![]() Weird Animal Question of the Week answers your questions every Saturday. Have a question about the weird and wild world? Tweet me, find me on Facebook. We're a little jealous-imagine what a hair coloring job that beautiful would cost in a salon. The coloring comes from a gene that produces a surplus of pigment called melanin. Leopards have smaller, less complex rosettes that are grouped closer together.īoth leopards and jaguars can be black, a mutation often referred to as a "black panther." (Related: " What is a Black Panther, Really?”) They’re good camouflage for the predators as they move through trees or other vegetation. The spots on jaguars and leopards are called rosettes, jagged black circles resembling roses, with tawny centers on top of a tawny coat. That’s something you never had to do in gym class. In contrast, horizontally elongated pupils are. ( Learn more about National Geographic's Big Cats Initiative.)īut being scrappy means leopards are also more athletic-a leopard can quickly haul an impala up a tree, for instance. The difference between foxes and wolves is down to the fact wolves are not ambush predators instead they hunt in packs, chasing down their prey. They have to be on the lookout for bigger predators, such as lions. ![]() Leopards, he says, are flat-out mean-because they "are not the king in their jungle,” Smith says. Though not usually aggressive toward people, if faced with a person, a jaguar will “talk at them a lot" by snarling or growling in their direction. They are king and they know it,” Smith says. “Jags kind of have that African lion arrogance. You could say the two animals also have their own personality quirks. Leopards tend to avoid water and don’t often eat crocodiles, instead opting for deer and other mammals. (Related: " Photos Show Jaguar ‘Scarface’ Taking Down Dangerous Prey.") The variance in jaw and body size is likely because jaguars and leopards live in different environments, and thus have to take down different prey, Don Moore, director of the Portland Zoo, says via email.īoth cats are good swimmers, but “jaguars love water and eat caiman and anacondas as part of their diet"-prey that are predators in their own right, and which require incredible force to subdue. Jaguars also have huge jaw muscles, teeth, and the strongest bite force of any big cat, says Boone Smith, an independent big cat researcher based in Idaho. (See " Rare Jaguars Caught in Camera Traps-for Science.") Jaguars are bigger and bulkier than leopards, weighing up to 250 pounds compared with the 175-pound leopard. Bigger and Badderįor starters, jaguars live in Central and South America, where they are the largest big cats, while leopards are the smallest big cats in their habitat of Africa and Asia. We thought Big Cat Week was the perfect time to look at leopards and jaguars and the fine lines between these felines. ![]() ( Listen to the call of a rare Amur leopard.) Hence why many tend to confuse the two, or believe they're one and the same. The difference between a cheetah and a lion is clear as day, but a leopard and a jaguar? Not so much.īoth big cats are muscular ambush predators with spotted coats and a very similar appearance.
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