Category Archives: Animal Pix

Animal Picture of the Day:
Jaguar

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One of the most powerful and striking of all the big cats, the jaguar (Panthera onca) is the only living member of the genus Panthera native to the Americas. The jaguar is the largest native cat species of the New World and the third largest cat in the world.

The jaguar’s present range extends from the Southwestern United States and Mexico in North America, across much of Central America, and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina in South America. Though there are single cats now living within the Western United States, the species has largely been wiped out from the United States since the early 20th century. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers are declining.

The jaguar enjoys swimming and is largely a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush predator at the top of the food chain. The jaguar is a keystone, flagship, and umbrella species, and an apex predator that plays an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating prey populations.

Animal Picture of the Day:
Bald Eagle

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The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. The emblem bird of the United States, the bald eagle is majestic in its appearance, but it is not always so majestic in its habits. It is an opportunist: it often feeds on carrion, including in garbage dumps and dead fish washed up on shore, and it steals food from smaller birds. At other times, however, it is a powerful predator.

The bald eagle has a body length of 70–102 cm (28–40 in). Typical wingspan is between 1.8 and 2.3 m (5 ft 11 in and 7 ft 7 in) and mass is normally between 3 and 6.3 kg (6.6 and 13.9 lb). Females are about 25% larger than males, averaging as much as 5.6 kg (12 lb), while males’ average weight is 4.1 kg (9.0 lb).

Bonus Photo

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