The third largest current felid, after the lion (Panthera leo) and the tiger (Panthera tigris), the jaguar (Panthera onca) is the only Pantherinae in America. It arrived there through the Bering Strait at the end of the Tertiary era and migrated south when the Isthmus of Panama emerged. Its current range extends from southern Arizona and New Mexico to northern Argentina and northeastern Brazil. Its ideal habitat combines an adequate supply of water (streams, lagoons, swamps), a thick ground cover for hunting and a sufficient amount of preys for food. It is therefore found in dense forests, tropical rainforests, reed thickets, coastal forests and swamps.