25 Most Dangerous Animals in the World

1. Jaguar

Dangerous Because of: Bite force of 2000 PSI and instantaneous killing

The word ‘jaguar’ comes from the indigenous word ‘Yaguar’, which means ‘he who kills with one leap’. The jaguars’ stronghold is in Brazil, it may hold around half of the estimated 170,000 wild jaguars. Most of these big cats are found in the Amazon rainforest and the Pantanal, the largest tropical wetland. They can grow up to 170cm long, not including their impressive tails which can be up to 80cm. Jaguars are opportunistic hunters and can prey upon almost anything they come across. Capybaras, deer, tortoises, iguanas, armadillos, fish, birds, and monkeys are just some of the prey that jaguars eat. They can even tackle South America’s largest animal, the tapir, and huge predators like caiman. Jaguar attacks on humans rarely occur in the wild. When they do, they are often fatal. Jaguars hunt both in the day and at night and usually travel up to 10km (over 6 miles) a night when hunting and they have a bite force of 2000 PSI, the highest of all the big cats. During a hunt, jaguars take advantage of their strong jaws and sharp teeth. They catch their prey by the head and chop down to make the kill. Other cats go for the neck when killing prey.

Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash

Disclosure: None. 25 Most Dangerous Animals in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey.