Although the jaguar once roamed from the southwestern United States to southern Argentina, the range of the Western Hemisphere’s largest cat has shrunk to less than 50 percent of its historical size — and no permanent populations of this species exist north of the Mexican state of Sonora.Ancient Mayas and Aztecs believed the coat of the jaguar symbolized the night sky. On Earth, the jaguar’s spots, known as rosettes, make the cat difficult to see in the mottled shade of its jungle habitat — obscuring it from prey and predator alike. But its camouflage can’t always protect it.