Editing Jaguar (section)

===Hunting and diet===
[[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 the [[capybara]] and the [[giant anteater]] being the most selected. When available, it also preys on [[marsh deer]], [[southern tamandua]], [[collared peccary]] and [[black agouti]].<ref name=sizes/> In floodplains, jaguars opportunistically take reptiles such as [[green anaconda]]s, [[turtle]]s and [[caiman]]s.<ref name=reptile/><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Leite Pitman |first1=R. |last2=Tor |first2=B. |last3=Moreno Gimenes |first3=V. |last4=Mendoza |first4=A. |last5=Nunonca Sencia |first5=E. |last6=Huaman |first6=L. |last7=Jongeneel |first7=A. |date=2019 |title=Feeding on giants: consumption of anacondas by jaguars |journal=Cat News |volume=70 |pages=41–43}}</ref> 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 |bibcode=2016JNatH..50.2021M |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|author1=Eriksson, C. |author2=Kantek, D.L. |author3=Miyazaki, S.S. |author4=Morato, R.G. |name-list-style=amp |author5=dos Santos-Filho, M. |author6=Ruprecht, J.S. |author7=Peres, C.A. |author8=Levi, T. |year=2022 |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 |doi-access=free |pmid=34841521 |bibcode=2022Ecol..103E3543E |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 |bibcode=2013BCons.159...80Z}}</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]] and the [[yellow-footed tortoise]].<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 |bibcode=1987BEcoS..20..271E |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>
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/>

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 |doi=10.1644/09-MAMM-A-171.1 |doi-access=free}}</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 (cow)|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 |chapter=Guidelines for Captive Management of Jaguars |author=Baker, W. K. Jr.|pages=8–16 |editor=Law, C. |title=Jaguar Species Survival Plan |publisher=[[Association of Zoos and Aquariums]] |url=http://www.jaguarssp.com/Animal%20Mgmt/JAGUAR%20GUIDELINES.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113131137/http://www.jaguarssp.com/Animal%20Mgmt/JAGUAR%20GUIDELINES.pdf
|archive-date=13 January 2012}}</ref>