if you came upon a jaguar and a leopard, how could you tell one from the other?

Answer 1

If you are in South America, it is a jaguar. If you are in Africa, it is a leopard.
If you don't know where you are, then generally jaguars have a heavier look and a spot inside the ring-type or "rosette" spot. See link.

Answer 2

Well to start they live in different areas.

However if you were in some location and had the two before you the most simple way is the spots.

Leopards have a round circle with an empty center for a spot.
Jags have the same round circle however in the center there is a dot. Of course keeping in mind that not all the spots in both form full circles and some are so small they are just dots.

When I was little I always remembered it this way.... take the lowercase letters of their names, "l" and "j". The lowercase "j" has a dot and the "l" does not, just like their spots.

Answer 3

According to wikipedia "The jaguar closely resembles the leopard, but is sturdier and heavier, and the two animals can be distinguished by their rosettes: the rosettes on a jaguar's coat are larger, fewer in number, usually darker, and have thicker lines and small spots in the middle that the leopard lacks. Jaguars also have rounder heads and shorter, stockier limbs compared to leopards."

Although frankly if I found myself face to face with two large carnivores then classification would not be my first thought ^_^

Answer 4

if you look at the main body spots, the jaguar has a black spot or black spots inside the rosette. Also, if you see them in person (it's harder to tell from a photo), the animals truely don't look alike. The jaguar has a rounder, heavier head and has a completely different look (when you look it in the eyes).

Answer 5

one is blk the other is spotted brown