Species comparison
Lion vs Jaguar
A side-by-side look at Panthera leo and Panthera onca across body measurements, habitat, diet, behaviour and conservation status.
At a glance
- The lion averages about 2 times the body mass of the jaguar.
- Both species use savanna and dry forest.
- Their ranges do not overlap: Lion lives in Africa and Asia, Jaguar in North America and South America.
- Red List categories differ: Lion is listed as Vulnerable, Jaguar as Near Threatened.
Identification
How each species is named and classified.
Lion
Panthera leo
Jaguar
Panthera onca
Lion
Panthera
Jaguar
Panthera
Lion
Panthera lineage
Jaguar
Panthera lineage
Lion
Big cats
Jaguar
Big cats
Lion
African lion, Asiatic lion
Jaguar
El tigre, Onça-pintada
Body and movement
Published field measurements for adults. Ranges cover both sexes unless noted.
Lion
5 ft 3 in – 8 ft 2 in (160–250 cm) Longer
Jaguar
3 ft 7 in – 6 ft 1 in (110–185 cm)
Lion
2 ft 4 in – 3 ft 5 in (70–105 cm) Longer
Jaguar
18 in – 2 ft 6 in (45–75 cm)
Lion
3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 1 in (100–125 cm) Taller
Jaguar
2 ft 1 in – 2 ft 6 in (63–76 cm)
Lion
243–496 lb (110–225 kg) Heavier
Males typically 150–225 kg, females 110–152 kg.
Jaguar
99–265 lb (45–120 kg)
Pantanal males are the heaviest; Central American animals are markedly smaller.
Lion
50 mph (80 km/h)
Sustained only for short charges of a few hundred feet.
Jaguar
50 mph (80 km/h)
Brief sprints only; jaguars are ambush hunters in dense cover.
Life span
Typical adult longevity. Figures for managed care come from zoo and sanctuary records.
Lion
12–16 years Longer
Jaguar
12–15 years
Lion
20–25 years Longer
Jaguar
20–23 years
Habitat and range
Where each species lives and the conditions it tolerates.
Lion
savanna, grassland, dry forest, semi-arid scrub
Open and lightly wooded landscapes with water and abundant grazing herds. Lions avoid closed rainforest and true desert interiors, but persist in arid systems such as the Kalahari where prey concentrates seasonally.
Jaguar
tropical rainforest, wetland, dry forest, mangrove, savanna
Strongly associated with water: floodplains, riverine forest, seasonally flooded grassland and swamp forest support the highest densities recorded for the species.
Lion
Africa, Asia
Fragmented populations across sub-Saharan Africa, with strongholds in southern and eastern Africa. A single Asiatic population survives in and around the Gir landscape of Gujarat, India.
Jaguar
North America, South America
From northern Mexico — with occasional records in Arizona and New Mexico — through Central America to northern Argentina. The Amazon basin and the Pantanal hold the largest remaining populations.
Diet and behaviour
Feeding ecology, social organisation and hunting technique.
Lion
large ungulates, medium ungulates, carrion
Zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, gemsbok and warthog dominate the diet where available. Lions readily appropriate kills made by hyaenas, cheetahs and wild dogs.
Jaguar
medium ungulates, reptiles, small mammals, fish
Capybara, peccary, caiman, giant anteater, armadillo, turtles and fish. More than eighty prey species have been recorded across the range.
Lion
Social — lives in prides
Prides usually hold three to twelve related adult females plus dependent young; males live in coalitions and defend access to one or more prides. Roaring maintains spacing between groups and can carry several miles at night.
Jaguar
Solitary
Adults hold overlapping home ranges and communicate through scrapes, scent marking and a sawing call. Extended male associations have been documented in the Pantanal, which is unusual for the species.
Lion
Nocturnal and crepuscular
Most hunting happens between dusk and dawn, with peaks in dark, moonless conditions. Daylight hours are spent resting, often for twenty hours in hot weather.
Jaguar
Cathemeral, peaking at dawn and dusk
Activity shifts with prey and disturbance; jaguars in undisturbed wetlands often hunt in daylight, while those near settlements become largely nocturnal.
Lion
Cooperative stalk and ambush
Females often hunt together, with individuals taking consistent flanking or centre positions. Cooperation raises success rates against large prey such as buffalo, which single lions rarely tackle.
Jaguar
Ambush with a skull-piercing bite
Jaguars stalk close, often from water or dense vegetation, and frequently attack from above or behind. Caiman and turtles are killed with a direct bite through bone or shell.
Lion
Limited
Adults climb heavily and infrequently, although the tree-resting lions of Lake Manyara and Queen Elizabeth National Park show the behaviour is learned locally.
Jaguar
Strong More developed
Confident climbers that rest and ambush from branches, though they cache prey on the ground far more often than leopards do.
Lion
Limited
Lions swim when they must cross channels, as in the Okavango Delta, but avoid deep water where possible.
Jaguar
Exceptional More developed
Jaguars swim across major rivers, hunt in shallow water and have been filmed diving after caiman.
Conservation
Red List category, population direction and the pressures documented for each species.
Lion
VU — Vulnerable
Assessed 2023
Jaguar
NT — Near Threatened
Assessed 2017
Lion
Decreasing
Jaguar
Decreasing
Lion
Habitat conversion, Prey depletion, Retaliatory killing after livestock loss, Poorly regulated hunting, Trade in bones and body parts
The species has disappeared from the large majority of its historical range and now survives mostly inside or beside protected areas. West African populations are of particular concern, and the Asiatic population depends on a single landscape.
Jaguar
Deforestation for pasture and soy, Retaliatory killing by ranchers, Trade in teeth and other parts, Prey depletion, Road and dam construction
Still widespread in Amazonia, but the species has been lost from roughly half its historical range, with severe fragmentation in Mexico, Central America, the Atlantic Forest and the Argentine Chaco.
Notable traits
Details that do not fit neatly into a measurement table.
Lion
- A lion roar is produced by an unusually elastic, square-shaped vocal fold that allows loud calls at low effort.
- Prides fission and fuse: members frequently split into smaller subgroups for days at a time rather than travelling as one unit.
- Asiatic lions are on average smaller than southern African lions and typically show a longitudinal fold of skin along the belly.
Jaguar
- Melanistic jaguars — the so-called black panthers of the Americas — still carry rosettes, visible in raking light.
- The Pantanal supports some of the highest jaguar densities recorded anywhere, and its animals are the heaviest on average.
- Jaguars are one of the few cats known to prey routinely on large reptiles, including adult caiman.
Sources used for this comparison
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Global assessment categories, population trends and documented threats.
- IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group Species accounts, distribution notes and Cat News reporting for every wild felid.
- Panthera Field research programmes and species profiles for big and small wild cats.
- Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute Body measurements, longevity records and life-history notes.
- World Wildlife Fund Range descriptions, threat summaries and conservation programme reporting.
- Wildlife Conservation Society Field programmes, camera-trap surveys and population monitoring.
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Federal listing status and recovery planning for cats occurring in the United States.