Jaguars are built differently from other big cats — they have an unusually large, blocky head with an incredibly powerful jaw. They can bite through a turtle's shell or crack the skull of a caiman (a South American relative of the crocodile). A full-grown jaguar weighs up to 100 kilograms, about the same as an adult human.
Unlike most cats, jaguars love water. They swim rivers confidently and often hunt fish, turtles and caimans in the water, as well as deer, tapirs and capybara on land. In the Rupununi, jaguars come to the river's edge during the dry season when animals gather to drink — which makes them easier to spot from a canoe.
Jaguars are mostly solitary — each one roams a large home territory and uses scent markings and scratch marks on trees to leave messages for other jaguars. A male's territory can cover 80 square kilometres or more. They are active at dawn and dusk, and their golden coats blend so perfectly into the dappled light of the forest floor that they can be almost invisible.
The jaguar is sacred to many Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, appearing in carvings, stories and ceremonies for thousands of years. In Guyana, strong conservation work by communities and rangers means jaguar populations here are healthier than in many other South American countries.