The name Jaguar originated from the Native American word ‘Yajuar’ meaning “He who kills with one leap”. Unlike many other big cats, Jaguars are extremely good swimmers 🐆
By brookimage

Other Perspectives

I’d think that a creature on the run from a jaguar or a leopard or a cheetah had best know which one is after them. I doubt that I need to, but you never know. Quickly put, the above animal did not look like a jaguar to me, so I had to look up the differences. Turns out I was wrong. Apparently this is indeed one, given the rosette-like black spots on its body, the large thick head, and the deep dive. I also learned things about all of these cats.

For one thing, a dot by any other name is not a dot. Or at least the same-type dot. Jags have the open rosette dot, or the closed solid black, or the varied with several other dots in the middle, and they do not have to be the same throughout the coat. Looks like this guy is a match. Oh, and he can climb, crawl, and swim just like a leopard. You’re not going to be able to run and climb a tree or go under something or even swim away. Not a chance.

But there is one saving grace about the jaguar. He’s found in the Western Hemisphere, usually in South or Central America. So if you’re in Africa, you needn’t worry about the jaguar threat. You do however have to be careful about leopards and cheetahs. And just so you know, they’re not the triathlon threat that the Jaguar is, but you still might not be able to outrun them. You’ll just have to know which is best: climb a tree or dive in a river.

Oh, but if you’re driving through Mexico and someone says, “Hey, look there! It’s a cheetah!” You can smugly say, “Ah, no it’s not. It’s a jaguar.”