Jaguars in Mesoamerican cultures

[2] Quick, agile, and powerful enough to take down the largest prey in the jungle, the jaguar is the biggest felid in Central or South America,[3] and one of the most efficient and aggressive predators.

The jaguar's formidable size, reputation as a predator, and its evolved capacities to survive in the jungle made it an animal to be revered.

Integration of the jaguar into the sacred and secular realms of the Maya peoples is proven in the archaeological record.

One such god is Xbalanque, one of the Maya Hero Twins who descended to the underworld, and whose entire body is covered with patches of jaguar skin.

In addition, the Maya's source of fresh water comes from underground pools in the porous limestone that makes up the Yucatán, called cenotes.

Those who excelled in hunting and warfare often adorned themselves with jaguar pelts, teeth, or claws and were "regarded as possessing feline souls" (Saunders 1998: 26).

Archeologists have found a jar in Guatemala, attributed to the Maya of the Late Classic Era (600-900 AD), which depicts a musical instrument that has been reproduced and played.

Analysis of the animal bones has shown that while some of the jaguars had been wild shortly before burial, many had lived in captivity for a long time prior to being placed in the dedicatory cache.

The various sculpture, figurines, and celts from what now is recognized as the Olmec heartland on the southern Gulf Coast, reveal that these people knew their jungle companions well and incorporated them into their mythology.

In the surviving Olmec archaeological record, jaguars are rarely portrayed naturalistically, but rather with a combination of feline and human characteristics.