Phoenix Zoo Acquires A Low Mileage Jag

The Phoenix Zoo is pleased to welcome the newest addition to its family: a beautiful three year-old female yellow jaguar. The new jaguar, named “Caipora,” will make her public debut this Friday, August 8, 2008.

This jaguar comes from the Palm Beach Zoo at Dreher Park in Florida. Her keepers here at the Phoenix Zoo have observed that she seems to be a very calm and relaxed cat. Her name, “Caipora,” means Goddess of the Wilderness; one that protects animals from human hunters.

Jaguars are endangered due to over-hunting and deforestation. The jaguar is native to areas of North, Central and South America and is normally found in rainforest habitats, swampy areas and dry and desert environments; including Arizona. Jaguars are the third largest cat in the world after lions and tigers and also one of four roaring big cats. This big cat is often confused with leopards because of jaguar’s tawny coat that is covered in black spots. But, jaguars are larger than leopards and have a broad head, shorter leg and a stockier body.

The jaguar is a carnivore and in the wild it will feed on deer, capybaras, peccaries tapirs and many other species. Some researchers have counted as many as 85 different species in a jaguar’s diet. They are excellent night hunters, with eyes that are adapted to see well in low light. The have a very powerful jaw that will often kill prey in one bite.

Unlike other big cats, it does not kill by biting the neck, but rather it will crush through the temporal bones of its victim’s skull which kill it quickly.

Jaguars are usually about 27-30 inches-tall and can weigh up to 350 pounds. The females are smaller. They live up to 11 years in the wild and 22 in captivity.

The Phoenix Zoo currently participates in the Borderlands Jaguar Detection project after jaguars were recently discovered near the Arizona/Mexico border. The Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project is a non-invasive study designed to detect jaguars in the remote mountains along the border between southern Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. This is the first step in identifying jaguar travel corridors and suitable jaguar habitat in the southwestern United States. You can find out more about borderjag.org.

The Phoenix Zoo’s new jaguar can be found on the Tropics Trail adjacent from the Asian elephant exhibit. The Zoo is open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends.

For more information, visit www.phoenixzoo.org