Iconic Mexican Jaguar: Cultural Symbol
Tara A. Spears
It’s taken decades but the Mexican population of jaguars is stable. Although jaguars are a protected species listed as endangered in 2002 (Semarnat), intense conservation efforts have enabled the jaguar populace to increase throughout Mexico. Modern human activity in its habitat has brought about a worrying decline in jaguar populations.
The Mexican initiative, the National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation, unites non-governmental and governmental organizations in a new and “ambitious” program aimed at saving these emblematic creatures. The importance of the Jaguar is not simply because it is the apex predator in North America but because the jaguar is deeply imbedded in Mexican art and culture.
The jaguar is the Americas’ largest and most powerful cat. For more than three thousand years it has been Mexico’s most enduring symbolic animal. The jaguar’s image, sometimes appearing alongside the smaller ocelot and the plain-coated puma, prowls the art of most ancient Mexican civilizations, from the Olmec to Maya to the Aztec.
According to National Geographic, the jaguar was more than just an animal; it was divine to the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica. Almost every ancient Mesoamerican civilization revered the jaguar in some way. This apex carnivore, with the strongest bite of all the big cats, once roamed from the southern United States, throughout Mexico and Central America to as far south as Argentina. Stealthy hunters with camouflaging coats and eyes that can see in the dark, jaguars easily take down prey anywhere—up in the trees, down on the ground, or even swimming in rivers.
The Maya also connected the magnificent feline’s abilities with various natural phenomena. The Maya believed that the jaguar’s ability to see at night made it possible for the jaguar to move between worlds, associating it with the underworld and mortality. Maya art and architecture are also filled with jaguars, the most famous perhaps is the red jaguar throne found in El Castillo, the great pyramid of Chichén Itzá, built more than 1,500 years ago.
To the ancient people the Jaguar was a symbol of strength. The jaguar became a universal symbol of political and military power. The jaguar’s association with both light and darkness gave it a complex, sacred energy and transmitted its qualities to the ruler, making the jaguar the ruler’s nahual—an alter ego, or a kind of protective animal counterpart.
The jaguar was also an icon for the brave hunter and warrior, who created military orders of jaguar soldiers. Their members were the most valiant and highly acclaimed. Gods, kings, warriors, and priests added the jaguar epithet to their names, burnishing their reputations with a symbol of prestige and power. In Maya civilization only kings could don their spotted pelts.
The jaguar was believed to be an animal of the stars as well as of the earth, playing a highly prominent role in the mythology of the Aztec and Mexica peoples roughly 700 years ago. Jaguar dens are sometimes found in caves, which linked them to the earth and fertility: The fierce Aztec earth goddess Tlaltecuhtli is often represented with a jaguar’s claws. The cat’s dual nature connected it to transitions, like the daily cycle of the sun rising to usher in the day and setting as it gave way to night. In time the jaguar became absorbed into a complex dual mythology, representing both light and darkness, heaven and earth.
The Mexica had another myth to explain the animal’s characteristic “stained” pelt: When the gods created the sun and moon, the jaguar was thrown onto the sacred fire and came back to life in the flames with its fur spotted and singed.
Even in the 21st century, people continue to venerate this powerful cat. Today in the Mexican province of Guerrero, rain festivals are held in which people dress as jaguars and engage in ritual battles. A large number of Central Americans still deeply believe that the enigmatic presence of this animal draws from the wisdom of a sacred universe beyond human understanding.
As of the Second National Census of Jaguars 2018, carried out by the Institute of Ecology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the Mexican Jaguar population is stable with approximately 4,800 wild jaguars.
The first Nayarit jaguar was fitted with a GPS collar in 2015. “We’re committed to immediately transmitting the information we’re receiving to the Transportation and Communication Secretariat (SCT by its acronym in Spanish) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) in order for them to compare it with the environmental impact statement they have,” added Saracho current director of Semarnat.
All animals are the jaguar’s prey, but it is prey to none. Only human beings kill jaguars, which may explain why indigenous Mexican people regard humans and jaguars as spiritual equals. Thinking about the world in this traditional way, every man carries the jaguar within himself, and every jaguar may be a man in disguise. It is no wonder then that the jaguar creates awe and fear when suddenly encountered in the depths of the tropical rainforest. Or why it is so important to protect the magnificent Jaguar from extinction.
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