 | numero=4 | pp=35-43 | doi=10.4031/002533207787441971}}</ref> Il comportamento agonistico tra maschi consiste in scontri a colpi di coda o di testa e speronamenti.<ref name=Perrin/>
 
Between October 2001 and April 2004, 10 jaguars were monitored in the southern Pantanal. In the dry season from April to September, they killed prey at intervals ranging from one to seven days; and ranging from one to 16 days in the wet season from October to March.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Cavalcanti, S. M. C. |author2=Gese, E. M. |year=2010 |name-list-style=amp |title=Kill rates and predation patterns of jaguars (''Panthera onca'') in the southern Pantanal, Brazil |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=91 |issue=3 |pages=722–736 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3122316 |doi=10.1644/09-MAMM-A-171.1 |doi-access=free |access-date=8 March 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021307/https://www.academia.edu/3122316 |url-status=live }}</ref>
La gestazione dura circa 11,5 mesi e le femmine si riproducono ogni due anni.<ref name=Perrin/> Le nascite sono state osservate molto raramente: un parto al largo del Madagascar al quale hanno assistito gli studiosi durò quattro minuti.<ref name=shortnote>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Maria-Alejandra Faria | data=1 settembre 2013 | titolo=Short Note: Observation of a Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Birth in the Coastal Waters of Sainte Marie Island, Madagascar | rivista=Aquatic Mammals | volume=39 | numero=3 | pp=296-305 | doi=10.1578/am.39.3.2013.296 | issn=0167-5427}}</ref> Le madri generalmente partoriscono un unico piccolo in pieno inverno. I piccoli vengono allattati per un anno, ma possono iniziare ad assumere la dieta tipica degli adulti intorno ai sei mesi. Le megattere raggiungono la maturità sessuale tra i 5 e i 10 anni, a seconda delle popolazioni.<ref name=Perrin/> La lunghezza alla maturità sessuale è di circa 12,5 metri.<ref name=Mikhalev>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Yuri A. Mikhalev | anno=1997 | titolo=Humpback Whales ''Megaptera novaeangliae'' in the Arabian Sea | rivista=Marine Ecology Progress Series | volume=149 | numero=1/3 | pp=13-21 | doi=10.3354/meps149013 | jstor=24857503 | bibcode=1997MEPS..149...13M}}</ref><ref name=Spitz>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Scott Spitz, Louis Herman, Adam Pack e Mark Deakos | anno=2002 | titolo=The relation of body size of male humpback whales to their social roles on the Hawaiian winter grounds | rivista=Canadian Journal of Zoology | volume=80 | numero=11 | pp=1938-1947 | doi=10.1139/Z02-177}}</ref>
 
The jaguar uses a stalk-and-ambush strategy when hunting rather than chasing prey. The cat will slowly walk down forest paths, listening for and stalking prey before rushing or ambushing. The jaguar attacks from cover and usually from a target's blind spot with a quick pounce; the species' ambushing abilities are considered nearly peerless in the animal kingdom by both indigenous people and field researchers and are probably a product of its role as an apex predator in several different environments. The ambush may include leaping into water after prey, as a jaguar is quite capable of carrying a large kill while swimming; its strength is such that carcasses as large as a heifer can be hauled up a tree to avoid flood levels. After killing prey, the jaguar will drag the carcass to a [[thicket]] or other secluded spot. It begins eating at the neck and chest. The heart and lungs are consumed, followed by the shoulders.<ref>{{cite book| title = Guidelines for Captive Management of Jaguars |author=Baker, W. K. Jr.|pages=8–16 |editor=Law, C. |publisher=Jaguar Species Survival Plan. [[Association of Zoos and Aquariums]] |url=http://www.jaguarssp.com/Animal%20Mgmt/JAGUAR%20GUIDELINES.pdf |url-status = dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113131137/http://www.jaguarssp.com/Animal%20Mgmt/JAGUAR%20GUIDELINES.pdf
=== Vocalizzazioni ===
|archive-date=13 January 2012}}</ref>
{{vedi anche|Canto delle balene#Il canto delle megattere}}
[[File:HumBack2.jpg|right|thumb|300px|[[Spettrogramma]] delle vocalizzazioni di alcune megattere: il dettaglio riguarda i primi 24 secondi dei 37 della registrazione sottostante.<br/>[[File:Humpbackwhale2.ogg]]]]
Durante la stagione riproduttiva invernale i maschi di megattera producono canti complessi. Queste vocalizzazioni hanno una [[frequenza]] compresa tra 100 e 4 [[Hertz|Hz]], con [[Armonica (fisica)|frequenze armoniche]] che raggiungono i 24 kHz o più e possono viaggiare per almeno 10 chilometri. I maschi possono cantare per un periodo che varia da 4 a 33 minuti, a seconda delle regioni. Alle Hawaii sono state registrate megattere che vocalizzano anche per 7 ore.<ref name=Herman2017>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Louis M. Herman | anno=2017 | titolo=The multiple functions of male song within the humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') mating system: review, evaluation, and synthesis | rivista=Biological Reviews | volume=92 | numero=3 | pp=1795-1818 | doi=10.1111/brv.12309 | pmid=28677337 | s2cid=6121747}}</ref> Le canzoni sono costituite da cinque parti diverse: «sottounità», «unità», «sottofrasi», «frasi» e «temi». Una sottounità si riferisce alle discontinuità o alle inflessioni di un suono, mentre le unità vere e proprie sono suoni individuali, simili alle [[Nota (musica)|note musicali]]. Una successione di unità crea una sottofrase e una serie di sottofrasi costituisce una frase. Frasi dal suono simile vengono ripetute in una serie raggruppata in temi, e più temi creano una canzone.<ref name=Cholewiak2012>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Danielle Cholewiak | anno=2012 | titolo=Humpback whale song hierarchical structure: Historical context and discussion of current classification issues | rivista=Marine Mammal Science | volume=173 | numero=3997 | pp=E312-E332 | doi=10.1126/science.173.3997.585 | pmid=17833100 | s2cid=1895141}}</ref>
 
===Social activity===
La funzione di questi canti è stata oggetto di discussione, ma potrebbero avere più di uno scopo. Alcune prove suggeriscono che possano costituire un metodo per stabilire il predomonio tra i maschi. Tuttavia, sono stati visti maschi che non cantavano che interrompevano altri che lo facevano, forse con scopo aggressivo. Coloro che si uniscono ai cantanti sono maschi che non hanno mai cantato prima. Sembra che le femmine non si avvicinino ai cantanti soli, ma possono essere attratte dai raduni di maschi che cantano, proprio come in un sistema di accoppiamento basato sul ''[[Lek (biologia)|lek]]''. Un'altra possibilità è che i canti spingano altre megattere a dirigersi verso i terreni di riproduzione.<ref name=Herman2017/> È stato anche suggerito che i canti delle megattere costituiscano un sistema di [[ecolocalizzazione]] e possano servire a individuare altre balene.<ref name=sonic>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Eduardo Mercado III | anno=2021 | titolo=Intra-individual variation in the songs of humpback whales suggests they are sonically searching for conspecifics | rivista=Learning & Behavior | doi=10.3758/s13420-021-00495-0 | pmid=34791610 | s2cid=244346117}}</ref>
[[File:Jaguars (Panthera onca) after fight ...(Female left) (29070165892).jpg|thumb|Female (left) and male jaguar (right) at São Lourenço River]]
The jaguar is generally [[Solitary animal|solitary]] except for females with cubs. In 1977, groups consisting of a male, female and cubs, and two females with two males were sighted several times in a study area in the [[Paraguay River]] valley. A radio-collared female moved in a [[home range]] of {{cvt|25-38|km2}}, which partly overlapped with another female. The home range of the male in this study area overlapped with several females.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Schaller, G. B. |author2=Crawshaw, P. G. Jr. |year=1980 |name-list-style=amp |title=Movement Patterns of Jaguar |journal=Biotropica |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=161–168 |doi=10.2307/2387967 |jstor=2387967}}</ref>
 
The jaguar uses scrape marks, urine, and feces to [[Territorial marking|mark its territory]].<ref name=Rabinowitz>{{cite journal |author1=Rabinowitz, A. R. |author1-link=Alan Rabinowitz |author2=Nottingham, B.G. Jr. |year=1986 |name-list-style=amp |title=Ecology and behaviour of the Jaguar (''Panthera onca'') in Belize, Central America |journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=210 |issue=1 |pages=149–159 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1986.tb03627.x}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harmsen |first1=B. J. |last2=Foster |first2=R.J. |last3=Gutierrez |first3=S.M. |last4=Marin |first4=S.Y. |last5=Doncaster |first5=C.P. |year=2007 |name-list-style=amp |title=Scrape-marking behavior of jaguars (''Panthera onca'') and pumas (''Puma concolor'') |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=91 |issue=5 |pages=1225–1234 |doi=10.1644/09-mamm-a-416.1 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
I canti dei maschi di una determinata area sono simili tra loro. I maschi possono modificare i loro canti nel tempo e altri esemplari in contatto copiano i cambiamenti effettuati.<ref name=Cholewiak2012/> È stato dimostrato che in alcuni casi le modifiche si diffondono «orizzontalmente» tra le popolazioni limitrofe nel corso delle stagioni riproduttive successive.<ref name=pmid21497089>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=E. C. Garland, A. W. Goldizen, M. L. Rekdahl, R. Constantine, C. Garrigue, N. D. Hauser ''et al.'' | titolo=Dynamic horizontal cultural transmission of humpback whale song at the ocean basin scale | rivista=Curr Biol | anno=2011 | volume=21 | numero=8 | pp=687-91 | pmid=21497089 | doi=10.1016/j.cub.2011.03.019}}</ref> Nell'emisfero boreale i canti cambiano più gradualmente, mentre in quello australe attraversano «rivoluzioni» cicliche.<ref name=Zanberg>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=L. Zandberg, R. F. Lachlan, L. Lamoni e E. C. Garland | anno=2021 | titolo=Global cultural evolutionary model of humpback whale song | rivista=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B | volume=376 | numero=1836 | p=20200242 | doi=10.1098/rstb.2020.0242 | pmid=34482732 | pmc=8419575}}</ref>
The size of home ranges depends on the level of deforestation and human population density. The home ranges of females vary from {{cvt|15.3|km2}} in the [[Pantanal]] to {{cvt|53.6|km2}} in the Amazon to {{cvt|233.5|km2}} in the [[Atlantic Forest]]. Male jaguar home ranges vary from {{cvt|25|km2}} in the Pantanal to {{cvt|180.3|km2}} in the Amazon to {{cvt|591.4|km2}} in the Atlantic Forest and {{cvt|807.4|km2}} in the [[Cerrado]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Morato, R.G. |author2=Stabach, J.A. |author3=Fleming, C.H. |author4=Calabrese, J.M. |author5=De Paula, R.C. |author6=Ferraz, K.M. |author7=Kantek, D.L. |author8=Miyazaki, S.S. |author9=Pereira, T.D. |author10=Araujo, G.R. |author11=Paviolo, A. |year=2016 |display-authors=4 |name-list-style=amp |title=Space use and movement of a neotropical top predator: the endangered Jaguar |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=11 |issue=12 |page=e0168176 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0168176 |doi-access=free |pmc=5193337 |pmid=28030568 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1168176M}}</ref>
Studies employing [[Global Positioning System|GPS]] [[telemetry]] in 2003 and 2004 found densities of only six to seven jaguars per 100&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> in the Pantanal region, compared with 10 to 11 using traditional methods; this suggests the widely used sampling methods may inflate the actual numbers of individuals in a sampling area.<ref name=soisalo /> Fights between males occur but are rare, and avoidance behavior has been observed in the wild.<ref name=Rabinowitz /> In one wetland population with degraded territorial boundaries and more social proximity, adults of the same sex are more tolerant of each other and engage in more friendly and co-operative interactions.<ref name="Eriksson2021"/>
[[File:Jaguar saw.flac|thumb|Captive jaguar vocalizing while playing]]
The jaguar [[Roar (vocalization)|roars]] or grunts for long-distance communication;<ref name=Seymour /><ref name=Emmons1987 /> intensive bouts of counter-calling between individuals have been observed in the wild.<ref name=Emmons1987 /> This vocalization is described as "hoarse" with five or six [[guttural]] notes.<ref name=Seymour /> [[prusten|Chuffing]] is produced by individuals when greeting, during [[Courtship#In animals|courting]], or by a mother comforting her cubs. This sound is described as low intensity snorts, possibly intended to signal tranquility and passivity.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Peters |first1=G. |last2=Tonin-Leyhausen |first2=B. |year=1999 |name-list-style=amp |title=Evolution of Acoustic Communication Signals of Mammals: Friendly Close-Range Vocalizations in Felidae (Carnivora) |journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=129–159 |doi=10.1023/A:1020620121416 |s2cid=25252052}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leuchtenberger |first1=C. |last2=Crawshaw |first2=P. G. |last3=Mourão |first3=G. |last4=Lehn |first4=C. R. |year=2009 |name-list-style=amp |title=Courtship behavior by Jaguars in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul |journal=Natureza & Conservaç~ao Revista Brasileira de Conservaç~ao da Natureza |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=218–222 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263424625 |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021418/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263424625_Courtship_behavior_by_Jaguars_in_the_Pantanal_of_Mato_Grosso_do_Sul |url-status=live }}</ref> Cubs have been recorded bleating, gurgling and mewing.<ref name=Seymour />
 
