You can see a lot of similarities between a big cat and your house cat, but meowing wasn't one of them, until maybe now. According to IFLScience, jaguars were caught on camera in Brazil making vocalizations that sound like meows.
It was believed that jaguars and other big cats, such as lions, leopards, snow leopards, and tigers, were not able to meow because of their larger vocal cords, but could growl. The footage caught in Iguaçu National Park of two different jaguars seems to debunk that theory.
Twenty-nine cameras were placed about 0.6 to 1.2 miles apart to monitor these big cats. In April 2022, an adult female was seen walking past the camera and made three vocalizations. In December, the same jaguar walked by making a sound for 0.7 seconds. It was filmed a few days earlier with a cub estimated to be about 2 months old.
Another jaguar thought to be about 1 year old was filmed with its sister, making four vocalizations. It is believed their mother was nearby because at this age, they are gaining their independence while still staying close to her.
The sounds these cats made sounded like meows, despite jaguars not being known to make this sound before.
"As far as we know, this is the first time that jaguars have been recorded using this kind of communication, which we are incredibly excited about," said Dr. Marina Duarte, a research fellow at the University of Salford, in a statement.
The researchers believe they are using these sounds to find their young and have published their findings in the journal Behaviour.
"This research really deepens our knowledge of how big cats can communicate," said Duarte, per IFLScience.
These cameras are crucial for understanding and protecting wildlife. While jaguars are not endangered, according to the World Wildlife Fund, they are classified as near threatened, and their populations are decreasing quickly because of habitat loss and conflicts with local communities and farmers. They now have less than half their historical range.
These trail cameras have also captured rare and endangered animals. For example, in India, a rusty-spotted cat was seen on camera. They're shy and nocturnal, so it's hard to catch a glimpse of them. That's why these cameras are so handy, because they can go where people can't.
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In Turkey, an endangered yellow-spotted salamander was seen in front of a home. These cameras can help monitor increases or declines in these endangered species without encroaching on their territory.
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