World Jaguar Day Date in the current year: June 11, 2024

The jaguar is one of the five species of the genus Panthera, alongside the lion, leopard, tiger, and snow leopard. It is the only living member of the genus native to the Americas. Its range extends from the southern United States, namely Arizona, across Mexico, Central America and the Amazon jungle, to Paraguay and northern Argentina.

Jaguars closely resemble leopards, but they are generally larger and have a more square head and stockier limbs. In fact, the jaguar is the largest cat species in the New World and the third largest in the world. Because of their size and strength, jaguars were revered in Mesoamerican cultures. For example, the Aztecs considered the jaguar the totem animal of Tezcatlipoca, the god of providence and one of the major deities of the Aztec pantheon.

Unlike the panthers of the Old World, jaguars are generally not aggressive towards humans and only attack if cornered or wounded. However, they can attack cows, sheep, and herding dogs, which often leads to ranchers killing jaguars in retaliation. In addition, jaguars are poached for trade with their body parts (bones, teeth and skin) and threatened by habitat fragmentation and loss.

In 2018, it was estimated that the range of the jaguar had declined by over 50% in the 20th century due to deforestation and poaching. It is considered to be locally extinct in at least two countries, El Salvador and Uruguay.

In 2002, the jaguar was added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List as a near-threatened species. It is also listed on CITES Appendix I, which means the prohibition of all international trade in jaguars or their body parts. It is prohibited to hunt jaguars in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, the United States, and Venezuela. In Guatemala and Peru, hunting jaguars is restricted.

To raise awareness about the importance of jaguar conservation, the wildlife advocacy organization Annamiticus, which also runs World Pangolin Day, launched World Jaguar Day in 2019. It is celebrated on June 11. Another version of World Jaguar Day is observed on April 10; its origins are unclear, but it seems to have been launched around the same time as its June 11 counterpart.

On World Jaguar Day, anyone who wants to bring attention to the precarious status of jaguars can spread the word on social media, using the hashtags #WorldJaguarDay and #DayOfTheJaguar. Other things you can do to support World Jaguar Day are: educate people around you about jaguars, create jaguar-themed art, support animal welfare organizations that protect jaguars by donating or volunteering your time, host a World Jaguar Day event or party, bake jaguar-shaped cookies, sign a petition requesting the full enforcement of laws that protect jaguars in the wild, or buy World Jaguar Day merchandise from the Annamiticus official website to support the cause.