===Reproduction and life cycle===
Le megattere producono anche altri tipi di vocalizzazioni. Gli «sbuffi» (''snorts'') sono rapidi suoni a bassa frequenza che si odono generalmente tra gli esemplari di gruppi costituiti da una coppia madre-figlio e da uno o più maschi di scorta. Probabilmente svolgono un ruolo nelle interazioni di mediazione tra questi gruppi. Anche i «brontolii» (''grumbles'') sono di bassa frequenza, ma hanno una durata maggiore e vengono più spesso eseguiti da gruppi con uno o più maschi adulti. Sembrano indicare le dimensioni corporee di chi li emette e servirebbero a dichiarare il proprio status sociale. I ''thwops'' e i ''wops'' sono richiami di [[modulazione di frequenza]] e potrebbero fungere da richiami di contatto sia all'interno del gruppo che da un gruppo all'altro. «Pianti» (''cries'') e «violini» (''violins'') acuti e «grida» (''shrieks'') modulate si odono normalmente in gruppi con due o più maschi e sono associati alle competizioni. Quando si uniscono a nuovi gruppi, le megattere producono brevi «grugniti» (''grunts'') a bassa frequenza e brevi «latrati» (''barks'') modulati.<ref name=nonsong>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Rebecca A. Dunlop, Douglas H. Cato e Michael J. Noad | anno=2008 | titolo=Non-song acoustic communication in migrating humpback whales (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') | rivista=Marine Mammal Science | volume=24 | numero=3 | pp=613-629 | doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.2008.00208.x}}</ref>
[[File:Jaguarpickingupcub08.jpg|thumb|Female jaguar picking up her cub]]
In captivity, the female jaguar is recorded to reach [[sexual maturity]] at the age of about 2.5 years. [[Estrus]] lasts 7–15 days with an [[estrus cycle]] of 41.8 to 52.6 days. During estrus, she exhibits increased restlessness with rolling and prolonged vocalizations.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Wildt, D.E. |author2=Platz, C.C. |author3=Chakraborty, P.K. |author4=Seager, S.W.J. |year=1979 |name-list-style=amp |title=Oestrous and ovarian activity in a female jaguar (''Panthera onca'') |journal=Reproduction |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=555–558 |doi=10.1530/jrf.0.0560555 |doi-access=free |pmid=383976}}</ref>
She is an [[induced ovulator]] but can also ovulate spontaneously.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Barnes, S.A. |author2=Teare, J.A. |author3=Staaden, S. |author4=Metrione, L. |author5=Penfold, L.M. |year=2016 |name-list-style=amp |title=Characterization and manipulation of reproductive cycles in the jaguar (''Panthera onca'') |journal=General and Comparative Endocrinology |volume=225 |pages=95–103 |doi=10.1016/j.ygcen.2015.09.012 |doi-access=free |pmid=26399935}}</ref>
[[Gestation]] lasts 91 to 111 days.<ref>{{cite book |author=Hemmer, H. |year=1976 |chapter=Gestation period and postnatal development in felids |title=The world's cats |editor=Eaton, R.L. |publisher=Carnivore Research Institute, Univ. Washington |___location=Seattle |volume=3. Contributions to Biology, Ecology, Behavior and Evolution |pages=143–165}}</ref>
The male is sexually mature at the age of three to four years.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Mondolfi, E. |author2=Hoogesteijn, R. |year=1986 |name-list-style=amp |chapter=Notes on the biology and status of the jaguar (''Panthera onca'') in Venezuela |title=Cats of the world: biology, conservation and management |editor1=Miller, S.D. |editor2=Everett, D.D. |publisher=National Wildlife Federation |___location=Washington, DC |pages=85–123 |isbn=978-091218679-5}}</ref>
His mean [[ejaculate]] volume is 8.6±1.3&nbsp;ml.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Morato, R. G. |author2=Guimaraes, M.A.B. |author3=Ferriera, F. |author4=Verreschi, I.T.d.N. |author5=Barnabe, R.C. |year=1999 |name-list-style=amp |title=Reproductive characteristics of captive male jaguars |journal=Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Research and Animal Science |volume=36 |issue=5 |doi=10.1590/S1413-95961999000500008 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
[[Generation time|Generation length]] of the jaguar is 9.8 years.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Pacifici, M. |author2=Santini, L. |author3=Di Marco, M. |author4=Baisero, D. |author5=Francucci, L. |author6=Grottolo Marasini, G. |author7=Visconti, P. |author8=Rondinini, C. |name-list-style=amp |year=2013 |title=Generation length for mammals |journal=Nature Conservation |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=87–94 |doi=10.3897/natureconservation.5.5734 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
In the Pantanal, [[breeding pair]]s were observed to stay together for up to five days. Females had one to two cubs.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Cavalcanti, S. M. C. |author2=Gese, E. M. |year=2009 |name-list-style=amp |title=Spatial ecology and social interactions of jaguars (''Panthera onca'') in the southern Pantanal, Brazil |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=90 |issue=4 |pages=935–945 |doi=10.1644/08-MAMM-A-188.1 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
=== Predazione ===
The young are born with closed eyes but open them after two weeks. Cubs are [[wean]]ed at the age of three months but remain in the birth den for six months before leaving to accompany their mother on hunts.<ref name=SWWL>{{cite magazine |author=Egerton, J. |date=2006 |title=Jaguars: Magnificence in the Southwest |magazine=Wild Tracks |url=http://www.southwestwildlife.org/pdf/Newsletter/Spring06.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721144027/http://www.southwestwildlife.org/pdf/Newsletter/Spring06.pdf |access-date=6 December 2009 |archive-date=21 July 2011}}</ref>
Le cicatrici visibili indicano che le [[Orcinus orca|orche]] predano le giovani megattere.<ref name=claphamj/> Uno studio del 2014 nell'Australia Occidentale ha reso noto che, se disponibili in gran numero, le giovani megattere possono essere attaccate e talvolta uccise dalle orche. Inoltre, le madri e altri esemplari adulti (forse loro parenti) accompagnano i piccoli per scoraggiare i predatori. Gli studiosi ritengono che le orche si siano rivolte verso altre prede dopo che le megattere furono spinte sull'orlo dell'estinzione all'epoca della baleneria e che ora stiano riprendendo le loro precedenti abitudini.<ref name=RESGA>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=R. L. Pitman, J. Totterdell, H. Fearnbach, L. T. Ballance, J. W. Durban e H. Kemps | anno=2014 | titolo=Whale killers: Prevalence and ecological implications of killer whale predation on humpback whale calves off Western Australia | rivista=Marine Mammal Science | volume=31 | numero=2 | pp=629-657 | doi=10.1111/mms.12182}}</ref> Vi sono perfino prove che indicano che le megattere aggrediscano o molestino le orche che stanno attaccando neonati o giovani di megattera, nonché membri di altre specie, compresi i [[Pinnipedia|pinnipedi]]. La protezione delle megattere nei confronti di altre specie potrebbe essere involontaria, una «ricaduta» del comportamento inteso a proteggere i membri della sua specie. Le potenti pinne pettorali delle megattere, spesso infestate da grandi [[Coronula|cirripedi]] acuminati, sono armi formidabili contro le orche. Quando si sentono minacciate, queste balene rivolgono verso le orche le pinne pettorali e la coda, cercando di tenerle alla larga.<ref name=mobbing>{{cita pubblicazione | titolo=Humpback whales interfering when mammal-eating killer whales attack other species: Mobbing behavior and interspecific altruism? | rivista=Marine Mammal Science | doi=10.1111/mms.12343 | volume=33 | pp=7-58 | anno=2016 | autore=Robert L. Pitman}}</ref>
Jaguars remain with their mothers for up to two years. They appear to rarely live beyond 11 years, but captive individuals may live 22 years.<ref name=Seymour />
 
In 2001, a male jaguar killed and partially consumed two cubs in [[Emas National Park]]. [[DNA paternity testing]] of blood samples revealed that the male was the father of the cubs.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Soares, T. N. |author2=Telles, M. P. |author3=Resende, L.V. |author4=Silveira, L. |author5=Jácomo, A.T.A. |author6=Morato, R.G. |author7=Diniz-Filho, J.A.F. |author8=Eizirik, E. |author9=Brondani, R.P. |author10=Brondani, C. |year=2006 |display-authors=4 |name-list-style=amp |title=Paternity testing and behavioral ecology: A case study of jaguars (''Panthera onca'') in Emas National Park, Central Brazil |journal=Genetics and Molecular Biology |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=735–740 |url=https://www.scielo.br/pdf/gmb/v29n4/32128.pdf |doi=10.1590/S1415-47572006000400025 |doi-access=free |access-date=27 February 2021 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027093753/https://www.scielo.br/pdf/gmb/v29n4/32128.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Two more cases of [[Infanticide (zoology)|infanticide]] were documented in the northern Pantanal in 2013.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Tortato, F.R. |author2=Devlin, A.L. |author3=Hoogesteijn, R. |author4=Júnior, J.A.M. |author5=Frair, J.L. |author6=Crawshaw, P.G. |author7=Izzo, T.J. |author8=Quigley, H.B. |year=2017 |name-list-style=amp |title=Infanticide in a jaguar (''Panthera onca'') population – does the provision of livestock carcasses increase the risk? |journal=Acta Ethologica |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=69–73 |doi=10.1007/s10211-016-0241-4 |s2cid=34002056 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308940647 |access-date=27 February 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021302/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308940647_Infanticide_in_a_jaguar_Panthera_onca_population-does_the_provision_of_livestock_carcasses_increase_the_risk |url-status=live }}</ref> Infanticide may be combated by the female hiding her cubs and distracting the male with courtship behavior.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Stasiukynas, D. C. |author2=Boron, V. |author3=Hoogesteijn, R. |author4= Barragán2, J. |author5=Martin, A. |author6=Tortato, F. |author7= Rincón, S. |author8=Payán, E.|year=2021|title=Hide and flirt: observed behavior of female jaguars (''Panthera onca'') to protect their young cubs from adult males|journal=Acta Ethologica|volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=179–183 |doi=10.1007/s10211-021-00384-9|s2cid=239539707 }}</ref>
Un altro predatore confermato della megattera è lo [[Carcharodon carcharias|squalo bianco]]. Nel 2020, i biologi marini Dines e Gennari ''et al.'' hanno documentato il caso di un gruppo di squali bianchi che, operando in branco, è riuscito ad attaccare e uccidere una megattera adulta.<ref name=DinesandGennari>{{cita pubblicazione | url=https://www.publish.csiro.au/mf/MF19291 | titolo=First observations of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) attacking a live humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) | autore=Sasha Dines e Enrico Gennari | data=9 settembre 2020 | rivista=Marine and Freshwater Research | volume=71 | numero=9 | pp=1205-1210 | sito=www.publish.csiro.au | doi=10.1071/MF19291 | s2cid=212969014 | accesso=18 aprile 2021 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308080042/https://www.publish.csiro.au/mf/MF19291 | urlmorto=no}}</ref> Un secondo caso di uccisione di megattera da parte di uno squalo bianco è stato documentato al largo della costa del Sudafrica. Lo squalo in questione era una femmina soprannominata «Helen». Operando da sola, ha attaccato una megattera di 10 metri emaciata e impigliata in una rete, mordendole la coda per paralizzarla e farla sanguinare prima di riuscire a farla annegare mordendole la testa e trascinandola sott'acqua.<ref name=Independent>{{cita web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/great-white-shark-drowns-humpback-whale-predator-south-africa-a9620251.html | titolo=Drone footage shows a great white shark drowning a 33ft humpback whale | data=15 luglio 2020 | sito=The Independent | accesso=18 luglio 2020 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20200718124150/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/great-white-shark-drowns-humpback-whale-predator-south-africa-a9620251.html | urlmorto=no}}</ref><ref name=express>{{cita web | url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1309559/shark-attack-great-white-shark-attack-humpback-whale-drone-video | titolo=Shark attack: Watch 'strategic' Great White hunt down and kill 10 Metre humpback whale | autore=Tom Fish | data=15 luglio 2020 | sito=Express.co.uk | accesso=18 luglio 2020 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20200718230137/https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1309559/shark-attack-great-white-shark-attack-humpback-whale-drone-video | urlmorto=no}}</ref>
 
