-
| Endangered Species:Jaguar |
Christiansburg Elementary
Submitted by: Karate, Grade 5
Christiansburg, VA, USA
Why Study This Topic?
I want to find out what
Jaguars eat. I also want to know if they can climb trees, how big they
are, and how fast they can run. I want to know how many of them are
left, how they became endangered, how many there had been before, and if
they will increase or decrease in number. I want to know long a Jaguar
lives in the wild. I want to know how big the babies are.
I am interested in the
Jaguar because it is endangered.
There are many things I
would like to know. If someone asked me about the Jaguar, I wouldn't have
any idea how to answer it, so that is one reason I am studying it.
Another reason I am studying
it is, because I have never seen one. I have only seen pictures of
it.
What Was
Already Known
When I
started studying Jaguars, I didn't know much about them. I knew what they
looked like, and that they were endangered. I also knew that they
are about 120 pounds. Jaguars have one to four babies that
live for about twelve to sixteen years.
Jaguars eat monkeys, wild
pigs, and cattle.
Did you know that Jaguars
are the biggest cats in the western hemisphere?
Search for Information
When I started searching, it was hard to find
the right Web pages. Then I decided to try
some search engines. The first one I tried was Yahooligans which was the
first site I found the Jaguar on.
Another place I found was
the Belize Zoo site. It didn't have much on it, so I tried the Searchasaurus
on the C.E.S site. That gave me more sites to look at. Those sites gave
me most of the information I have.
Habitat Requirements
Jaguars live in South America, mainly in the rain
forests. They used to live in the U.S.
Jaguars eat both small and large animals, such
as crocodiles and snapping turtles. They also eat monkeys, frogs, and birds.
Reasons for Endangerment
Jaguars are endangered because of loss of their habitat,
competition for food, and they are seen as pests.
Forests that Jaguars live in have been cut down
for ranches and agriculture.
Jaguars have to search farther for food, because
stores are selling most of what they eat, so not as many survive can survive
in the wild.
When Jaguars wander onto farms looking for food
the farmers usly kill them because the farmers think the Jaguars are going
to kill them.
Restoration Actions
Jaguars are protected in Belize from poaching. They
are also protected in Codscomb Basin Wildlife Preserve.
Medicine companies are trying to find ways to
stop using rain forest plants by using man-made ingredients in the medicine.
Another way for helping them is educating people
about Jaguars.
Police are trying to find and imprison poachers,
so they can't kill any more Jaguars and sell their fur.
What I Learned
I learned that during the sixties and seventies
around eightteen-thousand Jaguars were killed every year! There are only
about fifteen-thousand left in the wild, so the government in Belize set
aside one-hundred fifty square miles of rain forest that is a protective
home for about two hundred Jaguars. They are also helping protect the remaining
rain forests that the Jaguars live in.
I also learned that Jaguars are the biggest cats
in the western hemisphere, and they have the second strongest jaws in the
world.
Conclusions From Research
Jaguars have the second strongest jaws in the
world, but if there are no animals to eat, why have them? If
Jaguars don't have any food left when the hunters are finished hunting
,they will starve to death.
If Jaguars can only live in national parks, because
of deforestation, more will die instead of live, because the national parks
can only hold so many.
Bibliography
http://www.belizezoo.org/zoo/zoo/mammals/jag/jag1.html
http://www.primenet.com/~brendel/jaguar.html
http://www.cptigers.org/animals/jaguar.html
Return to Mammal page.
If you would like to add to these Endangered Species
pages then email your contributions to Christiansburg
Elementary
© copyright 2000
Christiansburg Elementary |
Last updated on January 25, 20000
|
