Jaguars are unusual among the big cats in actively hunting and attacking their prey – frequently reptiles as large as caimans – in water.
Now scientists have found something else, perhaps even more surprising, that distinguishes them from their relatives in the Panthera genus (leopards, lions, snow leopards and tigers). They meow, just like your average pussycat.
A team of scientists from a number of academic institutions, including the University of Salford in Manchester, set up camera traps in Iguaçu National Park in the Atlantic rainforest of south-eastern Brazil.
These cameras recorded two separate females meowing to their cubs, and their offspring responding in kind.
Marina Duarte, from the University of Salford and one of the authors of a paper that reveals this new behaviour, says there have been anecdotal suggestions from field workers in the past that jaguars might produce these type of vocalisations, but it had never been recorded in the wild.
Jaguars are normally considered solitary and relatively silent big cats. “Observing repeated, context-specific vocal exchanges between mothers and cubs over extended periods challenges this simplistic view and highlights a more flexible maternal communication system,” Duarte says.
“It reinforces the idea that maternal care involves complex acoustic strategies that may be under-appreciated due to the difficulty of observing these animals in the wild.”
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Duarte says the scientific literature suggests big cats cannot meow because of the structure of their larynxes and tracheas, but this consensus has been overturned with this discovery. It is accepted that big cats cannot purr (and all other cats cannot roar – though, nor can snow leopards), but Duarte says leopards do produce a broader vocal repertoire that includes “softer calls sometimes described as meow-like”.
That female jaguars use meows to talk with their offspring is not surprising – that’s exactly what house cats do, as do many other felines. Both male and female cheetahs communicate with meows, but it’s not known if male jaguars do. In general, they are more renowned for roaring.
Still, this is a major new finding. As Duarte says, “The results of our research remind us that even in one of the world’s most studied big cats, there are still intimate aspects of behaviour waiting to be discovered, quietly unfolding in forests just beyond human sight.”
Top image credit: University of Salford
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