Cheetah and jaguar are both wild cats. They are often confusing to identify for the ordinary gazer. People often get perplexed with cheetah, jaguar and leopard. Tigers and lions are easy to identify. Cheetah and jaguar are not the same animal. There is a huge difference between the two. Let us talk about the similarities first.
Both the cheetah and the jaguar appear to have the same height. They have spots and they may even appear to be identical in form and behavior. However, it takes close inspection and awareness to spot the differences. Not only are the two different animals but they have dissimilar hunting style, diet, habitat, vocalization and morphology.
Difference Between Cheetah and Jaguar
A cheetah has a thinner body than a jaguar. It has a narrow waist and a deeper chest. The spots on their bodies are black, round and solid. They are more like polka dots but with greater saturation of black. The dots can range from 2cm to 3cm and at times more. The underbelly has no spots. The tail has the spots which culminate into rings at the end of the tail. Tails of cheetahs have a bushy white tuft. There can be four to six black, dark rings at the end of the tail.
Cheetahs have smaller heads. Their heads are not in proportion to the size of their body but that is why they are such greater runners. It is the fastest land animal and the streamlined shape of its body courtesy the head certainly helps. The eyes of the cheetah are high on the skull and they have tear lines, also black in color, down the corner of their eyes. The tear lines roll down the sides of their nose and end around the mouth.
Jaguar is the third-largest cat or feline. The two largest are of course lion and tiger. Jaguars usually stay in dense rainforests. They have the strongest bite among all wild cats. The jaguar is closer to the leopard in appearance than the cheetah. Jaguars have rosettes. These are dots of myriad shapes on their coat. Jaguars usually have a black spot at the center of the rosettes and there is a yellow ring outside. The rosettes are larger on the body and smaller on the head. They are darker on the tail.
Cheetahs usually weigh between 35 kg and 72 kg. They can be 1.1 cm to 1.5 cm long and the tail can be 60 cm to 84 cm long. Their height is about 70 cm to 95 cm. Jaguars are heavier, between 56 kg and 96 kg. Large male jaguars have weighed 160 kg. Jaguars are about 1.2 m to 1.95 m tall. Their tails are 45 cm to 75 cm long.
