Jaguar fur

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Bororo jaguar blanket made from a hide (Brazil, Mato Grosso )

The jaguar is the largest cat on the American continent. The use of the jaguar fur for clothing and jewelry purposes is already known for the time before the arrival of the Europeans. It was expensive as a commercial article of the modern age, but played no essential role even when fashion favored spotted furs. This was not because the jaguar is less attractive than the leopard, which is native to Asia and Africa. The fur attack was very low, due to its shy way of life the jaguar is difficult to hunt and the pelts were often so badly damaged, not only from the hunt, but above all from bites, that they could not be used for processing into fur clothing . It was also difficult to get a sufficient number of matching skins for one piece of clothing from the few that had accumulated and that could be used.

Today the jaguar is completely protected. Although it is not acutely threatened with extinction, it is nevertheless exposed to a constantly increasing threat, so that a decline in the population can be observed. The World Conservation Union ( IUCN ) classifies the jaguar as "low risk" ("Near Threatenend").

Protection status
Felis onca , maximum protection according to the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species Appendix I; according to EC regulation 750/2013 appendix A and strictly protected according to the Federal Nature Conservation Act.
Detailed protection data: First listing since June 20, 1976. Particularly protected under the Federal Nature Conservation Act since August 31, 1980.

Occurrence

The jaguar lives in America from Texas and Louisiana (USA) to the Entre Ríos province in northeast Argentina. It is most widespread in the temperate zones of South America, especially along the Paraná , Paraguay and Uruguay rivers . Around 1840 its habitat extended as far as the Strait of Magellan .

The smallest skins came from Honduras (Central America), skins from Guyana - Venezuela are very large. The largest came from Mato Grosso, Brazil .

Some varieties of the jaguar were described as separate zoological species due to their different coat color and pattern in their respective areas of distribution, but later genetic analyzes could not confirm this. In any case, the drawing is generally very irregular and there are seldom several coincident skins.

  • The Yucatan jaguar lives in the southwestern Yucatan and northern Guatemala .
  • The Panama Jaguar , found in Central America and Colombia . According to Brass (1911), a distinction was made between two types in Brazil, Onca pinado with the usual markings and Onca canguen with closely spaced spots that form small, imperfect circles. For northern Brazil he mentions a black variant of the jaguar, but blacks can occur in the entire distribution area.
  • The Peru Jaguar , found in Ecuador , Peru and Bolivia .
  • The Amazon Jaguar , in the forest areas of the Orinoco and Amazon basins .
  • The Parana Jaguar in southeastern South America.
  • The Arizona Jaguar is smaller in body; striking in the drawing. This northernmost sub-variety, spread from the southeastern USA to northwestern Mexico, was largely considered to be extinct, but is probably still present to a small extent.

hide

The jaguar is the only big cat in America and the third largest big cat in the world, after the tiger and the lion , alongside the puma , which is still classified as a small cat in zoological terms . The head body length ranges from 112 to 180 centimeters, the tail length is 60 to 70 centimeters. Females are about a fifth smaller than males. The tobacco shop Emil Brass even claims to have seen skins that were 2.50 meters long without the tail (skins can, however, be slightly larger than the length measured on the animal due to the leather pull).

Hairiness

The hair is short, flat, coarse and shiny, weak in growth and somewhat longer-haired on the underside of the body. The hair change extends over the whole year, there is no essential difference between summer and winter fur.

coloring

The basic color of the South American jaguar is red-yellow - darker in the back and lighter on the sides; The abdomen, throat and chest are white. The skins of animals from rainforests are darker than those from savannah regions; males are a little darker than females.

drawing
Patch variants in a fur section

The body is completely covered with predominantly dense black spots and pattern of spots of various shapes (rosettes, wreath-shaped). The drawing is very variable, often even the left half of the coat differs from the right half. Even with the occasionally occurring black jaguars, the markings can be seen when the light is favorable. Albinos or partially uncolored animals were reported from Paraguay . The ears are small and round and black on the back, with a light, sometimes white, spot, as can be found in the tiger.

The head, legs and underside have smaller, full spots that are a little closer on the underside, where they are 5 to 7 ½ centimeters in diameter and slightly larger than on the back. In the neck and back far to the sides, the spots are almost evenly distributed like a network, with only small gaps in the basic color. The back line ( Grotzen ) consists of several rows of rosette-like and full spots running next to each other; the tint is also darker. The dark tint begins at the top of the head and extends over the full width over the neck to the upper legs of the forelegs and further into the tail. The rear part of the back ( pump ) and tail have spots and patterned spots, the tail also has cross bars and rings.

Jaguar-leopard difference

  • Jaguar fur

  • For comparison: Indian leopard

  • Indian leopard ( Cuddapah ), fur drawing in the character of a jaguar

The jaguar is larger and stockier than the leopard, but has a much shorter tail. The ring spots are larger than on the leopard. In contrast to the leopard, the rosettes have one or two black points (fill spots) in the middle. The basic color is often more reddish.