===Attacks on humans===
== Distribuzione e habitat ==
{{Further|Man-eater}}
[[File:Breach W Lighthouse.jpg|thumb|right|''Breaching'' al largo dell'Alaska (USA).]]
The Spanish [[conquistador]]s feared the jaguar. According to [[Charles Darwin]], the [[indigenous peoples of South America]] stated that people did not need to fear the jaguar as long as capybaras were abundant.<ref name="Porter1894">{{cite book |author=Porter, J. H. |year=1894 |chapter=The Jaguar |title=Wild beasts; a study of the characters and habits of the elephant, lion, leopard, panther, jaguar, tiger, puma, wolf, and grizzly bear |publisher=C. Scribner's sons |___location=New York |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/wildbeastsstud00port#page/n197/mode/2up |pages=174–195}}</ref>
Le megattere sono diffuse nelle acque di [[Distribuzione cosmopolita|tutto il mondo]], ad eccezione di alcune aree in corrispondenza dell'equatore, nell'alto Artico e in alcuni mari chiusi.<ref name=Jefferson/> Il punto più settentrionale in cui sono state segnalate si trova a 81° nord, lungo la costa settentrionale della [[Terra di Francesco Giuseppe]].<ref name=Franz>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Beate Zein e Siri Vatsø Haugum | titolo=The northernmost sightings of Humpback whales | rivista=Journal of Marine Animals and Their Ecology | anno=2018 | volume=10:1 | pp=5-8 | url=http://www.oers.ca/journal/volume10/issue1/communication.pdf | accesso=17 giugno 2019 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617095824/http://www.oers.ca/journal/volume10/issue1/communication.pdf | urlmorto=no}}</ref> Sono generalmente creature costiere e tendono a radunarsi nelle acque al di sopra della [[piattaforma continentale]]. I loro terreni di riproduzione invernali si trovano intorno all'equatore, mentre quelli di alimentazione estivi sono situati in acque più fredde, anche in prossimità delle calotte polari. Le megattere effettuano [[Migrazione|migrazioni]] su vasta scala tra i terreni di alimentazione e quelli di riproduzione, spesso attraversando l'oceano aperto. Alcuni esemplari hanno compiuto spostamenti anche di {{M|8000}} chilometri in una direzione.<ref name=Jefferson/> Una popolazione isolata e stanziale si alimenta e si riproduce nell'oceano Indiano settentrionale, principalmente nel [[mar Arabico]] intorno all'[[Oman]].<ref name=NOAA>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Shannon Bettridge, C. Scott Baker, Jay Barlow, Phillip J. Clapham, Michael Ford, David Gouveia, David K. Mattila, Richard M. III Pace, Patricia E. Rosel, Gregory K. Silber e Paul R. Wade | data=marzo 2015 | titolo=Status review of the humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') under the Endangered Species Act | editore=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/296692194}}</ref> Questa popolazione è stata segnalata anche nel [[golfo di Aden]], nel [[golfo Persico]] e al largo delle coste del Pakistan e dell'India.<ref name=arabian>{{cita pubblicazione | titolo=Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae in the Arabian Sea | autore=Yuri A. Mikhalev | volume=149 | pp=13-21 | data=aprile 1997 | rivista=Marine Ecology Progress Series | url=https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/149/m149p013.pdf | doi=10.3354/meps149013 | bibcode=1997MEPS..149...13M | accesso=27 gennaio 2020 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806073151/https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/149/m149p013.pdf | urlmorto=no}}</ref>
The first official record of a jaguar killing a human in Brazil dates to June 2008.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=de Paula, R. |author2=Campos Neto, M. F. |author3=Morato, R. G. |year=2008 |name-list-style=amp |title=First Official Record of Human Killed by Jaguar in Brazil |journal=Cat News |issue=49 |pages=31–32}}</ref>
Two children were attacked by jaguars in Guyana.<ref name=r22>{{cite journal |author1=Iserson, K. V. |author2=Francis, A. M. |year=2015 |name-list-style=amp |title=Jaguar Attack on a Child: Case Report and Literature Review |journal=Western Journal of Emergency Medicine |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=303–309 |doi=10.5811/westjem.2015.1.24043 |pmc=4380383 |pmid=25834674}}</ref>
The jaguar is the least likely of all big cats to kill and eat humans, and the majority of attacks come when it has been cornered or wounded.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Seidensticker |first1=J. |last2=Lumpkin |first2=S. |date=2016 |name-list-style=amp |title=Cats in Question: The Smithsonian Answer Book |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |___location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=09LwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT303 |isbn=978-158834546-2}}</ref>
 
==Threats==
Nell'Atlantico settentrionale ci sono due popolazioni svernanti distinte, una nelle [[Indie occidentali]], tra Cuba e il Venezuela settentrionale, e l'altra nelle acque di [[Capo Verde]] e dell'Africa nord-occidentale. Durante l'estate, le megattere delle Indie occidentali si radunano al largo della [[Nuova Inghilterra]], del Canada orientale e della [[Groenlandia]] occidentale, mentre la popolazione di Capo Verde si raduna intorno all'Islanda e alla Norvegia. L'areale estivo di queste popolazioni può sovrapporsi ed è stato documentato che le megattere delle Indie occidentali talvolta possono alimentarsi più ad est del consueto.<ref name=NOAA/> Le visite delle megattere nel [[golfo del Messico]] sono rare, anche se sono state segnalate nel passato.<ref name=texas>{{cita web | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249474104 | titolo=First account of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Texas waters, with a re-evaluation of historical records from the Gulf of Mexico | autore=David W. Weller | data=1 gennaio 1996 | sito=ResearchGate | accesso=2 novembre 2017 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623124204/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249474104_First_account_of_a_humpback_whale_Megaptera_novaeangliae_in_Texas_waters_with_a_re-evaluation_of_historical_records_from_the_Gulf_of_Mexico | urlmorto=no}}</ref> La specie era considerata rara nel [[mar Mediterraneo]], ma l'aumento degli avvistamenti, anche degli stessi esemplari, indica che un maggior numero di individui potrebbe colonizzare o ricolonizzare l'area in futuro.<ref name=Panigada>{{cita conferenza | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261530754 | titolo=Are humpback whales electing the Mediterranean Sea as new residence? | autore=Simone Panigada, Sylvia Frey, Nino Pierantonio, Patrice Garziglia e Fabio Giardina | data=1 aprile 2014 | conferenza=28th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society | città=Liegi | accesso=17 dicembre 2014 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623124302/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261530754_Are_humpback_whales_electing_the_Mediterranean_Sea_as_new_residence | urlmorto=no}}</ref>
[[File:Colonel Roosevelt's first South American jaguar.jpg|thumb|A South American jaguar killed by [[Theodore Roosevelt]]]]
The jaguar is threatened by [[habitat loss|loss]] and [[habitat fragmentation|fragmentation]] of habitat, illegal killing in retaliation for livestock depredation and for illegal trade in jaguar body parts. It is listed as [[Near Threatened]] on the [[IUCN Red List]] since 2002, as the jaguar population has probably declined by 20–25% since the mid-1990s. [[Deforestation]] is a major threat to the jaguar across its range. Habitat loss was most rapid in drier regions such as the Argentine [[pampas]], the arid grasslands of Mexico and the southwestern United States.<ref name=iucn />
 
