Jaguar
Panthera onca
- Size
- Up to 1.8m long, plus the tail
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rainforest and wetlands from Mexico to Argentina
A heavy, powerful, golden cat covered in black rosettes with spots in the middle.
The jaguar that follows you
This page is the floor of the Amazon rainforest. Move your pointer and your animal will pad, creep, hop or flutter after you. Choose a different animal at the bottom, and tap the notes to open them.
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01 · BiteThe strongest bite
For its size the jaguar has the strongest bite of any big cat. It can crack a turtle's shell.
02 · SpotsSpots within spots
A jaguar's rosettes have a spot in the middle. A leopard's are empty.
03 · SwimA water cat
Jaguars love water and are strong swimmers. They hunt caimans, turtles and fish.
04 · NameKilled in one leap
The name comes from an old South American word said to mean he who kills with one leap.
05 · BlackBlack jaguars
Some jaguars are black all over. Look closely and the rosettes are still there.
06 · SizeThird biggest cat
Only tigers and lions are bigger. It is the biggest cat in the Americas.
Meet them all
Who's who in the rainforest
Brown-throated three-toed sloth
Bradypus variegatus
- Size
- About 60cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rainforest treetops from Central America to Brazil
A shaggy, grey-brown animal with long arms, hooked claws and a face that seems to smile.
Toco toucan
Ramphastos toco
- Size
- About 60cm long, a third of it bill
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Forest edges and savanna of central South America
A black bird with a white throat and an enormous orange bill with a black tip.
Scarlet macaw
Ara macao
- Size
- About 85cm long, half of it tail
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rainforest from Mexico to the Amazon
A big, bright red parrot with yellow and blue wings, a long tail and a bare white face.
Blue poison dart frog
Dendrobates tinctorius
- Size
- About 4cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rainforest floor in northern South America
A tiny, brilliant blue frog with black spots. Its colour is a warning.
Blue morpho butterfly
Morpho menelaus
- Size
- Wingspan up to 15cm
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rainforest from Central America to the Amazon
A big butterfly whose wings are dazzling metallic blue on top and dull brown underneath.
Through the year
When to look for them
Rainforest animals are there all year: it is always warm, and usually wet. The animal following you is shown in red.
Jaguar
Sloth
Toucan
Scarlet macaw
Poison dart frog
Blue morpho
Good to know
Six things about the Amazon rainforest
Bigger than western Europe
The forest covers about five and a half million square kilometres, across nine countries.
Life at the top
Most rainforest animals live high in the canopy, 30 metres up, where the leaves, flowers and fruit are.
A dim floor
Only about two per cent of the sunlight reaches the ground, so few plants grow down there.
It makes its own rain
The trees breathe out so much water that the forest creates about half its own rainfall.
Warning colours
Bright colours often mean danger: the brightest frogs are the most poisonous.
A lived-in forest
People have lived in the Amazon for at least 12,000 years, and still do.
Photo gallery
Real photos of the animals on this page. Tap one to see it bigger.
Jaguar
Brown-throated three-toed sloth
Toco toucan
Scarlet macaw
Blue poison dart frog
Blue morpho butterfly
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and are used under free licences. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews. Open a photo to see who took it.
The biggest forest on Earth
The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world, and one in ten of all the known kinds of plants and animals lives in it. Many more have not yet been found.
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