What is the difference between a leopard and a jaguar?

What’s going around in the bushes? Leopard! Or wait, maybe a jaguar after all? When scanning the horizon for big cats on a trip, it can sometimes be confusing as to which species you have in front of you. After all, we all know the leopard and the jaguar, but what is the difference between the two? After reading this story, you can become a great cat expert at a birthday party.

Jaguar vs leopard: behavioral differences

Leopard and jaguar belong to the same genus (Panthera) but not the same type. Although they are very similar, there are differences between jaguars (Panthera onca) and leopard (Panthera pardus)

First of all, there are several behavioral differences between leopards and jaguars. Leopards, for example, do their best to keep their paws dry, and are a bit like your house cat. The jaguar, on the other hand, thrives in water, even prefers to hunt in it. In addition, a jaguar’s bite is stronger than a leopard’s and it catches larger prey.

Jaguar, leopard… panther?

The jaguar and leopard’s paths won’t cross anytime soon. Jaguar is found mainly in Central and South America. It also once inhabited the southern United States, but the population there is now nearly extinct. Leopards, on the other hand, can be found from China and India to the Middle East and Africa. Sometimes a distinction is made between the leopard and the panther: although both belong to the same species (Panthera pardus), sometimes people talk about cats among animals in Asia, and about leopards among animals in Africa.

Then there is the black panther. However, this dark hunter is not a separate species, but the name of cats and melanism: animals with an excess of dark color. In addition to their different colors, black panthers have the same characteristics as their colored counterparts.

Are you still dizzy? Then hold on tight: you also have a cheetah (or cheetah). However, this cat is not a genus Pantherabut it is the only living species of the genus Asynonyx. Cheetah is found in Africa and Iran and is thinner than Panthera– the bird. With a speed of almost one hundred kilometers per hour, it is the fastest land animal in the world. To get an idea: the beast is almost four times as fast as former sprinter Usain Bolt…

External differences between jaguar and leopard

However, the biggest difference between the jaguar and the leopard is the shape. The coat of both big cats is covered with rosettes, characteristic spots that serve as camouflage. Unlike the leopard, the jaguar’s rosette has a black dot in the middle. In addition, they are slightly larger than that of a leopard. Their structure is also not the same: leopards are slender, while jaguars have a more complex shape. It will come as no surprise that the leopard is faster than its cousin.

So what type do you see above? Jaguar on the left, leopard on the right.

As Digital Content Manager, Kevin is responsible for National Geographic’s digital channels. In his spare time he likes to go to places that bus tourists prefer to ignore, such as the Belgian ghost village of Doel, Iran or the unrecognized country of Transnistria. Her best experience was a train ride from North Korea to the Netherlands, and she scored the most delicious cookies on the road to Mongolia.