In 2002, it was estimated that the range of the jaguar had declined to about 46% of its range in the early 20th century.<ref name=Sanderson2002 /> In 2018, it was estimated that its range had declined by 55% in the last century. The only remaining stronghold is the Amazon rainforest, a region that is rapidly being fragmented by deforestation.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=De La Torre, J.A. |author2=González-Maya, J.F. |author3=Zarza, H. |author4=Ceballos, G. |author5=Medellín, R.A. |year=2018 |name-list-style=amp |title=The jaguar's spots are darker than they appear: assessing the global conservation status of the jaguar ''Panthera onca'' |journal=Oryx |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=300–315 |doi=10.1017/S0030605316001046 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
Il Pacifico settentrionale ospita almeno quattro popolazioni riproduttive: al largo del Messico (in un'area che comprende la [[Penisola di Bassa California|Bassa California]] e le [[isole Revillagigedo]]), in America centrale, alle [[Isole delle Hawaii|Hawaii]] e nell'area compresa tra [[Okinawa]] e le [[Filippine]]. La popolazione messicana si alimenta tra le [[isole Aleutine]] e la California, in particolare nel [[mare di Bering]], nel [[golfo dell'Alaska]] settentrionale e occidentale, tra la Columbia Britannica meridionale e lo stato di Washington settentrionale, e tra l'Oregon e la California. Durante l'estate, le megattere dell'America centrale si incontrano solamente al largo dell'Oregon e della California. Al contrario, le megattere delle Hawaii hanno un terreno di alimentazione molto esteso, ma la maggior parte di loro si dirige verso l'[[Alaska sud-orientale]] e la Columbia Britannica settentrionale. I terreni di svernamento della popolazione Okinawa/Filippine si trovano principalmente intorno all'[[Circondario federale dell'Estremo Oriente|Estremo Oriente russo]]. Alcune prove sembrano indicare l'esistenza di una quinta popolazione da qualche parte nel Pacifico nord-occidentale. Queste megattere si alimentano al largo delle Aleutine e hanno un terreno di riproduzione in un punto non determinato a sud delle [[Isole Ogasawara|isole Bonin]].<ref name=NOAA/>
Between 2000 and 2012, forest loss in the jaguar range amounted to {{convert|83.759|km2|abbr=on}}, with fragmentation increasing in particular in corridors between Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs).<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Olsoy, P.J. |author2=Zeller, K.A. |author3=Hicke, J.A. |author4=Quigley, H.B. |author5=Rabinowitz, A.R. |author6=Thornton, D.H. |year=2016 |name-list-style=amp |title=Quantifying the effects of deforestation and fragmentation on a range-wide conservation plan for jaguars |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=203 |pages=8–16 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307954092 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2016.08.037 |access-date=13 April 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021307/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307954092_Quantifying_the_effects_of_deforestation_and_fragmentation_on_a_range-wide_conservation_plan_for_jaguars |url-status=live }}</ref>
By 2014, direct linkages between two JCUs in Bolivia were lost, and two JCUs in northern Argentina became completely isolated due to deforestation.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Thompson, J.J. |author2=Velilla, M. |year=2017 |name-list-style=amp |title=Modeling the effects of deforestation on the connectivity of jaguar ''Panthera onca'' populations at the southern extent of the species' range |journal=Endangered Species Research |volume=34 |pages=109–121 |url=https://www.int-res.com/articles/esr2017/34/n034p109.pdf |doi=10.3354/esr00840 |doi-access=free |access-date=2 March 2021 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308132647/https://www.int-res.com/articles/esr2017/34/n034p109.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
In Mexico, the jaguar is primarily threatened by [[poaching]]. Its habitat is fragmented in northern Mexico, in the [[Gulf of Mexico]] and the [[Yucatán Peninsula]], caused by changes in land use, construction of roads and tourism infrastructure.<ref name=Ceballos2016>{{cite book |author1=Ceballos, G. |author2=Zarza, H. |author3=Chávez, C. |author4=González-Maya, J.F. |year=2016 |name-list-style=amp |chapter=Ecology and Conservation of Jaguars in Mexico |title=Tropical conservation: Perspectives on local and global priorities |editor1=Aguirre, A. |editor2=Sukumar, R. |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307985045 |pages=273–289 |isbn=978-019976698-7 |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021317/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307985045_Ecology_and_conservation_of_jaguars_in_Mexico_state_of_knowledge_and_future_challenges |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Emisfero australe ===
In Panama, 220 of 230 jaguars were killed in retaliation for predation on livestock between 1998 and 2014.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Moreno, R. |author2=Meyer, N. |author3=Olmos, M. |author4=Hoogesteijn, R. |author5=Hoogesteijn, A.L. |year=2015 |name-list-style=amp |title=Causes of jaguar killing in Panama – a long term survey using interviews |journal=Cat News |issue=62 |pages=40–42 |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/29640/CN62_Moreno_et_al_2015.pdf |access-date=18 November 2021 |archive-date=18 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118072049/https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/29640/CN62_Moreno_et_al_2015.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Humpback Whales in antarctica.jpg|thumb|right|Megattere nelle acque dell'[[Antartide]].]]
In Venezuela, the jaguar was extirpated in about 26% of its range in the country since 1940, mostly in dry [[savanna]]s and unproductive scrubland in the northeastern region of [[Anzoátegui]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jędrzejewski |first1=W. |last2=Boede |first2=E.O. |last3=Abarca |first3=M. |last4=Sánchez-Mercado |first4=A. |last5=Ferrer-Paris |first5=J.R. |last6=Lampo |first6=M. |last7=Velásquez |first7=G. |last8=Carreño |first8=R. |last9=Viloria |first9=Á.L. |last10=Hoogesteijn |first10=R. |last11=Robinson |first11=H.S. |last12=Stachowicz |first12=I. |last13=Cerda |first13=H. |last14=Weisz |first14=M. del Mar |last15=Barros |first15=T.R. |last16=Rivas |first16=Gilson A. |last17=Borges |first17=G. |last18=Molinari |first18=J. |last19=Lew |first19=D. |last20=Takiff |first20=H. |last21=Schmidt |first21=K. |year=2017 |name-list-style=amp |title=Predicting carnivore distribution and extirpation rate based on human impacts and productivity factors; assessment of the state of jaguar (''Panthera onca'') in Venezuela |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=206 |pages=132–142 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312059394 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2016.09.027 |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021303/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312059394_Predicting_carnivore_distribution_and_extirpation_rate_based_on_human_impacts_and_productivity_factors_assessment_of_the_state_of_jaguar_Panthera_onca_in_Venezuela |url-status=live }}</ref>
Nell'emisfero australe, le megattere sono divise in sette gruppi riproduttivi, alcuni dei quali ulteriormente suddivisi in sottogruppi: Pacifico sud-orientale (popolazione G), Atlantico sud-occidentale (popolazione A), Atlantico sud-orientale (popolazione B), Indiano sud-occidentale (popolazione C), Indiano sud-orientale (popolazione D), Pacifico sud-occidentale (popolazione E) e Oceania (popolazioni E-F).<ref name=NOAA/> La popolazione G si riproduce nelle acque tropicali e subtropicali al largo delle coste occidentali dell'America centrale e meridionale e si alimenta lungo la costa occidentale della [[penisola antartica]], attorno alle [[Isole Orcadi Meridionali|Orcadi australi]] e, in minor numero, intorno alla [[Terra del Fuoco]] del Cile meridionale. La popolazione A sverna al largo del Brasile e migra verso i terreni estivi intorno alla [[Georgia del Sud e Isole Sandwich Australi|Georgia del Sud e alle Sandwich australi]]. Alcuni individui della popolazione A sono stati segnalati anche al largo della penisola antartica occidentale, il che suggerisce che i confini delle aree di alimentazione delle popolazioni A e G siano più sfocati di quanto ritenuto in precedenza.<ref name=southamerican>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=M. C. C. Marcondes, T. Cheeseman, J. A. Jackson, A. S. Friedlaender, L. Pallin, M. Olio, L. L. Wedekin, F. G. Daura-Jorge, J. Cardoso, J. D. F. Santos, R. C. Fortes, M. F. Araújo, M. Bassoi, V. Beaver, A. Bombosch, C. W. Clark, J. Denkinger, A. Boyle, K. Rasmussen, O. Savenko, I. C. Avila, D. M. Palacios, A. S. Kennedy e R. S. Sousa-Lima | anno=2021 | titolo=The Southern Ocean Exchange: porous boundaries between humpback whale breeding populations in southern polar waters | rivista=Scientific Reports | volume=11 | numero=1 | p=23618 | doi=10.1038/s41598-021-02612-5 | pmid=34880273 | pmc=8654993 | bibcode=2021NatSR..1123618M}}</ref>
In Ecuador, the jaguar is threatened by reduced prey availability in areas where the expansion of the road network facilitated access of human hunters to forests.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Espinosa, S. |author2=Celis, G. |author3=Branch, L.C. |year=2018 |name-list-style=amp |title=When roads appear jaguars decline: Increased access to an Amazonian wilderness area reduces potential for jaguar conservation |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=13 |issue=1 |page=e0189740 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0189740 |doi-access=free |pmc=5751993 |pmid=29298311 |bibcode=2018PLoSO..1389740E}}</ref>
In the [[Alto Paraná Atlantic forests]], at least 117 jaguars were killed in [[Iguaçu National Park]] and the adjacent [[Misiones Province]] between 1995 and 2008.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Paviolo, A. |author2=De Angelo, C.D. |author3=Di Blanco, Y.E. |author4=Di Bitetti, M.S. |year=2008 |name-list-style=amp |title=Jaguar ''Panthera onca'' population decline in the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest of Argentina and Brazil |journal=Oryx |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=554–561 |doi=10.1017/S0030605308000641 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
Some [[Afro-Colombians]] in the Colombian [[Chocó Department]] hunt jaguars for consumption and sale of meat.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Balaguera-Reina, S. |author2=Gonzalez-Maya, J.F. |year=2008 |name-list-style=amp |title=Occasional jaguar hunting for subsistence in Colombian Chocó |journal=Cat News |issue=48 |page=5 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233399315 |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021347/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233399315_Occasional_Jaguar_Hunting_for_Subsistence_in_Colombian_Choco |url-status=live }}</ref>
Between 2008 and 2012, at least 15 jaguars were killed by livestock farmers in central Belize.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Foster, R.J. |author2=Harmsen, B.J. |author3=Urbina, Y. L. |author4=Wooldridge, R.L. |author5=Doncaster, C.P. |author6=Quigley, H. |author7=Figueroa, O.A. |year=2020 |name-list-style=amp |title=Jaguar (''Panthera onca'') density and tenure in a critical biological corridor |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=101 |issue=6 |pages=1622–1637 |doi=10.1093/jmammal/gyaa134 |pmid=33505226 |pmc=7816682 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
The international trade of jaguar skins boomed between the end of the [[Second World War]] and the early 1970s.<ref name="SkinTrade">{{cite book |last=Broad |first=S. |date=1987 |title=The harvest of and trade in Latin American spotted cats (Felidae) and otters (Lutrinae) |publisher=IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre |___location=Cambridge |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/119261 |access-date=21 February 2018 |archive-date=13 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113095346/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/119261 |url-status=live }}</ref>
La popolazione B si riproduce lungo la costa occidentale dell'Africa ed è ulteriormente suddivisa nelle sottopopolazioni Bl e B2, diffuse rispettivamente dal [[golfo di Guinea]] all'Angola e dall'Angola al Sudafrica occidentale. Le megattere della popolazione B sono state viste alimentarsi nelle acque a sud-ovest del continente, soprattutto intorno all'[[isola Bouvet]].<ref name=Rosenbaum>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Howard C. Rosenbaum, Cristina Pomilla, Martin Mendez, Matthew S. Leslie, Peter B. Best, Ken P. Findlay, Gianna Minton, Peter J. Ersts, Timothy Collins, Marcia H. Engel, Sandro L. Bonatto, Deon P. G. H. Kotze, Mike Meÿer, Jaco Barendse, Meredith Thornton, Yvette Razafindrakoto, Solange Ngouessono, Michael Vely e Jeremy Kiszka | anno=2009 | titolo=Population Structure of Humpback Whales from Their Breeding Grounds in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans | rivista=PLOS ONE | volume=4 | numero=10 | p=e7318 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0007318 | pmid=19812698 | pmc=2754530 | bibcode=2009PLoSO...4.7318R}}</ref> Il confronto dei canti degli esemplari di [[capo Lopez]] e dell'[[arcipelago delle Abrolhos]] indica il verificarsi di mescolanze transatlantiche tra le megattere delle popolazioni A e B.<ref name=sigaa>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=J. D. Darling e R. S. Sousa-Lima | titolo=Notes: Songs Indicate Interaction Between Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Populations in the Western and Eastern South Atlantic Ocean | anno=2005 | rivista=Marine Mammal Science | volume=21 | numero=3| pp=557-566 | doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.2005.tb01249.x}}</ref> Le megattere della popolazione C svernano intorno all'Africa sud-orientale e nelle acque circostanti. Questa popolazione è a sua volta suddivisa nelle sottopopolazioni C1, C2, C3 e C4: C1 è diffusa intorno al [[Mozambico]] e al Sudafrica orientale, C2 intorno alle [[Comore]], C3 al largo delle coste meridionali e orientali del Madagascar e C4 intorno alle [[isole Mascarene]]. L'areale di alimentazione di questa popolazione è compreso probabilmente tra i 5° ovest e i 60° est di longitudine e sotto i 50° sud di latitudine.<ref name=Rosenbaum/> Potrebbero esserci delle sovrapposizioni nelle aree di alimentazione delle popolazioni B e C.<ref name=Rosenbaum/>
Significant declines occurred in the 1960s, as more than 15,000 jaguars were yearly killed for their skins in the [[Brazilian Amazon]] alone; the trade in jaguar skins decreased since 1973 when the [[CITES|Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species]] was enacted.<ref name="r32">{{cite journal |last1=Weber |first1=W. |author2=Rabinowitz, A. |year=1996 |name-list-style=amp |title=A global perspective on large carnivore conservation |journal=Conservation Biology |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=1046–1054 |doi=10.1046/j.1523-1739.1996.10041046.x |url=http://www.jaguarnetwork.org/pdf/71.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426042409/http://www.jaguarnetwork.org/pdf/71.pdf |archive-date=26 April 2012}}</ref>
Interview surveys with 533 people in the northwestern Bolivian Amazon revealed that local people killed jaguars out of fear, in retaliation, and for trade.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Knox, J. |author2=Negrões, N. |author3=Marchini, S. |author4=Barboza, K. |author5=Guanacoma, G. |author6=Balhau, P. |author7=Tobler, M.W. |author8=Glikman, J.A. |year=2019 |name-list-style=amp |title=Jaguar persecution without "cowflict": insights from protected territories in the Bolivian Amazon |journal=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |volume=7 |page=494 |doi=10.3389/fevo.2019.00494 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
Between August 2016 and August 2019, jaguar skins and body parts were seen for sale in tourist markets in the Peruvian cities of [[Lima]], [[Iquitos]] and [[Pucallpa]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Braczkowski, A. |author2=Ruzo, A. |author3=Sanchez, F. |author4=Castagnino, R. |author5=Brown, C. |author6=Guynup, S. |author7=Winter, S. |author8=Gandy, D. |author9=O'Bryan, C. |year=2019 |name-list-style=amp |title=The ayahuasca tourism boom: An undervalued demand driver for jaguar body parts? |journal=Conservation Science and Practice |volume=1 |issue=12 |page=e126 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336450042 |doi=10.1111/csp2.126 |doi-access=free |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021318/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336450042_The_ayahuasca_tourism_boom_An_undervalued_demand_driver_for_jaguar_body_parts |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[Human-wildlife conflict]], opportunistic hunting and hunting for trade in domestic markets are key drivers for killing jaguars in Belize and Guatemala.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Arias, M. |author2=Hinsley, A. |author3=Milner-Gulland, E.J. |year=2020 |name-list-style=amp |title=Characteristics of, and uncertainties about, illegal jaguar trade in Belize and Guatemala |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=250 |page=108765 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108765 |s2cid=224967913 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344172628 |access-date=18 November 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021310/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344172628_Characteristics_of_and_uncertainties_about_illegal_jaguar_trade_in_Belize_and_Guatemala |url-status=live }}</ref>
Seizure reports indicate that at least 857 jaguars were involved in trade between 2012 and 2018, including 482 individuals in Bolivia alone; 31 jaguars were seized in [[China]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Morcatty, T.Q. |author2=Bausch Macedo, J.C. |author3=Nekaris, K.A.I. |author4=Ni, Q. |author5=Durigan, C.C. |author6=Svensson, M.S. |author7=Nijman, V. |year=2020 |name-list-style=amp |title=Illegal trade in wild cats and its link to Chinese‐led development in Central and South America |journal=Conservation Biology |volume=34 |issue=6 |pages=1525–1535 |doi=10.1111/cobi.13498 |pmid=32484587 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
Between 2014 and early 2019, 760 jaguar fangs were seized that originated in Bolivia and were destined for China. Undercover investigations revealed that the [[smuggling]] of jaguar body parts is run by Chinese residents in Bolivia.<ref>{{cite report |author=Earth League International |year=2020 |title=Unveiling the criminal networks behind jaguar trafficking in Bolivia |publisher=IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands |___location=Amsterdam |url=https://www.iucn.nl/app/uploads/2021/03/iucn_nl_report_jaguar_trafficking_bolivia_media-1.pdf |access-date=26 July 2021 |archive-date=26 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726070809/https://www.iucn.nl/app/uploads/2021/03/iucn_nl_report_jaguar_trafficking_bolivia_media-1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
==Conservation==
Le megattere della popolazione D si riproducono al largo della costa occidentale dell'Australia e si alimentano nella parte meridionale del [[pianoro delle Kerguelen]].<ref name=Bestley>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Sophie Bestley, Virginia Andrews-Goff, Esmee van Wijk, Stephen R. Rintoul, Michael C. Double e Jason How | anno=2019 | titolo=New insights into prime Southern Ocean forage grounds for thriving Western Australian humpback whales | rivista=Scientific Reports | volume=9 | numero=1 | p=13988 | doi=10.1038/s41598-019-50497-2 | pmid=31562374 | pmc=6764985 | bibcode=2019NatSR...913988B | s2cid=203437910}}</ref> La popolazione si suddivide nelle popolazioni E1, E2 ed E3.<ref name=NOAA/> Le megattere E1 hanno un areale riproduttivo al largo dell'Australia orientale e della [[Tasmania]]; il loro areale di alimentazione principale è nei pressi dell'Antartide, per lo più tra i 130° est e i 170° ovest di longitudine.<ref name=southwestPacific>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=V. Andrews-Goff, S. Bestley, N. J. Gales, S. M. Laverick, D. Paton, A. M. Polanowski, N. T. Schmitt e M. C. Double | anno=2018 | titolo=Humpback whale migrations to Antarctic summer foraging grounds through the southwest Pacific Ocean | rivista=Scientific Reports | volume=8 | numero=1 | p=12333 | doi=10.1038/s41598-018-30748-4 | pmid=30120303 | pmc=6098068 | bibcode=2018NatSR...812333A}}</ref> La popolazione dell'Oceania è suddivisa nelle sottopopolazioni della [[Nuova Caledonia]] (E2), delle [[Tonga]] (E3), delle [[isole Cook]] (F1) e della [[Polinesia francese]] (F2). I terreni di alimentazione di questa popolazione si estendono soprattutto tra il [[mare di Ross]] e la penisola antartica.<ref name=Oceania>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=D. Steel, M. Anderson, C. Garrigue, C. Olavarría, S. Caballero, S. Childerhouse, P. Clapham, R. Constantine, S. Dawson, M. Donoghue, L. Flórez-González, N. Gibbs, N. Hauser, M. Oremus, D. Paton, M. M. Poole, J. Robbins, L. Slooten, D. Thiele, J. Ward e C. S. Baker | anno=2018 | titolo=Migratory interchange of humpback whales (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') among breeding grounds of Oceania and connections to Antarctic feeding areas based on genotype matching | rivista=Polar Biology | volume=41 | numero=4 | pp=653-662 | doi=10.1007/s00300-017-2226-9 | s2cid=4301608}}</ref>
The jaguar is listed on [[CITES Appendix I]], which means that all international commercial trade in jaguars or their body parts is prohibited. Hunting jaguars is prohibited in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, the United States, and Venezuela. Hunting jaguars is restricted in Guatemala and Peru.<ref name=iucn /> In Ecuador, hunting jaguars is prohibited, and it is classified as threatened with extinction.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Zapata Ríos, G. |author2=Araguillin, E. |author3=Cevallos, J. |author4=Moreno, F. |author5=Ortega, A. |author6=Rengel, J. |author7=Valarezo, N. |date=2014 |name-list-style=amp |title=Plan de Acción para la Conservación del Jaguar en el Ecuador |trans-title=Action Plan for the Conservation of the Jaguar in Ecuador |publisher=Ministerio del Ambiente y Wildlife Conservation Society Ecuador |___location=Quito |language=es |url=http://www.wild4ever.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Ecuador-National-Jaguar-Plan.pdf |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-date=23 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923073232/http://www.wild4ever.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Ecuador-National-Jaguar-Plan.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
In Guyana, it is protected as an endangered species, and hunting it is illegal.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kerman, I. |date=2010 |title=Exploitation of the jaguar, ''Panthera onca'' and other large forest cats in Suriname |editor=Felix, M.-L. |publisher=WWF Guianas |___location=Paramaribo |url=https://www.a2000greetings.com/downloads/exploitation_of_the_jaguar_and_other_large_forest_cats_in_suriname_irvin_kerman.pdf}}</ref>
[[File:El-jefe-jaguar-fws1.jpg|thumb|[[El Jefe (jaguar)|El Jefe]], a jaguar in Arizona]]
In 1986, the [[Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary]] was established in Belize as the world's first protected area for jaguar conservation.<ref name=Weckel>{{cite journal |author1=Weckel, M. |author2=Giuliano, W. |author3=Silver, S. |year=2006 |name-list-style=amp |title=Cockscomb revisited: jaguar diet in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize |journal=Biotropica |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=687–690 |url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper |doi=10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00190.x |s2cid=85151201 |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=27 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527070312/https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
===Jaguar Conservation Units===
== Rapporti con l'uomo ==
In 1999, field scientists from 18 jaguar range countries determined the most important areas for long-term jaguar conservation based on the status of jaguar population units, stability of prey base and quality of habitat. These areas, called "Jaguar Conservation Units" (JCUs), are large enough for at least 50 breeding individuals and range in size from {{cvt|566|to|67598|km2}}; 51 JCUs were designated in 36 geographic regions including:<ref name=Sanderson2002 />
=== Caccia ===
* the [[Sierra Madre Occidental]] and [[Sierra de Tamaulipas]] in Mexico
{{vedi anche|Caccia alla balena}}
* the [[Selva Maya]] tropical forests extending over Mexico, Belize and Guatemala
[[File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17538123954).jpg|thumb|right|Megattere uccise dai balenieri al largo di [[Isola di Vancouver|Vancouver]], inizio del XX secolo.]]
* the [[Chocó–Darién moist forests]] from Honduras and Panama to Colombia
Le megattere sono state oggetto di caccia fin dalla fine del XVI secolo.<ref name=iucn/> A causa della loro predilezione per le zone costiere, erano spesso la prima specie ad essere sfruttata quando i balenieri si spingevano in una nuova area.<ref name=Perrin/> Prima della caccia commerciale, è possibile che il numero complessivo di esemplari raggiungesse le {{M|125000}} unità. Si stima che nel solo Pacifico settentrionale, in tutto il XX secolo, siano stati uccisi {{M|28000}} esemplari.<ref name=plan/> Nello stesso periodo, nell'emisfero australe ne vennero uccise {{M|200000}}.<ref name=Perrin/> Le popolazioni dell'Atlantico settentrionale furono ridotte ad appena 700 individui.<ref name=plan/> Nel 1946, allo scopo di supervisionare la caccia, venne fondata la [[Commissione internazionale per la caccia alle balene|Commissione baleniera internazionale]] (''International Whaling Commission'', IWC). Vennero introdotte regolamentazioni e istituite stagioni di caccia. Per impedirne l'[[estinzione]], nel 1966 l'IWC proibì la caccia commerciale alle megattere. Allora, la popolazione complessiva si era ridotta a circa {{M|5000}} esemplari.<ref name=baker>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=C. S. Baker, A. Perry, J. L. Bannister, M. T. Weinrich, R. B. Abernethy, J. Calambokidis, J. Lien, R. H. Lambertsen e J. U. Ramírez | data=settembre 1993 | titolo=Abundant mitochondrial DNA variation and world-wide population structure in humpback whales | rivista=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] | volume=90 | numero=17 | pp=8239-8243 | doi=10.1073/pnas.90.17.8239 | pmid=8367488 | pmc=47324 | bibcode=1993PNAS...90.8239B}}</ref> Per aggirare le restrizioni, l'Unione Sovietica dichiarava deliberatamente un numero inferiore di catture: appena {{M|2820}} tra il 1947 e il 1972, quando il numero effettivo superava le {{M|48000}} uccisioni.<ref name=yablokov>{{cita pubblicazione | rivista=Whales Alive! | editore=Cetacean Society International | volume=6 | numero=4 | titolo=On the Soviet Whaling Falsification, 1947–1972 | autore=Prof. Alexey V. Yablokov | anno=1997 | url=http://csiwhalesalive.org/csi97403.html | accesso=23 aprile 2007 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720200901/http://csiwhalesalive.org/csi97403.html | urlmorto=sì}}</ref>
* [[Venezuelan Llanos]]
* northern [[Cerrado]] and [[Amazon basin]] in Brazil
* [[Tropical Andes]] in Bolivia and Peru
* [[Misiones Province]] in Argentina
 
