Why in news?

International Jaguar day observed annually on November 29, it  celebrates the Americas’ largest wild cat as an umbrella species for biodiversity conservation

Highlights

• On international Jaguar day , National Zoological Park, New Delhi, organized activities like a Zoo Walk and an Expert talk on ‘Big Cats and Jaguars’,
• It is an icon for sustainable development and the centuries-old cultural heritage of Central and South America.
• This is the third largest Cat Predator in the World and an important species of the Amazon Rainforest.

What is the main aim of Programme ?

• Collective voice of jaguar range countries, in collaboration with national and international partners
• To draw attention to the need to conserve jaguar corridors and their habitats as part of broader efforts to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Jaguar 2030 Roadmap

• It is a range-wide effort that unites range country governments, non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, local communities, and the private sector around a shared vision to conserve jaguars and their valuable ecosystems.
• The Roadmap aims to strengthen the Jaguar Corridor across range countries by securing 30 priority jaguar landscapes by 2030 by reducing jaguar-human conflict in human dominated landscapes, and increasing the security and connectivity of core protected landscapes.

How Jaguars and Leopards are differentiated ?

• It can be differentiated due to the spots within the rosettes on their coats.
• While many cats avoid water, jaguars are great swimmers and have even been known to swim the Panama Canal.

About Jaguar

• It is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus Panthera native to the Americas
• The jaguar’s powerful bite allows it to pierce the carapaces of turtles and tortoises, and to employ an unusual killing method
• Range : Southwestern United States across Mexico and much of Central America, the Amazon rainforest and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina.
• Habitation : forested and open terrains, but its preferred habitat is tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest, wetlands and wooded regions
• IUCN Red List: Near Threatened

• Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary was established in Belize as the world’s first protected area for jaguar conservation