Jaguar

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A jaguar, f, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a large, quadrupedal feline that is carnivorous and can be seen via infravision like all felines.

A jaguar has two claw attacks and a bite attack.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Jaguars have infravision.

Generation

Randomly generated jaguars are always created hostile.

Strategy

Though they have the weakest attacks of the big cats in their monster class, jaguars are still fairly strong and fast at 15 speed, and can seriously endanger a hero that is lower-leveled and/or has poor AC.

History

The jaguar first appears in Hack 1.21, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack. In this game, it uses the J glyph; from Hack for PDP-11 and Hack 1.0 to NetHack 2.3e, it uses the j glyph. NetHack 3.0.0 moves the jaguar to the feline monster class and gives it its current glyph.

Origin

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a large cat species of the genus Panthera, and is the only living member native to the Americas. With a body length of up to 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) and a weight of up to 158 kg (348 lb), it is the biggest cat species in the Americas and the third-largest in the world. A jaguar has a distinctively marked coat that features pale yellow to tan colored fur, covered by spots that transition to rosettes on the sides; some jaguars instead have a melanistic black coat.

The jaguar inhabits a variety of forested and open terrains, but its preferred habitat is tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest, wetlands and wooded regions - its range extends from the Southwestern United States across Mexico and much of Central America, the Amazon rainforest and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. The jaguar has featured prominently in the mythology of indigenous peoples of the Americas, including those of the Aztec and Maya civilizations.

Jaguars are adept swimmers and largely solitary apex predators that hunt opportunistically, preferring stalk-and-ambush tactics. The jaguar has a powerful bite that allows it to pierce the carapaces of turtles and tortoises, and to employ an unusual killing method: it bites directly through the skull of mammalian prey between the ears to deliver a fatal blow to the brain. As a keystone species, it plays an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and in regulating prey populations—it is also threatened by habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and poaching for trade, and has been listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List since 2002.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, jaguars can generate in real zoos.[1] Werepanthers and weretigers summoning help have a 45 chance of generating a hostile jaguar on each applicable square[2][3] - a hero that gets lycanthropy from a werepanther or weretiger can summon jaguars as pets with the same probability by using the #monster extended command, which costs 10 power.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, jaguars appear among the random f that are part of the second quest monster class for Cavepeople and make up 6175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Caveman quest.

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, jaguars appear among the random f that are part of the second quest monster class for Cavepeople and make up 6175 (3%) of the monsters randomly generated on the Caveman quest, as in UnNetHack.

The jaguar is the second quest monster for Zookeepers, and makes up 24175 (14%) of the monsters randomly generated on the Zookeeper quest. Jaguars also appear among the random f that are part of the first quest monster class for the Zookeeper quest, and make up 24175 (14%) of the monsters randomly generated there.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, jaguars can jump after their targets.

Encyclopedia entry

Large, flesh-eating animal of the cat family, of Central and
South America. This feline predator (_Panthera onca_) is
sometimes incorrectly called a panther.

[ Van Dale's Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal ]

References