Optimal routes of travel between core jaguar population units were identified across its range in 2010 to implement [[wildlife corridor]]s that connect JCUs. These corridors represent areas with the shortest distance between jaguar breeding populations, require the least possible energy input of [[dispersal (ecology)|dispersing]] individuals and pose a low mortality risk. They cover an area of {{cvt|2600000|km2}} and range in length from {{cvt|3|to|1102|km}} in Mexico and Central America and from {{cvt|489.14|to|1607|km}} in South America.<ref name=RabinowitzZeller2010>{{Cite journal |author1=Rabinowitz, A. |author2=Zeller, K.A. |year=2010 |name-list-style=amp |title=A range-wide model of landscape connectivity and conservation for the jaguar, ''Panthera onca'' |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=143 |issue=4 |pages=939–945 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2010.01.002 |url=https://www.panthera.org/cms/sites/default/files/documents/Rabinowitz_Zeller_2010_Arangewidemodeloflandscapeconnectivityandconservationforjaguar_BioCon.pdf |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021304/https://www.panthera.org/cms/sites/default/files/documents/Rabinowitz_Zeller_2010_Arangewidemodeloflandscapeconnectivityandconservationforjaguar_BioCon.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
Attualmente, la caccia è limitata al prelievo di pochi esemplari ogni anno al largo dell'isola caraibica di [[Bequia]] a [[Saint Vincent e Grenadine]].<ref name=Recplan91>{{cita libro | anno=1991 | titolo=Recovery Plan for the Humpback Whale ''(Megaptera novaeangliae)'' | autore=Humpback Whale Recovery Team | editore=National Marine Fisheries Service | città=Silver Spring, Maryland | p=105}}</ref> Gli studiosi ritengono che il prelievo sia così esiguo da non costituire un rischio per la popolazione locale. Il Giappone aveva pianificato di uccidere 50 megattere nella stagione di caccia 2007/08 nell'ambito del suo programma di ricerca JARPA II. Tale decisione scatenò proteste in tutto il mondo.<ref name=scoop>{{cita web | sito=scoop.co.nz | url=https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00320.htm | titolo=Leave Humpback Whales Alone Message To Japan | autore=Bharat Jamnadas | editore=Scoop Media | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709052336/http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00320.htm | urlmorto=no | data=16 maggio 2007}}</ref> Dopo una visita a Tokyo del presidente dell'IWC, che chiese ai giapponesi di cooperare affinché si appianassero le discordie tra le nazioni pro e contro la caccia alla balena all'interno della commissione, la flotta baleniera giapponese accettò di non uccidere megattere durante i due anni necessari a raggiungere un accordo formale.<ref name=BBC1>{{cita web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7156288.stm | titolo=Japan changes track on whaling | sito=[[BBC News]] | data=21 dicembre 2007 | accesso=5 gennaio 2010 | autore=Chris Hogg | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226033323/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7156288.stm | urlmorto=no}}</ref> Nel 2010, l'IWC autorizzò i nativi della Groenlandia a cacciare alcune megattere per i tre anni successivi.<ref name=Press>{{cita web | editore=The Associated Press | titolo=Greenland: Humpback Whales Are Deemed Eligible For Hunting | sito=The New York Times | p=7 | data=26 giugno 2010 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/science/earth/26briefs-WHALES.html | accesso=24 febbraio 2017 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630111225/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/science/earth/26briefs-WHALES.html | urlmorto=no}}</ref>
Cooperation with local landowners and municipal, state, or federal agencies is essential to maintain connected populations and prevent fragmentation in both JCUs and corridors.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Zeller, K.A. |author2=Rabinowitz, A. |author3=Salom-Perez, R. |author4=Quigley, H. |year=2013 |name-list-style=amp |chapter=The Jaguar Corridor Initiative: A range-wide conservation strategy |title=Molecular population genetics, evolutionary biology and biological conservation of Neotropical carnivores |editor1=Ruiz-Garcia, M. |editor2=Shostell, J.M. |publisher=Nova Science Publishers |___location=New York |chapter-url=https://conservationcorridor.org/cpb/Zeller_et_al_2013.pdf |pages=629–657 |isbn=978-1-62417-071-3 |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021304/https://conservationcorridor.org/cpb/Zeller_et_al_2013.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
Seven of 13 corridors in Mexico are functioning with a width of at least {{cvt|14.25|km}} and a length of no more than {{cvt|320|km}}. The other corridors may hamper passage, as they are narrower and longer.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Rodríguez-Soto, C. |author2=Monroy-Vilchis, O. |author3=Zarco-González, M.M. |year=2013 |name-list-style=amp |title=Corridors for jaguar (''Panthera onca'') in Mexico: Conservation strategies |journal=Journal for Nature Conservation |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=438–443 |doi=10.1016/j.jnc.2013.07.002 |url=https://www.academia.edu/35225702 |access-date=18 November 2021 |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129044432/https://www.academia.edu/35225702 |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
In August 2012, the [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service]] set aside {{cvt|838232|acres|km2|order=flip}} in Arizona and New Mexico for the protection of the jaguar.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service |year=2012 |title=Designation of Critical Habitat for Jaguar; Proposed Rule |journal=Federal Register |volume=77 |issue=161 |pages=50214–50242 |url=https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/arizona/Documents/SpeciesDocs/Jaguar/Jaguar_pCH_FR_8-20-2012.pdf |access-date=13 March 2021 |archive-date=14 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214001827/https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/arizona/Documents/SpeciesDocs/Jaguar/Jaguar_pCH_FR_8-20-2012.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The Jaguar Recovery Plan was published in April 2019, in which [[Interstate 10]] is considered to form the northern boundary of the Jaguar Recovery Unit in Arizona and New Mexico.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Sanderson, E.W. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Fisher, K. |author3=Peters, R. |author4=Beckmann, J.P. |author5=Bird, B. |author6=Bradley, C.M. |author7=Bravo, J.C. |author8=Grigione, M.M. |author9=Hatten, J.R. |author10=González, C.A.L. |author11=Menke, K. |author12=Miller, J.R.B. |author13=Miller, P.S. |author14=Mormorunni, C. |author15=Robinson, M.J. |author16=Thomas, R.E. |author17=Wilcox, S. |year=2021 |title=A systematic review of potential habitat suitability for the jaguar ''Panthera onca'' in central Arizona and New Mexico, USA |journal=Oryx |volume= 56|issue= |pages=116–127 |doi=10.1017/S0030605320000459 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
=== Conservazione ===
[[File:DeadHumpback.jpg|thumb|right|Una megattera morta giunta a riva nei pressi del [[Big Sur]] ([[California]]).]]
Attualmente la [[Lista rossa IUCN|lista rossa della IUCN]] valuta la megattera come «[[specie a rischio minimo]]» con una popolazione complessiva di circa {{M|135000}} esemplari, di cui circa {{M|84000}} esemplari adulti, e un trend della popolazione in crescita.<ref name=iucn/> Fino al 2008 la IUCN considerava la specie «[[Specie vulnerabile|vulnerabile]]» (''Vulnerable'').<ref name=Marinepolicy>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Michelle Bejder, David W. Johnston, Joshua Smith, Ari Friedlaender e Lars Bejder | anno=2016 | titolo=Embracing conservation success of recovering humpback whale populations: Evaluating the case for downlisting their conservation status in Australia | rivista=Marine Policy | volume=66 | pp=137-141 | doi=10.1016/j.marpol.2015.05.007 | url=https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/27970/}}</ref> Le stime regionali indicano una popolazione di circa {{M|13000}} esemplari nell'Atlantico settentrionale, {{M|21000}} nel Pacifico settentrionale e {{M|80000}} nell'emisfero australe. Della popolazione isolata del mar Arabico, tuttavia, rimangono appena 80 esemplari circa,<ref name=Perrin2015>{{cita libro | curatore=William F. Perrin, Bernd Wursig e J. G. M. "Hans" Thewissen | titolo=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals | editore=Academic Press | isbn=978-0-12-804327-1 | anno=2015 | autore=Phillip J. Clapham | capitolo=Humpback Whale ''Megaptera novaeangliae'' | pp=589-92}}</ref> ed essa è pertanto considerata «[[Specie in pericolo|in pericolo]]» (''Endangered''). Nella maggior parte delle aree il numero di megattere è nuovamente aumentato di numero, soprattutto nel Pacifico settentrionale.<ref name=Jefferson/> Tale ripresa ha spinto gli Stati Uniti, il Canada e l'Australia a togliere la megattera dall'elenco delle specie minacciate.<ref name=Marinepolicy/><ref name=abc>{{cita web | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-26/humpback-whales-no-longer-listed-as-endangered/100862644 | titolo=Humpback whales no longer listed as endangered after major recovery | autore=Claudia Long | sito=ABC News | accesso=25 marzo 2022 | data=25 febbraio 2022}}</ref> In Costa Rica, appositamente per garantire protezione alla specie, è stato istituito il [[parco nazionale marino Ballena]].<ref name=UTP>{{cita libro | autore=Carrol L. Henderson | anno=2010 | titolo=Mammals, Amphibians, and Reptiles of Costa Rica | editore=University of Texas Press | p=85 | isbn=9780292784642}}</ref>
 