Some jaguar skins hardly differ from the skins of leopards, especially for African leopards.

Distinguishing features
Jaguar (South America, Arizona) Leopard (Africa, Asia)
Rosette spots still have one or two black spots in the middle (fill spots) Rosette spots on the sides of the body are usually without filling
Tail significantly shorter than the body (than head body length) Tail about body length
Compact build Delicate build

Trade, history

In 1486, Ahuitzotl , the Aztec ruler , conquered the Soconusco region , from which (already processed?) Jaguar pelts had already reached Tenochtitlán as extremely valuable merchandise . In the densely populated central Mexican highlands, jaguars were probably already largely extinct by this time. Jaguar warriors (in Nahuatl: Ocēlōtl) were members of the Aztec army. They acted as elite units and were probably even professional soldiers. They were used as active fighters on the battlefield. This group of warriors could be recognized by their elaborate jewelry and clothing - as a rule, they dressed themselves with a jaguar skin, which in many cases was sewn together from several pieces, in other cases it was only worn as a shoulder wrap; sometimes a necklace made of predatory teeth was added.

The Codex Dresdensis is one of the three surviving and certainly authentic Maya manuscripts . It is about 800 years old and described with characters, pictures and numerals. Based on the content, it can be assumed that it was a manual for calendar priests. This consists of 39 double-sided sheets described originally as Leporello were folded and possibly provided for the protection of jaguar fur-covered wooden boards.

The ethnologist Claude Lévi-Strauss reported from the Brazilian tribe of the Bororo from the 1930s that every time a member died, the largest possible game was killed, if possible a jaguar whose fur, claws and teeth the atonement of nature as reparation for the Society for the death caused by them. These natives also used an old jaguar skin for the death dances. Among the Tugaré, the most important participant in the dance of death, the one who embodied the soul of the deceased, wore a huge headdress and a train made of jaguar skin, which was carried by a page. With the Nambikwara he experienced a war dance, in which the men were dressed in particularly splendid jewelry, with red painted straw tassels and helmets made of jaguar skin.

The pelts of black Brazilian jaguars were very expensive in the country around 1900. In general, the relatively rare jaguar pelts in South America usually achieved better prices than in Europe. Some of them were used there as room decorations, on the other hand they were purchased by tourists and ship captains.

From around 1900 until the end of the 20th century, spotted cat skins appeared in western fur fashion. The main hunt for the jaguar took place in the 1930s to 1960s. In 1937, a specialist furrier book mentions recycling: “Because of the heavy leather, rarely used for car fur; mostly to rugs , carpets, wall hangings ”. These eye-catching furs, especially the ocelot fur, found particular attention in fashion in the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War . This quickly posed a threat to these animal species, especially the less common big cats. In 1976 the jaguar was therefore finally placed under protection. For almost all types of wild cat fur, there has also been a trade ban, or at least significant trade restrictions, since around this time.

Like leopard skins, jaguar skins were made into furs with a “sporty character”. Since it was difficult to get a sufficient range of coats from both species, both species were sometimes sorted together and offered together as leopard skins.

The hunter delivers the skins open, not pulled off round.

  • Jaguar costume from an Aztec tax list (approx. 1520–1530)

  • Ferdinand VI. with jaguar cuffs (18th century)

  • Jaguar coat (left) and jacket (center) and ocelot coats on the catwalk (1973)

  • Ladies cap
    (approx. 1970s)

  • Jaguar cap of a Nambikwara warrior (1901)

  • Xingu Indian with Jaguar Cap (2007)

processing

Black jaguar

The processing of the jaguar fur into clothing corresponded to that of the leopard fur . Since it was placed in protection, the furs that still accumulate have only been used in the form of hunting trophies, as rugs and wall decorations.

In 1965, the fur consumption for a fur board with 4 to 6 pelts sufficient for a jaguar coat was specified (so-called coat “body” ). A board with a length of 112 centimeters and an average width of 150 centimeters and an additional sleeve section was used as the basis. This corresponds roughly to a fur material for a slightly exhibited coat of clothing size 46 from 2014. The maximum and minimum fur numbers can result from the different sizes of the sexes of the animals, the age groups and their origin. Depending on the type of fur, the three factors have different effects.

The durability coefficient for jaguar fur clothing is given as 50 to 60 percent; the possibility of repair and redesign is classified as "difficult" because of the skin pattern.

Refinement of other types of fur with a jaguar pattern

In times when spotted fur types were in demand, but also when big cat patterns are current in textile fashion, the fur finishing industry in particular dyes and prints inexpensive fur types accordingly. Calfskins , kidskins , lambskins and rabbit fur are particularly suitable for this, but made-up made of printed mink fur , for example, was strongly represented in the collections for the 1969/70 season. The correct trade name for this is jaguar calf, jaguar kid, jaguar lamb, etc.

