The jaguar of Central and South America is a mighty predator and majestic in its appearance. It was revered by the Mesoamericans as a divinity and spirit guide.
The name “jaguar” comes from the Portuguese pronunciation of the word from the Amazon Tupi-Guarani language, where it is called yaguar or yaguareté, “true beast.” Throughout Central and South America, the jaguar is also known as el tigre, "the tiger."
The Jaguar Today
The jaguar, or Panthera onca, is the largest cat of the Western Hemisphere, and the only panther found there. It is the third largest cat next to the tiger and lion of the Eastern Hemisphere. It resembles the leopard, although it is larger and stronger than a leopard, but it is more closely associated with the tiger in its behavior. Like most other cats, the jaguar is a solitary animal, after leaving the mother jaguars only meet with other jaguars to mate.
Sometimes its coat can appear all black due to melanism (these are popularly called “black panthers”), but this is less common than the spotted form. If one looks closely at the black jaguar, the spots are still visible, though darkened. Albino jaguars are also found, but they are very rare.
Jaguars prefer forested areas of Central and South America, but they also roam open areas of wetlands and grasslands. They are not found in the high mountain ranges. Jaguars also prefer to be close to rivers or swamps and are excellent swimmers with fish providing part of their diet.
Jaguars have also been spotted in New Mexico and Arizona in recent times, and roamed all of southern America in earlier times.
The jaguar has an exceptionally powerful jaw, biting between the ears of the skull of the prey to pierce the brain and kill the animal. This makes it capable of piercing turtle shells, a part of its diet. The jaguar is at the apex of the food chain, but in competition with humans who often find it necessary to destroy local jaguars. The jaguar is still hunted, though laws prohibit this.
In spite of its majesty, the jaguar is a “near threatened” species with ever-increasing habitat loss throughout Central and South America and is thus declining in numbers.
Jaguars in Mesoamerican Art and Religion
All Mesoamericans revered the jaguar as divine. Jaguars were represented in Mesoamerica as far back as the Olmec (ca. 1500 to 400 B.C.E.). In Olmec art jaguars are often seen as were-jaguars or transformation figures of a human becoming a jaguar. The Olmecs seldom represented jaguars naturalistically; they were most often stylized or a combination of human and feline forms.
In South America, the Chavin cult of the Jaguar was prominent in what is today the area of Peru by 900 B.C.E. Shamans in ancient Mesoamerica and South America have utilized the spirits of jaguars as companions while they moved between the realm of the spirits and the earth. These mighty spirit companions or nagual, helped battle whatever evil might have been encountered on these journeys.
The jaguar was chosen as a sacred and secular symbol in the Mesoamerican cultures because of his great strength, ability to dominate the prey (thus the ability to overcome evil), the ability to hunt in the two worlds of the day and the night, and to be in water or on the ground, and as it sleeps in trees, the ground or in caves it is also associated with the dead who are also linked to caves.
The Mayans held the jaguar as sacred and one of their deities and art depicts gods and kings with jaguar attributes or garments. Jaguar deities included Xbalanque, a god of the underworld and of fertility, and God L, the chief deity of the underworld. The underworld was associated with the spirits of the dead, with the origination of vegetation, and with the source of water. Waterlily Jaguar was a feline depicted with lilies sprouting out of the head.
Many Maya kings would wear jaguar pelts, and they adopted names with the word for jaguar as a part of the name, such as the family of Jaguar Paw who ruled Tikal in the 4th century C.E. Examples of other Maya rulers to use the name Jaguar were Scroll Jaguar, Bird Jaguar, and Moon Jaguar.
The jaguar was also associated with mighty warriors and hunters throughout Mesoamerica. The Aztecs shared the same reverence for the Jaguar as did the Maya. They had a group of elite warriors known as the Jaguar Knights. Throughout Mesoamerica wherever the jaguar lived, it stood as a symbol of strength, power and authority for deity, warriors, and rulers.
Resources:
Miller, Mary and Karl Taube.The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. Thames & Hudson (1993)
New World Encyclopedia. “Jaguar.” Accessed 11 May 2010
Paula I. Nielson - Paula I. Nielson, Ph.D., holds credentials and interests in anthropology, archaeology, religion, the Middle East and Asia.
