A newly opened 7,100-square-foot jaguar habitat and exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo is the latest addition in a nearly two-decade long overhaul of the city-owned attraction.
The zoo upgraded or added 14 habitats and facilities since 1998 as part of the $180 million first phase of the zoo’s master plan, which is now complete with the jaguar exhibit.
The habitat is home to male jaguar Kaloa and male and female jaguar pair Stewie and Johar.
Located on the northwest end of the Rainforest of the Americas area that opened last year, the habitat features a waterfall, swimming pool and deadwood trees for climbing amid a landscape of tall grasses, shrubs, ficus trees and banana plants.
The habitat also has an 1,800-square-foot animal holding space with six “bedrooms” and a day room, located outside of the exhibit area.
Zoo visitors will be able to see the jaguars through a glass viewing area and learn about the cats through interpretive graphics.
Jaguars are considered a “near threatened” species. They once lived throughout central and south America, as well as in southwestern United States, where jaguars are now believed to be extinct.
Jaguars are now mostly found in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil, and the countries of Mexico, Guatemala and Argentina.
“This new habitat allows the zoo to work more intensely with jaguars while sharing with the public this important keystone predator that helps to maintain balance in New World tropical ecosystems,” Los Angeles Zoo Director John Lewis said.
Jaguars are the largest cat species in the Americas and third largest in the world, with males weighing an average of 125-250 pounds.
Jaguars can live in rainforests, swamps, grasslands, scrublands, deserts and lowland semi-deciduous forests.
— City News Service