In Mexico, a national conservation strategy was developed from 2005 on and published in 2016.<ref name=Ceballos2016/> The Mexican jaguar population increased from an estimated 4,000 individuals in 2010 to about 4,800 individuals in 2018. This increase is seen as a positive effect of conservation measures that were implemented in cooperation with governmental and non-governmental institutions and landowners.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Ceballos, G. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Zarza, H. |author3=González-Maya, J.F. |author4=de la Torre, J.A. |author5=Arias-Alzate, A. |author6=Alcerreca, C. |author7=Barcenas, H.V. |author8=Carreón-Arroyo, G. |author9=Chávez, C. |author10=Cruz, C. |author11=Medellín, D. |year=2021 |title=Beyond words: From jaguar population trends to conservation and public policy in Mexico |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=16 |issue=10 |pages=e0255555 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0255555 |pmid=34613994 |pmc=8494370 |bibcode=2021PLoSO..1655555C |doi-access=free}}</ref>
Ciononostante, le megattere devono ancora affrontare altre varie minacce provocate dall'uomo, tra cui l'intrappolamento nelle reti da pesca, le collisioni con le navi, il disturbo provocato dal traffico navale e dal rumore a esso associato, la distruzione degli habitat costieri e il cambiamento climatico.<ref name=Jefferson/> Come altri cetacei, le megattere possono essere gravemente danneggiate dal rumore eccessivo. Nel XIX secolo, due esemplari furono trovati morti con ferite da trauma e fratture alle orecchie, vicino a siti dove erano state effettuate diverse esplosioni sul fondale.<ref name=ketten>{{cita pubblicazione | rivista=Journal of the Acoustical Society of America | volume=94 | numero=3 | pp=1849-50 | titolo=Blast injury in humpback whale ears: Evidence and implications | autore=D. R. Ketten, J. Lien e J. Todd | anno=1993 | doi=10.1121/1.407688 | bibcode=1993ASAJ...94.1849K}}</ref> La [[saxitossina]], un agente che provoca [[intossicazione da molluschi paralizzanti]], è stata la responsabile della morte di alcune megattere che avevano ingerito sgombri contaminati.<ref name=DieraufGulland2001>{{cita libro | autore=Leslie Dierauf e Frances M. D. Gulland | titolo=CRC Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine: Health, Disease and Rehabilitation | edizione=2 | url=https://books.google.it/books?id=FIIgDk9i_GkC&redir_esc=y | data=27 giugno 2001 | editore=CRC Press | p=494 | isbn=978-1-4200-4163-7}}</ref>
Nonostante l'ingestione di petrolio costituisca un rischio per i cetacei, uno studio del 2019 ha rivelato che esso non sporca i fanoni e può essere facilmente lavato via dall'acqua corrente.<ref name=royal>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=A. J. Werth, S. M. Blakeney e A. I. Cothren | anno=2019 | titolo=Oil adsorption does not structurally or functionally alter whale baleen | rivista=Royal Society Open Science | volume=6 | numero=5 | p=182194 | doi=10.1098/rsos.182194 | pmid=31218043 | pmc=6549998 | bibcode=2019RSOS....682194W}}</ref>
 
