The largest cat in the American continent. Robust body with muscular strength.
It has yellow-golden fur with black spots on the head, neck and legs. The pints are like the "fingerprint" of the animal and serve to differentiate it, since each individual has a unique coat pattern.
Of solitary habits, the males and the females are only in the reproductive period. The mother takes care of the puppy until it completes about two years and in this period teaches it to hunt and to survive.
Top of the food chain and, therefore, essential for the maintenance of ecosystems where you live, you need large tracts of land to hunt. It usually feeds on medium to large vertebrates.
The destruction of habitat combined with predatory hunting causes populations to be severely reduced. In Brazil, it practically disappeared in the Northeast and South regions, leaving few individuals in most of the Southeast region. They can still be found in forests, such as the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest, and even in open environments such as the Pantanal and Cerrado.
It is classified by IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) as "Almost threatened" and by the Ministry of Environment as a vulnerable species.
The COB and ARCA Brasil believe in the importance of preserving the values ??of respect and protection of our fauna, for the present and future generations.