Jaguars are native to the Americas, not Africa or Asia.

Natural range

  • Jaguars originally evolved in North America and then spread into Central and South America over time.
  • Today they live from northern Mexico down through much of Central America into South America as far as northern Argentina and Paraguay.

Typical habitats

  • Jaguars mostly come from and live in tropical and subtropical environments such as the Amazon rainforest, lowland moist forests, and cloud forests.
  • They also use swamps, mangroves, wetlands, scrublands, and even drier grasslands, usually staying close to rivers and streams where prey is abundant.

Where they used to be

  • Historically, jaguars ranged farther north in the United States, once reaching areas like the Grand Canyon region and even parts of California, but they are now virtually extinct across most of that northern range.
  • Habitat loss, hunting, and conflict with people have shrunk their range so that most remaining jaguars are now in remote areas, especially the Amazon basin.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.