An evaluation of JCUs from Mexico to Argentina revealed that they overlap with high-quality habitats of about 1,500 mammals to varying degrees. Since co-occurring mammals benefit from the JCU approach, the jaguar has been called an [[umbrella species]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Thornton, D. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Zeller, K. |author3=Rondinini, C. |author4=Boitani, L. |author5=Crooks, K. |author6=Burdett, C. |author7=Rabinowitz, A. |author8=Quigley, H. |year=2016 |title=Assessing the umbrella value of a range‐wide conservation network for jaguars (''Panthera onca'') |journal=Ecological Applications |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=1112–1124 |doi=10.1890/15-0602 |jstor=24818150 |pmid=27509752 |hdl=11573/893793 |url=https://iris.uniroma1.it/retrieve/handle/11573/893793/279408/Thornton_Assessing_2016.pdf |access-date=16 November 2021 |archive-date=16 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211116083400/https://iris.uniroma1.it/retrieve/handle/11573/893793/279408/Thornton_Assessing_2016.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
I ricercatori che operano lungo la costa atlantica riferiscono che negli ultimi anni è notevolmente aumentato il numero di cetacei arenati che presentavano i segni delle collisioni con le navi e dell'intrappolamento nelle reti da pesca. La [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|NOAA]] ha registrato lo spiaggiamento di 88 megattere tra il gennaio 2016 e il febbraio 2019, più del doppio di quelle che si erano arenate tra il 2013 e il 2016. A causa dell'incremento di questo tipo di decessi, la NOAA lo ha dichiarato evento di mortalità insolito nell'aprile 2017. Il coordinatore della gestione degli spiaggiamenti del Virginia Aquarium, Alexander Costidis, ha affermato che all'origine di questo evento di mortalità insolito vi erano due uniche cause, le collisioni con le imbarcazioni e gli intrappolamenti.<ref name=natgeo>{{cita web | url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/03/humpback-whales-unusual-mortality-event/ | titolo=Whales are dying along East Coast—and scientists are racing to understand why | data=13 marzo 2019 | sito=Animals | accesso=18 marzo 2019 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323044836/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/03/humpback-whales-unusual-mortality-event/ | urlmorto=no}}</ref>
Central American JCUs overlap with the habitat of 187 of 304 regional endemic amphibian and reptile species, of which 19 amphibians occur only in the jaguar range.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Figel, J.J. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Castañeda, F. |author3=Calderón, A.P. |author4=Torre, J. |author5=García-Padilla, E. |author6=Noss, R.F. |year=2018 |title=Threatened amphibians sheltered under the big cat's umbrella: conservation of jaguars ''Panthera onca'' (Carnivora: Felidae) and endemic herpetofauna in Central America |journal=Revista de Biología Tropical |volume=66 |issue=4 |pages=1741–1753 |doi=10.15517/rbt.v66i4.32544 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
===Approaches===
[[File:Whale Watching in Gloucester, Massachusetts 5.jpg|thumb|upright|''Whale-watching'' al largo del Massachusetts.]]
[[File:Obscured jaguar.jpg|thumb|A jaguar in [[Belize]]]]
In setting up protected reserves, efforts generally also have to be focused on the surrounding areas, as jaguars are unlikely to confine themselves to the bounds of a reservation, especially if the population is increasing in size. Human attitudes in the areas surrounding reserves and laws and regulations to prevent poaching are essential to make conservation areas effective.<ref name=gutierrez>{{cite journal |last1=Gutierrez-Gonzalez |first1=C.E. |last2=Gomez-Ramirez |first2=M.A. |last3=Lopez-Gonzalez |first3=C.A. |last4=Doherty |first4=P.F. |year=2015 |name-list-style=amp |title=Are Private Reserves Effective for Jaguar Conservation? |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=10 |issue=9 |page=e0137541 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1037541G |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0137541 |pmc=4580466 |pmid=26398115 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
To estimate population sizes within specific areas and to keep track of individual jaguars, [[camera trap]]ping and [[Telemetry#Fishery and wildlife research and management|wildlife tracking telemetry]] are widely used, and feces are sought out with the help of [[detection dog]]s to study jaguar health and diet.<ref name=soisalo>{{cite journal |last1=Soisalo |first1=M.K. |last2=Cavalcanti |first2=S.M.C. |year=2006 |name-list-style=amp |title=Estimating the density of a Jaguar population in the Brazilian Pantanal using camera-traps and capture-recapture sampling in combination with GPS radio-telemetry |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=129 |issue=4 |pages=487–496 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2005.11.023 |url=http://www.ekonoiz.com/Eco_Projects/Jaguar_Conservation/estimatingthedensityofjaguarsinthepantanal.pdf}}</ref><ref name=furtado>{{cite journal |last1=Furtado |first1=M.M. |last2=Carrillo-Percastegui |first2=S.E. |last3=Jácomo |first3=A.T.A. |last4=Powell |first4=G. |last5=Silveira |first5=L. |last6=Vynne |first6=C. |last7=Sollmann |first7=R. |year=2008 |name-list-style=amp |title=Studying jaguars in the wild: past experiences and future perspectives |journal=Cat News |issue=Special Issue 4 |pages=41–47 |url=http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/filesharing/5.Cat_News/5.3._Special_Issues/5.3.4._SI_4/Furtado_et_al_2008_Jaguar_field_methods_s.pdf |access-date=2 February 2019 |archive-date=2 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202212055/http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/filesharing/5.Cat_News/5.3._Special_Issues/5.3.4._SI_4/Furtado_et_al_2008_Jaguar_field_methods_s.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
=== ''Whale-watching'' ===
{{vedi anche|Osservazione dei cetacei}}
Gran parte della crescita dell'attività turistica del ''[[Osservazione dei cetacei|whale-watching]]'' si deve alle megattere: i comportamenti in superficie di questa specie, particolarmente attiva, e la tendenza ad abituarsi alle imbarcazioni le hanno rese facili da osservare, in particolare per i fotografi. Nel 1975 furono istituiti i primi tour organizzati nella Nuova Inghilterra e alle Hawaii.<ref name=whalewatch>{{cita libro | curatore=William F. Perrin, Bernd Wursig e J. G. M. "Hans" Thewissen | titolo=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals | url=https://books.google.it/books?id=2rkHQpToi9sC&redir_esc=y | data=26 febbraio 2009 | editore=Academic Press | isbn=978-0-08-091993-5 | autore=Erich Hoyt | capitolo=Whale Watching | pp=1224}}</ref> Questa attività genera un fatturato di 20 milioni di dollari all'anno all'economia delle Hawaii.<ref name=hawaii>{{cita web | titolo=Whale Watching in Hawai'i | editore=Office of National Marine Sanctuaries | accesso=6 agosto 2012 | url=http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov/explore/whale_watching.html | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128040917/http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov/explore/whale_watching.html | urlmorto=no}}</ref> I tour organizzati alle Hawaii hanno una valenza puramente commerciale, mentre quelli che vengono praticati nella Nuova Inghilterra e in California hanno introdotto anche una componente educativa.<ref name=whalewatch/>
 
Current conservation efforts often focus on educating ranch owners and promoting [[ecotourism]].<ref name=WWF>{{cite web |author=Estévez, E. |date=2009 |title=Jaguar Refuge in the Llanos Ecoregion |publisher=[[World Wildlife Fund]] |url=http://wwf.panda.org/es/nuestro_trabajo/latinoamerica/venezuela/index.cfm?uProjectID=VE0854 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217001905/http://wwf.panda.org/es/nuestro_trabajo/latinoamerica/venezuela/index.cfm?uProjectID=VE0854 |access-date= 1 September 2006 |archive-date=17 December 2014}}</ref> Ecotourism setups are being used to generate public interest in charismatic animals such as the jaguar while at the same time generating revenue that can be used in conservation efforts. A key concern in jaguar ecotourism is the considerable habitat space the species requires. If ecotourism is used to aid in jaguar conservation, some considerations need to be made as to how existing ecosystems will be kept intact, or how new ecosystems will be put into place that are large enough to support a growing jaguar population.<ref name=mossaz>{{cite journal |last1=Mossaz |first1=A. |last2=Buckley |first2=R.C. |last3=Castley |first3=J.G. |year=2015 |name-list-style=amp |title=Ecotourism contributions to conservation of African big cats |journal=Journal for Nature Conservation |volume=28 |pages=112–118 |doi=10.1016/j.jnc.2015.09.009 |hdl=10072/125191 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>
== Esemplari famosi ==
=== La balena del Tay ===
[[File:Struthers Tay Whale Dissection by George Washington Wilson.jpg|thumb|Il professor John Struthers si appresta a dissezionare al balena del Tay a [[Dundee]] in una fotografia di George Washington Wilson (1884).]]
Nel dicembre 1883, un maschio di megattera si spinse nel [[Firth of Tay]], in Scozia, passando davanti all'allora porto baleniero di [[Dundee]]. Dopo essere stato arpionato in un fallito tentativo di cattura, venne trovato morto al largo di [[Stonehaven (Scozia)|Stonehaven]] una settimana dopo. La sua carcassa venne esposta al pubblico da un impresario locale, John Woods, inizialmente in zona e poi nel corso di una mostra itinerante che raggiunse [[Edimburgo]] e [[Londra]]. L'esemplare venne dissezionato dal professor John Struthers, che scrisse sette articoli sulla sua anatomia e una monografia sulle megattere nel 1889.<ref name=Whale>{{cita web | url=http://www.abdn.ac.uk/zoohons/struthers/tay_whale.hti | titolo=Professor Struthers and the Tay Whale | accesso=19 giugno 2008 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20051111213426/http://www.abdn.ac.uk/zoohons/struthers/tay_whale.hti | urlmorto=sì}}</ref><ref name=williams>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=M. J. Williams | titolo=Professor Struthers and the Tay whale | rivista=Scottish Medical Journal | volume=41 | numero=3 | pp=92-94 | anno=1996 | pmid=8807706 | doi=10.1177/003693309604100308}}</ref><ref name=pennington>{{cita libro | autore=C. Pennington | titolo=The modernisation of medical teaching at Aberdeen in the nineteenth century | editore=Aberdeen University Press | anno=1994}}</ref><ref name=memoir>{{cita libro | autore=Sir John Struthers| titolo=Memoir on the Anatomy of the Humpback Whale, Megaptera longimana | url=https://books.google.it/books?id=PN4TAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y | anno=1889 | editore=Maclachlan and Stewart}}</ref>
 
