1 - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

e:yes, ears alert. Collared peccary on the
menu? These pig-like creatures have
long been of gastronomic interest to his
tribe, peccary on the hoof being a staple
and a delicacy back home in the tropical
forests. In fact, the grocery list can well
be taken care of just by following a herd
of these plump little beasts and picking
off the stragglers at meal time.
But today, it's mule deer.
No small quarry this, but a big animal,
nervous and alert, large ears a-waggle to
catch the slightest sound, muzzle lifted
for scents. Feeding, the deer is wary and
ready for an instant speedy get-away.
But the jaguar is an old hand at this
game. He approaches from down wind,
moving silently as a shadow, each
padded foot placed carefully, every
muscle under control. Belly low, he
creeps closer and closer to the quarry
until —a rush of great speed, a long
bounding spring, and he's on the deer's
back. The force of his heavy body knocks
it sprawling, his heavy front limbs
striking his curved claws in deep to hold
his prey just the few seconds needed for
that killing bite delivered by his long
sharp canines at the base of the skull.
This is the jaguar-style hunting —a ferocious
bounding attack of great power
that earned him his name which comes,
Desert/December 1976
by the way, from a South American Indian
word jaguara, meaning "carnivore
that overcomes its prey at a single
bound."
The jaguar's style of hunting, and his
weapons too, for that matter, have been
perfected over the ages. Paleontologist
Edwin Colbert, looking into feline
evolution, suggests that the cat tribe
split off early from the ancient viverrid
beginnings and quickly evolved into
highly specialized animals. In fact, as
early as 40 million years ago, two styles
of cats were current. Both were about
medium size. The first was represented
by one Dinictis by name, the second by
Hoplophoneus. But the most important
difference between the two was in their
teeth, and this was to play a very major
role in what happened to their descendants
later on.
True, both these old characters had
cheek teeth that worked like cutting
shears. It was the design of their upper
canine teeth that was so different. Dinictis'
were big, sharp and pointed, first
class for piercing and holding prey.
These stabbing and cutting canine teeth,
plus the scissor-action cheek teeth, made
a very efficient tooth pattern to be handed
down with minor changes to his descendants
those big and little cats that
grace the scene today.
Old Hoplophoneus, on the other hand,
had to go and overdo a good thing. His
upper canines were enormous —long,
down-pointing swords protected when
he closed his mouth by a flange on his
lower jaw. His descendants, the sabertoothed
cats, inherited his dentures,
which were destined to become obsolete,
unfortunately, because the items on the
grocery list changed so radically over the
time. As long as the large slow prey were
around, the fearsome saber-toothed cats
(as large by then as today's lion and with
teeth in proportion) were highly successful
with their might face weapons. But
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