Der Jaguar. Zu pag. 61. 3. Jahrgang. Tab. XVI.

Title

Der Jaguar. Zu pag. 61. 3. Jahrgang. Tab. XVI.

Description

Representation of a jaguar.

ca. 1840

Artist

Brodtmann (1787-1862)

Karl Joseph-Ioseph Brodtmann was an accomplished Swiss artist and lithographer, as well as a printmaker, publisher and bookseller who worked in Zurich and Schaffhausen. Brodtmann's natural history lithographs include Heinrich Rudolf Schinz's works on reptiles and birds, published in the early 1830s. Brodtmann also produced natural history lithographs, as Naturhistorische Bilder Gallerie aus dem Thierreiche.

Historical Description

The jaguar is a species from the cat family that is widespread in the New World. The word jaguar as a name for the big cat comes from the Tupi language, an indigenous language of South America belonging to the Tupí-Guaraní languages. The jaguar is the third largest cat after the tiger and the lion. It is the only species of big cat found on the American double continent, as the smaller puma is taxonomically classified as a small cat. The jaguar's fur pattern is similar to that of the leopard, which lives in Africa and Asia, but is considerably smaller and less massive. The jaguar was once widespread as far as the present-day US states of California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Today, it is found almost exclusively in Mexico, Central America and the northern half of South America.