Cat of the Americas: teacher key

Jaguars, grade 4 edition, written for 4th grade. The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas. Learn how to tell it from a leopard, and how it lives.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Which cats are bigger than a jaguar?
   • Leopards and cheetahs
   • Lions and tigers (answer)
   • Only house cats
2. Where do leopards live?
   • Africa and Asia (answer)
   • The Americas
   • The Amazon
3. A cat has a spot inside each rosette. Which cat is it more likely to be?
   • A leopard
   • A lion
   • A jaguar (answer)
4. What does melanistic mean?
   • Colored black (answer)
   • Very large
   • Good at hiding
5. What is a black panther?
   • Its own kind of cat
   • A name for black leopards and black jaguars (answer)
   • A cat from Asia only
6. How does a jaguar hunt?
   • By sneaking close and then pouncing (answer)
   • By running for hours
   • By hunting in a group

Words

• rosettes: dark spots
• melanistic: colored black
• territory: its own area
• pouncing: jumping at
• rainforests: wet, thick forests