Jaguar at Tiergarten Schönbrunn (Vienna Zoo - Austria)

The largest member of the cat family in the New World, the Jaguar, inhabits the rainforests and savannah's of Central and most of South America. The population of this skilled hunter and very good swimmer is highly endangered due to its beautiful colour pattern (trophy hunting!) and habitat destruction. Jaguars feed on mammals, birds, fishes and caiman's. Tiergarten Schönbrunn provides an opportunity to observe not only the spotted (as seen above) but also the melanistic (black) variants as accomplished climbers in their near-natural enclosure.