Florida Jaguarundi

Perhaps there are some in this sunny state because they were released from a private zoo.

Florida jaguarundi. ˌ ʒ æ ɡ w ə ˈ r ʌ n d i is a wild cat native to the americas. The jaguarundi herpailurus yagouaroundi. Its closest relation is the puma puma concolor and until recently the two species were both placed in the puma genus. In 2017 the cat classification taskforce of the iucn cat specialist group an authority on the classification of wild cats assigned the jaguarundi to the genus herpailurus.

Jaguarundi juga kadang kadang mendiami wilayah tropis yang lebat. There has never been an official sighting of a jaguarundi in florida and none has ever been recorded on camera or video. The jaguarundi is found in southern texas and arizona south through central america and mexico into south america. Genetically the jaguarundi resembles the jaguar and the cougar with a similar chromosomal number.

There are stories that they were introduced in florida from a population from belize. The jaguarundi is a small species of wild cat. There have been sightings in florida which are thought to have been introduced populations as well as a few unconfirmed sightings in southern alabama. While jaguarundis are not native to the south eastern united states it is believed that a feral population exists in florida established from an introduced population of escaped pets in the 1940 s.

Shelby proie a wildlife technician with the emerald coast wildlife refuge. Jaguarundi distribution per iucn red list as at dec 2014 latest information available. However this is the state that has so many exotic species thriving in its borders that it would seem more likely that a native north american cat would be able to survive there than something. It is an adept fish hunter and is usually found near water courses.

This cat inhabits thickets that are nearly impenetrable to man or dogs. For whatever reason the florida fish and wildlife conservation commission seems to think that it is impossible for jaguarundis to exist in the state. The jaguarundi are from central and south america and have been found in mexico texas and all the way into florida. Its range extends from central argentina in the south to the us mexico border in the north through central and south america east of the andes the jaguarundi is a medium sized cat of slender build.

Anecdotally you will hear about sightings of jaguarundi in florida from time to time. They were reported to be quite easy to tame by early central american natives and were used to control rodent populations around.