Jaguar claws are wicked works of art. The brawny cats use these blade-sharp toenails to climb the trunks of tropical trees, where they wait to ambush tapirs, deer and peccaries. On the pounce, a jaguar’s fangs — driven by the cat world’s most powerful jaws — go to work, piercing the prey’s skull for a single-bite kill. But it’s the claw at hand that has me enthralled. I run my finger down the smooth, hooked front and test the point, sensing that the slightest pressure would have it tearing through my skin. I’m lost for a moment, comparing my woefully useless human nail to this terrible, terribly functional tool. Then a sudden primordial chill tingles deep inside me. I lift my eyes and meet an intense golden stare — I’d almost forgotten that the claw I’m fondling remains attached to a live jaguar.
Fortunately, the jaguar in question is Junior Buddy, and he’s a real pussycat. Junior’s beefy paw hangs high-fived against the wire fence of his management area while a zookeeper hand-feeds him chicken feet. Born here at the Belize Zoo three years ago, Junior serves not only as a star attraction and an ambassador for his species but also as a purring, prowling example of the zoo’s success at saving these awesome animals.
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