Jaguarundi

The jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi) is a small wild cat native to Central and South America. It is a smaller relative of the better-known cougar, and has many local names.[3]

Jaguarundi
Jaguarondi portrait.jpg
Conservation status
Scientific classification e
Unrecognized taxon (fix): Pan-Carnivora
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Herpailurus
Species:
H. yagouaroundi[1]
Binomial name
Herpailurus yagouaroundi[1]
Jaguarundi distribution.jpg
Distribution of the Jaguarundi, 2015[2]
Synonyms
Puma yaguarondi.jpg

The cat is still widespread throughout the Amazon Basin, and is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002.[2] It is sometimes found in Mexico and southern Texas, and as far south as northern Argentina and these cats have been introduced to the state of Florida and state of Alabama in 1980's.

Jaguarundis are mostly daytime animals. They are comfortable in trees, but hunt on the ground.

According to a 2006 genomic study of Felidae, an ancestor of today's Leopardus, Lynx, Puma, Prionailurus, and Felis lines migrated across the Bering land bridge into the Americas about 8.0 to 8.5 million years ago.[4]

Jaguarundi Media

References

  1. Kitchener, A. C.; Breitenmoser-Würsten, C.; Eizirik, E.; et al. (2017). "A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group" (PDF). Cat News (Special Issue 11).
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Puma yagouaroundi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2016.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. 2015.
  3. Ferreira A.B.H. 1986. Novo Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa. Segunda edição. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira. P. 980
  4. Johnson W.E. et al 2006 (2006). "The late Miocene radiation of modern Felidae: a genetic assessment". Science. 311 (5757): 73–77. Bibcode:2006Sci...311...73J. doi:10.1126/science.1122277. PMID 16400146. S2CID 41672825. Retrieved 2007-06-04.