Jaguar Car

 

Jaguar Car

Clearly man is more afraid of the jaguar than the jaguar of man. Even so, when most Maya go deep into the jungle, they carry a shotgun. That certainly doesn't mean a jaguar wouldn't attack a human; but in the wild they really don't. My Mayan friends say they can never remember an incident where a jaguar attacked a human.
Not many friends either, but that comes with being at the top of the food chain and having a very nasty bite. Except for man, the jaguar has no enemies. As the keystone predator in the jungle, the jaguar serves a great function by eating the predators that kill smaller prey. The jaguar kills its prey by biting the neck and skull of its victim.
 Humans eat the same food, though we barbecue tepe and the jaguar chomps it down raw. The jaguar or "el tigre" as he is called by the Maya, probably was hungry and looking for a tepe, tejon or javalina. Usually they don't come out at all when it is light, but this one did. One evening coming back from his "milpa" he saw it in the middle of the road. We've never seen our jaguar but he has.
 Part of our ranch is virgin rainforest. Our Maya friend Aniceto says we have a jaguar den on our ranch; probably some shallow limestone cave covered by dense growth. Only the tiger and lion are larger cats. Maybe the most magnificent. The jaguar or panthera onca has to be one of the most magnificent animals on Earth.