Brazil at present has no official national animal; it is most popularly thought of as being the jaguar. This powerful jungle cat is endemic to the country’s Amazon rainforest and is one of the most iconic predators not just in Brazil but in the whole continent. They are also called the Brazilian panther.
So, though Brazil at present does not have an official national animal, it is the jaguar in all but official capacity.
Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more fitting national animal.
The Amazon rainforest is what many of us think of when we think of Brazil, and the jaguar certainly is the king of that arena.
Let’s find out more.
What is the national animal of Brazil?
The national animal of Brazil is the jaguar, though this position is still filled unofficially.
Brazil at present has not officially designated any animal as its official animal.
Popularly, though, the jaguar is considered to be the country’s national animal and the king of the Brazilian jungle.
Most people do imagine the jaguar as the national animal of the country, for a variety of reasons that I will get into.
Whether Brazil will at any point officially adopt an animal as its national animal is up for debate—most countries have so you have to assume that they eventually will.
The jaguar is one of the Amazon’s most iconic animals and among the world’s most iconic big cats.
They are the only living member of their genus, Panthera, and they are native across South America and Central America.
They are the largest cat species in the Americas and the third largest in the world; they have a body length up to 6ft and often weigh as much as 350lb.
They are well known for their distinctive spotted coats, transitioning to rosettes on the sides.
They have an extremely powerful bite that allows them to pierce the carapaces of amphibians like turtles and tortoises.
They are even known to hunt caiman, small species of alligator.
Their bite is so powerful that they are able to pierce their prey’s skull directly through to the brain delivering an instant fatal blow.
They are compact and muscular, though their size and weight can vary a great deal depending on where they are.
Their coats may sometimes be completely black, and this is called a melanistic jaguar; but more on that later.
They are among the most iconic animals in South America and have been important to cultures living there for millennia.
Why is the jaguar considered the national animal of Brazil?
Again, it is just worth stressing that Brazil, officially, has no national animal.
They have not yet adopted one as not all countries have done so.
But again the truth is that few would think of anything else as being iconic enough to take the place of the jaguar as the country’s official animal.
There are many iconic species of birds, but national bird is very often a separate category to national animal.
The jaguar is and has been a symbol of many things for a very long time in Brazil.
They are naturally symbols of power, strength, and courage; the jaguar is an immensely powerful hunter with a sharp intellect to match.
They are more than just brute strength.
At the same time, they also embody the important sense of natural beauty. Jaguars are haunting and elusive creatures which inspire the human imagination in ways that such large predators often do.
Though they are of course very dangerous to people if they need to be, they also act as totems in many indigenous cultures where an analogue of such a concept exists in a given culture.
Brazil’s natural beauty is a vitally important part of its national identity; the jaguar embodies that perfectly.
What’s the difference between a black panther and a jaguar?
Taxonomically, there is no difference except the color of the coat.
A black panther is merely a name for a black jaguar.
Black jaguars very frequently occur in nature due to the changes in melanin in their fur, and you get the same thing with leopards.
There are, though, no leopards in South America, so any “panther” you see is a jaguar.
Panther, then, is just the name for the melanistic form of a jaguar; there is no biological or taxonomical difference.
Again, though, these black panthers have been very striking symbols to people of all times and places.
Are jaguars friendly to humans?
Wild jaguars are not friendly to humans in any way.
They are not social animals and they are very protective of their territory, so you don’t want to get in the way of one in the wild.
That said, like many dangerous predators, they will generally try to avoid humans where possible.
They won’t actively seek out humans but they will certainly defend themselves if they need to.
It’s very rare that a large predator like this would be “friendly” to humans in any real sense.
They are dangerous animals and should be treated as such—which just means avoiding them!
So, again, Brazil officially does not currently have a national animal—but it seems quite clear that if it ever adopts one it is likely to be the jaguar.
This majestic, iconic big cat is one of the most recognizable animals in the country’s biosphere, and without doubt one of the most important predators in the entire Amazon rainforest.