===In Migalooculture =and mythology==
{{multiple image |align=right |direction=vertical
[[File:Albino Humpback Whale? (20566466506).jpg|thumb|Una megattera, forse Migaloo, al largo del [[Royal National Park]].]]
|image1=Jaguar warrior.jpg |caption1=Jaguar warrior in the Aztec culture
Una megattera [[Albinismo|albina]] che viaggia su e giù lungo la costa orientale dell'Australia è divenuta famosa sui media locali per la sua rara e insolita colorazione interamente bianca. Migaloo è l'unico esemplare australiano interamente bianco conosciuto<ref name=migaloo>{{cita web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8126237.stm | titolo=Exclusion zone for special whale | data=30 giugno 2009 | sito=[[BBC News]] | accesso=30 giugno 2009}}</ref> ed è un vero albino.<ref name=jhered>{{cita pubblicazione | doi=10.1093/jhered/esr108 | pmid=22140253 | volume=103 | numero=1 | titolo=Variation in the Tyrosinase Gene Associated with a White Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) | rivista=Journal of Heredity | pp=130-133| anno=2011 | autore=A. M. Polanowski, S. M. Robinson-Laverick, D. Paton e S. N. Jarman}}</ref> Avvistato per la prima volta nel 1991, prende il nome da una parola [[Australiani aborigeni|aborigena]] che vuol dire «amico bianco». Per impedire ai curiosi di metterne a rischio l'incolumità, il governo del Queensland ha vietato a chiunque di avvicinarglisi a meno di 500 metri.<ref name=sharethewater>{{cita web | url=https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/88900/marine-mammal-proximity-brochure.pdf | titolo=Share the Water | sito=Department of Environment and Science | editore=Queensland Government | accesso=20 febbraio 2020 | urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224030735/https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/88900/marine-mammal-proximity-brochure.pdf | urlmorto=no}}</ref>
|image2=MocheJaguarLarcoMuseum.jpg |caption2=Moche jaguar figurine dating to 300&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]], at the [[Larco Museum]] in [[Lima]], Peru}}
{{Further|Jaguars in Mesoamerican cultures}}
In the [[pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] Americas, the jaguar was a symbol of power and strength. In the Andes, a jaguar cult disseminated by the early [[Chavín culture]] became accepted over most of today's Peru by 900 [[Before Christ|BC]].<ref name=b1>{{cite book |title=The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History |edition=Fifth |editor1=Bulliet, R.W. |editor2=Crossley, P. |editor3=Headrick, D. |editor4=Hirsch, S. |editor5=Johnson, L. |name-list-style=amp |year=2000 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |volume=A 1: To 1200 |pages=75–76|url={{Google books|aujp0cT_TiEC|page=PA75|plainurl=yes}} |isbn=978-1-4390-8476-2}}</ref> The later [[Moche (culture)|Moche culture]] in northern Peru used the jaguar as a symbol of power in many of their ceramics.<ref name=r41>{{cite book|author=Park, Yumi |year=2012 |title=Mirrors of Clay: Reflections of Ancient Andean Life in Ceramics from the Sam Olden Collection |publisher=University Press of Mississippi|page=49|isbn=9781617037955}}</ref> In the [[Muisca religion]] in [[Altiplano Cundiboyacense]], the jaguar was considered a sacred animal, and people dressed in jaguar skins during religious rituals.<ref name=Ocampo_p231>{{cite book |last=Ocampo López |first=J. |author-link=Javier Ocampo López |year=2007 |title=Grandes culturas indígenas de América – Great indigenous cultures of the Americas |___location=Bogotá, Colombia |publisher=Plaza & Janes Editores Colombia S.A. |language=es |page=231 |isbn=978-958-14-0368-4}}</ref>
The skins were traded with peoples in the nearby [[Orinoquía Region]].<ref>{{cite thesis |author=Kruschek, M.H. |year=2003 |type=PhD thesis |title=The evolution of the Bogotá chiefdom: A household view |publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh]] |___location=Pittsburgh |url=http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/7735/1/kruschek2003.pdf |access-date=12 January 2017 |archive-date=15 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815211943/http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/7735/1/kruschek2003.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
The name of the [[Muisca rulers|Muisca ruler]] [[Nemequene]] was derived from the [[Chibcha language|Chibcha]] words ''nymy'' and ''quyne'', meaning "force of the jaguar".<ref name=nymy>{{cite web |title=''nymy'' |publisher=Muysc cubun Dictionary Online |language=es |url=http://muysca.cubun.org/nymy |access-date=11 January 2017 |archive-date=13 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201013111835/http://muysca.cubun.org/nymy |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=quyne>{{cite web |title=''quyne'' |publisher=Muysc cubun Dictionary Online |language=es |url=http://muysca.cubun.org/quyne |access-date=11 January 2017 |archive-date=10 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110082526/http://muysca.cubun.org/quyne |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
Sculptures with "[[Olmec were-jaguar]]" motifs were found on the Yucatán Peninsula in [[Veracruz]] and [[Tabasco]]; they show stylized jaguars with half-human faces.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Metcalf, G. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Flannery, K.V. |year=1967 |title=An Olmec "were-jaguar" from the Yucatan Peninsula |journal=American Antiquity |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=109–111 |doi=10.2307/278787 |jstor=278787|s2cid=164201137 }}</ref> In the later [[Maya civilization]], the jaguar was believed to facilitate communication between the living and the dead and to protect the royal household. The Maya saw these powerful felines as their companions in the spiritual world, and several Maya rulers bore names that incorporated the Mayan word for jaguar ''b'alam'' in many of the [[Mayan languages]]. ''Balam'' remains a common Maya surname, and it is also the name of [[Chilam Balam]], a legendary author to whom are attributed 17th and 18th-centuries Maya [[miscellanies]] preserving much important knowledge. Remains of jaguar bones were discovered in a burial site in [[Guatemala]], which indicates that [[Mayans]] may have kept jaguars as [[pets]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Dapcevich |first=M. |date=2018 |title=Ancient Mayans Probably Kept Jaguars As Pets And Raised Dogs For Food |publisher=[[IFLScience]] |url=https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/ancient-mayans-probably-kept-jaguars-as-pets-and-raised-dogs-for-food/ |access-date=26 July 2017 |archive-date=27 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327152614/https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/ancient-mayans-probably-kept-jaguars-as-pets-and-raised-dogs-for-food/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Migaloo è stato visto l'ultima volta nel giugno 2014 lungo la costa di capo Byron in Australia. Presenta diverse particolarità fisiche che ne rendono facile l'identificazione: una pinna dorsale piuttosto ricurva e una coda dalla forma unica, con il margine posteriore particolarmente sfrangiato.<ref name=SUP>{{cita web | titolo=Migaloo spotted in Hawaii! | url=https://hawaiianpaddlesports.com/news/migaloo-spotted-hawaii/ | accesso=21 ottobre 2021 | sito=SUP, Canoe, Kayak Tours & Maui Surf Lessons}}</ref> Nel luglio 2022 si è temuto che fosse morto dopo lo spiaggiamento di una megattera bianca sulla costa di Mallacoota, ma le analisi genetiche e il fatto che il cadavere fosse di una femmina hanno smentito tale preoccupazione.<ref>{{cita web | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-16/white-whale-washes-up-on-mallacoota-beach/101245020 | titolo=White whale washes up on Mallacoota beach | data=16 luglio 2022 | editore=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] | autore=Kerrin Thomas e Mim Hook | accesso=16 luglio 2022 | sito=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]}}</ref><ref>{{cita web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/17/scientists-to-determine-if-white-whale-carcass-on-victorian-beach-is-well-known-migaloo | titolo=Experts confirm white whale carcass on Victorian beach is not Migaloo | sito=Australian Associated Press | editore=[[TheGuardian.com|The Guardian]] | data=17 luglio 2022 | accesso=17 luglio 2022}}</ref>
 
The [[Aztec]] civilization shared this image of the jaguar as the representative of the ruler and as a warrior. The Aztecs formed an elite warrior class known as the [[Jaguar warrior]]. In [[Aztec mythology]], the jaguar was considered to be the [[totem]] animal of the powerful deity [[Tezcatlipoca]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Saunders, N.J. |year=1994 |title=Predators of culture: Jaguar symbolism and Mesoamerican elites |journal=World Archaeology |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=104–117 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1994.9980264 |jstor=124867}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Christenson |first=A.J. |year=2007 |title=Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |___location=Oklahoma |chapter=The first four men |chapter-url={{Google books|hJx47n_sm-YC|page=PA196|plainurl=yes}} |pages=196–199 |isbn=978-0-8061-3839-8}}</ref>
=== Humphrey ===
Nel 1985, un maschio di megattera, ribattezzato Humphrey, giunse nella [[baia di San Francisco]] e poi risalì il fiume [[Sacramento (fiume)|Sacramento]] fino a [[Rio Vista (California)|Rio Vista]].<ref name=kay>{{cita pubblicazione | autore=Jane Kay | titolo=San Francisco Examiner | data=9 ottobre 1995}}</ref> Cinque anni dopo, Humphrey tornò e rimase bloccato su una distesa fangosa nella baia di San Francisco, immediatamente a nord di Sierra Point, sotto lo sguardo dei curiosi che stavano osservando dai piani superiori del Dakin Building. Per due volte venne soccorso dagli uomini del Marine Mammal Center e di altre organizzazioni simili della California,<ref name=tokuda>{{cita libro | autore=Wendy Tokuda e Richard Hall | titolo=Humphrey the Lost Whale: A True Story | url=https://books.google.it/books?id=PyP8oAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y | data=14 ottobre 2014 | editore=Stone Bridge Press | isbn=978-1-61172-017-4}}</ref> che lo tirarono fuori dal fango con un grosso paranco grazie al sostegno della [[United States Coast Guard|Guardia Costiera]]. Entrambe le volte, venne ricondotto con successo nel Pacifico utilizzando una «rete sonora»: i membri di una [[flottiglia]] di imbarcazioni emettevano rumori sgradevoli dietro la balena sbattendo tra loro dei tubi di acciaio, una tecnica di pesca giapponese nota come ''oikami''. Allo stesso tempo, una barca diretta verso l'oceano aperto trasmetteva gli allettanti suoni delle megattere che si preparano a banchettare.<ref name=Knapp1993>{{cita libro | autore=Toni Knapp | titolo=The Six Bridges of Humphrey the Whale | url=https://books.google.it/books?id=qzFAAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y | data=1 ottobre 1993 | editore=Roberts Rinehart Publishers | isbn=978-1-879373-64-8}}</ref>
 
A [[conch shell]] gorget depicting a jaguar was found in a [[burial mound]] in [[Benton County, Missouri]]. The gorget shows evenly-engraved lines and measures {{cvt|104x98|mm}}.<ref name="Daggett"/>
== See also ==
Rock drawings made by the [[Hopi]], [[Anasazi]] and [[Pueblo]] all over the desert and [[chaparral]] regions of the American Southwest show an explicitly spotted cat, presumably a jaguar, as it is drawn much larger than an [[ocelot]].<ref name=Pavlik /><!--commented out, as this ref is without date + publisher, hence gray literature: Jaguar skins were sold for $18 apiece in the mid 19th century in the vicinity of San Antonio, Texas.<ref>{{Cite report |author=Robinson, M. J. |title=Suitable Habitat for jaguars in New Mexico |publisher=___location= |url=https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/jaguar/pdfs/NM_jaguar_habitat_report.pdf}}</ref>
{{Portal|Cetaceans|Mammals|Marine life}}
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* [[List of cetaceans]]
* [[Wilhelmina Bay]]
* [[List of animals with humps]]
 
The jaguar is also used as a symbol in contemporary culture. It is the [[List of national animals|national animal]] of Guyana and is featured in its [[Coat of arms of Guyana|coat of arms]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Khan, A. |date=2021 |title=National symbols: The Coat-Of-Arms |website=Guyana News and Information |url=http://www.guyana.org/Handbook/symbols.html |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-date=12 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512212328/http://guyana.org/Handbook/symbols.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
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The [[flag of the Department of Amazonas]] features a black jaguar silhouette leaping towards a hunter.<ref>{{cite web |author=Gutterman, D. |date=2008 |title=Amazonas Department (Colombia) |publisher=Flag of the World |url=https://www.fotw.info/flags/co-ama.html |access-date=2 April 2010 |archive-date=9 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609071213/https://www.fotw.info/flags/co-ama.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
The crest of the [[Argentine Rugby Union]] features a jaguar.<ref>{{cite news |last=Davies |first=S. |date=2007 |title=Puma power: Argentinian rugby |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/5389512.stm |access-date=8 October 2007 |archive-date=19 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419112328/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/5389512.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
== References ==