Q&A for How to Survive a Jaguar Attack

It is very rare that you will ever see a jaguar and if it shows itself to you I would recommend going back the way you came because you might be getting too close to its den. As in almost all animals, jaguars are more afraid of you than you are of them.

They are strong climbers and usually drag their prey up the tree to eat to prevent the loss of their prey to other animals.

Absolutely not! The jaguar will see that you have food and it will be more attracted to you. Don't do anything to draw attention to yourself.

To save your child, you could bring it's attention to you by throwing rocks or sticks and by making loud noises. If the jaguar focuses on you and not the child, use the recommendations in this article to save yourself.

Strangling it does nothing. Scratching is only effective in the eye, but poking its eye or nose is way better.

Even if you're an experienced and skilled MMA fighter, leg kicks simply are much more difficult to control accurately than arm punches. Legs are a blunt tool, hands are a fine-tuned instrument (try typing your next text message with your toe). So, yes, you could indeed kick its eye, but it is definitely not more effective.

No, jaguars do not hunt in packs. They prefer to hunt alone.

Depends on what is being attacked. It can easily kill a small animal, but other things could kill it.

No, because jaguars and lions live in completely different parts of the world. Lions are found in Africa, and jaguars live in Central and South America.

Possibly. If the jaguar smells the meat (lunch) and is on the hunt, it might go after it, being a meat eater.

64 miles per hour.

Yes. Though it's best to avoid any confrontation at all, when faced with a jaguar, stay close together, make loud noises and move away from the animal as a group. It is considering its hunger versus its own safety; it wants to eat, but also to survive, so if it judges the risk of an attack not to be worth the odds of getting a meal, then it probably won't attack. Unless it's scared, so don't seek out confrontation or push it in a corner. Then its hunger will no longer be a factor, and it will fight to stay alive.

Stay still and protect your head and neck.

No, this would not be a good idea since jaguars can climb trees.

Yes, but it's very uncommon.

Walk away. Its mother is almost certainly nearby, even if you can't see her, and she will not be happy if she comes back and finds you getting too close to her cub.

Studies have shown that urine from arctic animals can successfully be used to deter jaguars from approaching the proximity. Polar bear and arctic fox urine are reported to work best, but there have been instance of male penguin urine working as well. The urine typically repels jaguars from a radius of up to 30 meters in a jungle environment, and up to 50 meters in the snow.

Jaguars are native to the Americas. But hyenas are native to Africa. So they never meet each other in the wild. In zoos they are kept separate. Jaguars would theoretically be strong enough to kill a hyena but nature never intended for them to meet.

Wild jaguars? None, unless the ABCs (Alien/Anomalous Big Cats) are to be counted. Those are particularly rare, but are reported more often than you think. Fun fact, in the 70s, big cat ownership was a major fad. You could find people walking their tigers on leashes in town. When they were illegalized, only about 3 owners are reported to have legally given up their pantherines. Everyone else released their pets into the wild. So it's no telling how many wild Jaguars (or other big cats) are really out there in the UK. Zoo specimens and pets kept hidden? Lots.

Jaguars attack the back of the head to pierce the brain and kill their prey. If you want to survive, you should protect the back of your head. But they do have strong teeth, so beware!

There is no reason to go out of your way to provoke an animal that has good odds of killing you.