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.
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.
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 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.