Numbers and facts

  • In 1531 the frigate “La Pélerine” under Captain John Duperret brought 3,000 leopard skins (= jaguar skins), three hundred monkeys and 600 parrots “that already spoke a few words of French” to France.
  • At the beginning of the 19th century , according to Alexander von Humboldt , around 2000 jaguar pelts came to Europe every year.
  • By 1900 the total production of jaguar pelts in South America was 300 pieces annually (incorrectly called leopard).
  • Before 1934 , the value of a jaguar skin was one-third to one-half that of a leopard skin.
  • In 1968 the incidence of raw fur was 13,560, one year later
  • In 1969 , the incidence of raw fur was 9,831 pelts. All skins were delivered to the USA. There were no figures on the total incidence in this or later years (as of 1988 ). However, deliveries in 1988 were estimated to have decreased significantly.

annotation

  1. ↑ The information for a body was only given to make it easier to compare the types of fur. In fact, bodies were only made for small (up to about muskrat size ) and common types of fur, and also for pieces of fur . The following dimensions for a coat body were taken as a basis: body = height 112 cm, width below 160 cm, width above 140 cm, sleeves = 60 × 140 cm.
  2. ↑ The specified comparative values ​​( coefficients ) are the result of comparative tests by furriers and tobacco shops with regard to the degree of apparent wear and tear. The figures are not unambiguous; in addition to the subjective observations of durability in practice, there are also influences from fur dressing and fur finishing as well as numerous other factors in each individual case . More precise information could only be determined on a scientific basis. The division was made in steps of ten percent each. The most durable types of fur according to practical experience were set to 100 percent.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel's Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . 10. revised and supplemented new edition, Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt, p. 97.
  2. ↑ www.iucnredlist.org Last accessed December 18, 2014.
  3. ^ Wisia-online Federal Agency for Nature Conservation . Last accessed December 18, 2014.
  4. ↑ a b c Paul Schöps, Kurt Häse among others: Jaguar and Puma . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Vol. XI / New Series, 1960 No. 3; Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin et al., Pp. 102-113.
  5. ↑ a b c d Emil Brass : From the realm of fur . 1st edition, published by the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1911, pp. 400–401.
  6. ↑ a b c Heinrich Dathe , Paul Schöps, with the collaboration of 11 specialist scientists: Pelztieratlas . VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1986, pp. 220-221.
  7. ↑ Milan Novak et al., Ministry of Natural Resources: Wild furbearer management and conservation in North America . Ontario 1987, p. 697. ISBN 0-7778-6086-4 (after Guggisberg, 1975; Hall, 1981).
  8. ↑ Milan Novak et al., Ministry of Natural Resources: Wild furbearer management and conservation in North America . Ontario 1987, p. 697 (after Guggisberg, 1975) (Engl.). ISBN 0-7778-6086-4 .
  9. ↑ Seymour, KL: Panthera onca . (PDF) In: Mammalian Species . 340, No. 340, 1989, pp. 1-9. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  10. ↑ a b c Fritz Schmidt : The book of the fur animals and fur . FC Mayer Verlag, Munich 1970, pp. 151-153.
  11. ↑ Paul Schöps, Kurt Häse et al. Primary source: plaque at the predator house of the Berlin zoo .
  12. ^ Claude Lévi-Strauss : Sad tropics . Indians in Brazil . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1955, pp. 184, 192, 268.
  13. ↑ Milan Novak et al., Ministry of Natural Resources: Wild furbearer management and conservation in North America . Ontario 1987, p. 698 (after Hornocker, 1971) (Eng.). ISBN 0-7778-6086-4 .
  14. ↑ Friedrich Kramer: From fur animals to fur . Arthur Heber & Co, Berlin 1937, p. 45.
  15. ↑ a b c David G. Kaplan: World of Furs . Fairchield Publications. Inc., New York, pp. 21, 170 (English).
  16. ↑ Paul Schöps among others: The material requirement for fur clothing . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Vol. XVI / New Series 1965 No. 1, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin et al., Pp. 7-12.
  17. ↑ Paul Schöps; H. Brauckhoff, Stuttgart; K. Häse, Leipzig, Richard König , Frankfurt / Main; W. Straube-Daiber, Stuttgart: The durability coefficients of fur skins . In: Das Pelzgewerbe , Volume XV, New Series, 1964, No. 2, Hermelin Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin, Frankfurt / Main, Leipzig, Vienna, pp. 56–58.
  18. ^ Claude Lévi-Strauss : Sad tropics . Indians in Brazil . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1955, p. 35. ISBN 3 462 00995 8 .
  19. ↑ fatoshistoricosdobrasil.blogspot.de: la-pelerine-post.html: Fatos Históricos do Brasil “La Pèlerine”. To Incidente Histórico . May 16, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2015 (Portuguese).
  20. ↑ Paul Larisch , Josef Schmid: The furrier craft . Part II, self-published in Paris, approx. 1902/1903, p. 27.
  21. ↑ Arthur Samet: Pictorial Encyclopedia of Furs . Arthur Samet (Book Division), New York 1950, p. 334. (English).

See also

Commons : Jaguars  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Jaguar Skin Clothing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files