Jaguarini

Introduction

The Herpailurus Amica Nubes, or more commonly known as the Jaguarini, is located in Central America, South America, and southern parts of the United States. The Jaguarini is categorized to be in the family carnivora. It is, along with the classic cat, the only domestic animal species in the family Felidae. The Jaguarini originated from the species Jaguarundi, which was declared endangered in 1976. Adding on, Lora Thompson came up with the idea to make Jaguarundis domesticated, in an effort to protect them. In order to domesticate them, they needed specific qualities to appeal to humans. To obtain these qualities, the Jaguarinis were selectively bred.

In the homes of humans, the Jaguarini has thrived. Not many people had heard about the Jaguarini until it became a popular pet. Once people started taking them into their homes, they realized how suitable they were as house pets. The Jaguarini is most recognizable by its fluffy fur of various colors ranging from dark brown to white. It is larger than an average house cat, usually weighing around 15 lbs. Lora Thompson and a team of scientists and historians worked together to decide on the qualities that would be most attractive to people. They thought of personality traits and physical traits. Over time, the Jaguarini was bred to have new attributes. The Jaguarundi was an extremely vocal animal being able to make at least 13 vocalizations. The Jaguarini is now great with people, and is less vocal.

Etymology

Herpailurus Amica Nubes means Puma fluffy cloud. The Jaguarini has extremely fluffy fur, like a cloud, which is part of what makes it so attractive to people. “Herpailurus” was taken from the Jaguarundi’s scientific name signifying its higher classification of puma. “Amica Nubes” is latin and translates to fluffy cloud. Though the Jaguarini does not resemble a puma, the Jaguarundi had more puma-like features and habits. Scientists thought that the Jaguarinis’ extremely fluffy fur set it apart from other animals and wanted the latin name to reflect that.

Habitat and Population

The Jaguarini is found in Central America, South America, and some southern parts of the United States. It lives as a pet amongst people in these areas. Stray Jaguarinis have been found around lakes, streams, or swamps. Scientists infer that this is because this was the habitat of the Jaguarundi and it is still their instinct to go to these places. Jaguarinis are solitary, which means better on their own, and does not need the company of other Jaguarinis. Even though they are solitary animals, they do like attention from humans. This is another similarity to their ancestor, the Jaguarundi. The Jaguarini does not have any predators, but it does hunt small birds and rodents living in dense vegetation.

Furthermore, the population of the Jaguarini is approximately 560,000, and is increasing little by little. There is a big difference in population of Jaguarundi 100 years ago and the Jaguarini now. In addition, the gestation period is 75 days and most Jaguarinis will have 2-4 kittens. The gestation period is the time from conception to birth when the fetus develops. The kittens develop as any mammal would. The Jaguarundi ate a wide variety of smaller animals that lived in dense vegetation. Just like the Jaguarundi, the Jaguarini is also apart of the Felidae family, but consumes kibble rather than hunting for food in the wild. The Jaguarini is closely related to the puma and others in the Felidae family.

History

The Jaguarundis went going extinct 100 years ago. Developments such as cars and buildings were taking away the Jaguarundis habitat and making it difficult to survive. Lora Thompson, the creator of domesticating this species, was looking for ways she could save the Jaguarundi. After a lot of thinking she came up with the idea to domesticate them. She wrote in her diary, “What other way to save a species other than to make people love them like we love cats and dogs?” Thompson worked with scientists to come up with the best ways to domesticate them. These ways focused on attributes that humans would like since they were going to be keeping them as pets. They settled on six things they wanted to change about the Jaguarundi to make it a new and improved species, fluffy fur, larger eyes, proportionate size of head to body size, less sharp claws and teeth, a smoother tongue, and to be less vocal. After many years of selective breeding the Jaguarini was created. Soon later they were advertised as a safe and loving pet and immediately became popular. People were skeptical in the beginning, but it didn’t take long before everyone had one.

Evolution

The Jaguarini has evolved a great amount over the last 100 years. It has made great behavioral adaptations to help it transition to a domestic animal. The Jaguarundi was an extremely vocal animal, being able to make at least 13 different vocalizations. Although a unique and interesting feature, people were not interested in having any more noisy pets, so the Jaguarinis were selectively bred to be less vocal. Jaguarinis are now used to being around people and less shy around them as well. The Jaguarundis were such timid animals that they were very hard to find and gather information on. Now that they have started growing up with humans, that has changed. The Jaguarini resembles more of a common cat than a puma mainly because of its face and fluffy fur. In addition, since both the common cat and the Jaguarini are domesticated they also have more similar personalities. Humans were attracted to the cats’ personality and since the Jaguarini was living in the same conditions, it developed the same traits.

All of the changes have been to make Jaguarinis more appealing as pets. It was important that the correct adaptations were passed on in order to successfully domesticate the Jaguarini and save the Jaguarundi. Some other ways the Jaguaini has evolved includes how its claws have stopped growing as long claws and teeth. This was beneficial to the domestication because how sharp their claws before was unsafe to humans. Adding on, its tongue has changed as well. Now, is much less rough and more soft. As silly as it may seem, having a smooth tongue was very important. The thought behind this was that Jaguarundis had especially rough tongues to help them eat the prey they caught, but that was unnecessary for Jaguarinis and unpleasant for humans when licked. Also, the Jaguarini has a more proportional head and larger eyes. This is simply to enhance the way it looks. The diet has changed a lot as well. It has gone from eating animals such as small birds like quails and rodents, to eating cat kibble. These changes have only benefited the Jaguarini so far and it is the hope of many people that they continue to.

Summary

The Jaguarini lives in southern parts of the U.S. all the way through Central America and South America. It has many similarities and differences to the Jaguarundi. Some similarities including ancestry and body shape. And some differences including fur type and vocalization. The Jaguarundi was an older version of the Jaguarini and was going extinct. Through selective breeding, the Jaguarundi developed new adaptations to help it survive. This is how the Jaguarini was created. The Jaguarini is now domestic and a common pet in the western hemisphere. The new adaptations that the Jaguarini has developed is helping the species thrive.

Works Cited

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