Forest Officer Asks Users To Differentiate Between Jaguar And Leopard

Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Parveen Kaswan has shared an image on Twitter that has left social media users scratching their heads. The photo shows two big cats - a leopard and a jaguar - with the spots on their backs visible. Mr Kaswan has asked his followers and other Twitter users to identify the correct species based on the patterns on their bodies. Since being posted on Monday morning, the tweet has received more than 5,700 likes and over 270 retweets. 

"Lets see how many can identify. Which one of them is Jaguar & which one is Leopard. The pattern makes the difference, apart from other things," Mr Kaswan said in his tweet.

Lets see how many can identify. Which one of them is Jaguar & which one is Leopard. The pattern makes the difference, apart from other things. pic.twitter.com/C68YIlDKCC

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) November 28, 2022

Twitter users looked very interested in taking the quiz. And many of them correctly identified the two big cats.

"Very easy to identify. Basic difference: Leopard : the spots on them "aren't of big size" and the "gap between two spots is very less". Jaguar : "spots are big" and "gap between two spots is also big" compared with "leopard," said one user.

"While leopards are covered in more solid spots and rosettes. Jaguars sport blocky rosettes with distinct internal spots. Jaguars on average are stockier and heavier than leopards and have a distinctive blockiness to their heads," said another.

National Geographic has a dedicated page on the two animals, which describes their physical attributes. The wildlife magazine says that both big cats are muscular ambush predators with spotted coats and a very similar appearance.

"Jaguars live in Central and South America, where they are the largest big cats, while leopards are the smallest big cats in their habitat of Africa and Asia," said its website.

It added that jaguars are bigger and bulkier than leopards, weighing up to 250 pounds compared to the 175-pound leopard. They also have strongest bite force of any big cat.