Apologies if the title comes off as rude, simply wanted to give the thread a title that grabs attention.
I have been looking through the forum to see if anyone pointed this out yet, and it actually surprised me a lot this wasn't brought up. Decided to create an account to bring it up myself.
So the issue is, jaguars are not habitual climbers. They can climb to a degree, so can lions and tigers, but they don't seek refuge in trees nor do they sleep in them. They don't feel comfortable in trees, so much so that for a long time it was erroneously thought they couldn't climb at all. Given how rare they do this has lead people to prove they actually can climb thick low lying branches of trees, usually dead ones similar to how lions sometimes do for play. Example for people looking to debunk: https://oncafarijaguarproject.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/jaguars-climb-trees/
Jaguars are not South American leopards. They are instead equivalent of lions and tigers in the Americas, apex land carnivore that usually doesn't get challenged for its kill. Therefore they didn't have to evolve characteristics and behavior to live in trees like the long tail leopards have for balance.
The game however, treats them as leopards by having them require actual climbing space. In reality, captive jaguars would only need as much "climbing space" as any big bear, lion or tiger would, including polar bears. Yes polar bears. All these animals would require the sort of elevated "activity space" comprised of boulders, ramps, logs, etc. for enrichment, rather than being actual arboreal space. This is why jaguars in the game should have 0 square meter climbing space needs but would climb if given the opportunity, having the animations. Just like how it is with lions, tigers and brown bears.
On the other hand, jaguars love water. All captive care documents recommend giving them pools to play and cool of in. Which is why they should have a small swimming space requirement instead. Probably something like what the Baird's tapir has, which was 20 square meters if I remember correctly. The game should instead use this behavior to provide unique requirements for them, instead of asking for an unrealistic climbing space need. Bengal tigers too, could to with the same amount of small swimming space.
Here's an example to those care manuals, this one by the AZA, showing jaguars would need swimming space in their enclosures but not climbing space: https://assets.speakcdn.com/assets/2332/jaguar_care_manual_2016.pdf
There is also one fun fact saying jaguars sleep in trees and hide their food up in trees, which is wrong. That fun fact would be for leopards.
Thank you for your attention.
-LUCA-
I have been looking through the forum to see if anyone pointed this out yet, and it actually surprised me a lot this wasn't brought up. Decided to create an account to bring it up myself.
So the issue is, jaguars are not habitual climbers. They can climb to a degree, so can lions and tigers, but they don't seek refuge in trees nor do they sleep in them. They don't feel comfortable in trees, so much so that for a long time it was erroneously thought they couldn't climb at all. Given how rare they do this has lead people to prove they actually can climb thick low lying branches of trees, usually dead ones similar to how lions sometimes do for play. Example for people looking to debunk: https://oncafarijaguarproject.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/jaguars-climb-trees/
Jaguars are not South American leopards. They are instead equivalent of lions and tigers in the Americas, apex land carnivore that usually doesn't get challenged for its kill. Therefore they didn't have to evolve characteristics and behavior to live in trees like the long tail leopards have for balance.
The game however, treats them as leopards by having them require actual climbing space. In reality, captive jaguars would only need as much "climbing space" as any big bear, lion or tiger would, including polar bears. Yes polar bears. All these animals would require the sort of elevated "activity space" comprised of boulders, ramps, logs, etc. for enrichment, rather than being actual arboreal space. This is why jaguars in the game should have 0 square meter climbing space needs but would climb if given the opportunity, having the animations. Just like how it is with lions, tigers and brown bears.
On the other hand, jaguars love water. All captive care documents recommend giving them pools to play and cool of in. Which is why they should have a small swimming space requirement instead. Probably something like what the Baird's tapir has, which was 20 square meters if I remember correctly. The game should instead use this behavior to provide unique requirements for them, instead of asking for an unrealistic climbing space need. Bengal tigers too, could to with the same amount of small swimming space.
Here's an example to those care manuals, this one by the AZA, showing jaguars would need swimming space in their enclosures but not climbing space: https://assets.speakcdn.com/assets/2332/jaguar_care_manual_2016.pdf
There is also one fun fact saying jaguars sleep in trees and hide their food up in trees, which is wrong. That fun fact would be for leopards.
Thank you for your attention.
-LUCA-