San Francisco Zoo gets its first jaguar resident in 24 years
PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Owyang/Sacramento Zoo
SAN FRANCISCO - Jaguars are the third-largest cats in the world, after lions and tigers, (and the largest big cat of the Americas) and now San Francisco Zoo & Gardens has its first jaguar resident since 1999.
The 11-year-old male jaguar was transferred from the Sacramento Zoo, where it has lived since moving from the San Diego Zoo, when it was born in 2012.
Zoo officials say jaguars are native to Central and South America, parts of Mexico and the southwestern United States. They are known to live in tropical rainforests, swamps, grasslands, and scrubland. They prey on deer, peccaries (a pig-like mammal), monkeys, birds, fish and even caimans, which are reptiles often placed in the alligator family.
"Jaguars are the iconic cat of the Americas, and we are honored to share the story of this near threatened species, whose challenges include habitat loss, hunting and poaching," said Tanya M. Peterson, CEO and Executive Director of San Francisco Zoological Society. "Jaguars once scaled all of the Americas, from South to North America, and we hope his arrival will educate Zoo visitors about saving his species before it is too late."
The 125-lb. male will make his temporary residence adjacent to the zoo's lion house while a permanent habitat is constructed.
The animal was placed at SF Zoo & Gardens based on the recommendation by the Association of Zoos & Aquarium's Jaguar Species Survival Plan.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Owyang/Sacramento Zoo
