Jaguarundi

The jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi) is a small wild cat native to Central and South America. It is a smaller relative of the better-known cougar, and has many local names.^[3]

Jaguarundi
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	Felinae
Genus:	Herpailurus
Species:	H. yagouaroundi[2]
Binomial name
Herpailurus yagouaroundi[2] (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803)
Distribution of the Jaguarundi, 2015[1]
Synonyms
Species synonymy Felis yagouaroundi Geoffroy, 1803 Felis unicolor Thraill, 1819 Felis eyra Fischer, 1814 Felis cacomitli Berlandier, 1859 Felis apache Mearns, 1901 Felis fossata Mearns, 1901 Felis panamensis Allen, 1904 Puma yaguaroundi Lacépède, 1809; Desmarest, 1816

The cat is still widespread throughout the Amazon Basin, and is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002.^[1] It is sometimes found in Mexico and southern Texas, and as far south as northern Argentina and these cats have been introduced to the state of Florida and state of Alabama in 1980's.

Jaguarundis are mostly daytime animals. They are comfortable in trees, but hunt on the ground.

According to a 2006 genomic study of Felidae, an ancestor of today's Leopardus, Lynx, Puma, Prionailurus, and Felis lines migrated across the Bering land bridge into the Americas about 8.0 to 8.5 million years ago.^[4]