A track from the Knights of the Jaguar EP from The Aztec Mystic.

Jaguar became a huge success in the summer of 1999. This was perhaps due to it blending disco, house and Detroit elements together into something nearly every DJ could play and all audiences would enjoy. A year and a half later you could still hear Jaguar being played in parties, and leaving out DJs' personal favorites that is quite a long life span for this kind of music.

The partygoers were not the only ones interested in the EP, however. Dirk Dreyer, an A&R manager at Sony Music's Dance Division, informed Underground Resistance in December 1999 that his company would soon be releasing a cover version of Jaguar. While no licencing offer was ever made from Sony, mr. Dreyer said he knew for a fact UR would never give their releases for wider distribution. His solution? A tone-to-tone copy of which he wouldn't have to pay the original artist a dime.

The new single was released the same month By Sony Music Germany, with no mention whatsoever about the original recording. After a huge uproar by angry emails and letters, Sony apparently recalled the record.
It was too early for UR to declare victory, though. Sony quietly made a deal with an another record company BMG, to move the two producers responsible for the "cover" version to their "custody" and make it a BMG release.

The vinyl and CD singles featuring terrible sounding (not to mention unauthorized) europop versions of the already legendary Jaguar were released in January 2000, with the producer duo from Frankfurt now calling themselves Type. Despite numerous contacting attempts, protests and petitions, the record was not recalled. As far as I know, neither DJ Rolando nor Underground Resistance have received any restitution from the major companies stealing their work.

On a personal note, I find this whole incident deeply disturbing. A brilliant tune being ripped off just to make loads of $$$ using dirty tactics can not be forgiven.
Boycott Sony Music Europe/US and BMG.

You can find a lot more info, including original correspondence between the labels, on the following page:
http://www.renegaderhythms.com/articles/ur/ur.html

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a member of the cat family (Felidae), and is the largest representative of this family in the western hemisphere. They are native to Mexico, Amazonia, Venezuela and the Guianas (historically, their range was far greater; see Conservation status).

General biology and behaviour

Jaguars are roaring cats, like the lion, tiger and leopard, and are truly spectacular animals. Adult males average 200 pounds (85 kg) or more, while females average around 150 pounds (70 kg). The size of individuals varies with their geographic location (northern specimens are smaller than those in the south) and their habitat. Those living in heavily forested areas are smaller than those living in or near the open.

When compared to the other members of the genus, jaguars have shorter legs and a more stocky build. They have a spotted coat, but an appearance significantly different than the other spotted cats, the leopard and the cheetah. Their coat is covered in broken-edged rosettes that contain the black spots, giving the appearance of a mosaic. The cheetah and leopard, on the other hand, simply have their spots distributed more or less evenly along a solid background. The southern jaguars also have a relatively high natural rate of melanism, meaning there are pure black specimens regularly observed in the wild.

The jaguar is always associated with water. They swim well, and tend to inhabit the rain forest and flood plains or swamps. They have also been found in scrub lands and dry deciduous forests, but this is not considered optimal habitat. They tend to remain at relatively low elevations, remaining below 2700 meters above sea level (however, individuals have been found as high as 3800 meters in Costa Rica).

Jaguars are solitary, territorial animals. They come together as adults to breed, but otherwise live without contact with other jaguars. They mark their territories with urine and by scratching trees. Each jaguar will patrol a range of roughly 15 square kilometres, but in areas of high population density, certain portions of the range will be shared with other jaguars.

Female jaguars are capable of breeding year round, but research on a number of wild populations in South America has found that they time reproduction with the rainy season, so the female will have her cubs when food is most abundant. After copulation, a female will gestate for roughly 100 days, and then give birth to 1 to 4 cubs (the average is 2). These young will remain with their mother for 18-24 months, after which time they will leave to find their own territories. At this age, most females cubs are sexually mature, while males must attain an age of 3 to 4 years first.

Jaguars prey on a very diverse range of species. Adults will eat large prey, such as the peccary, deer, tapir and capybara. Given the size of the prey and the fact that they are solitary hunters, jaguars will often leave large animals in a cache for later consumption. They will also target cattle being farmed by the local populations, putting them into conflict with humans (see Conservation status). Their predatory strategy is fairly simple. They remain hidden, either in a tree or in the scrub brush, and ambush their prey. They are the only cat species which pierces the skull of its prey with its teeth in order to kill. Some scientists have hypothesized that this ability may have evolved as a result of the super-abundant reptilian prey available to jaguars during the late Pleistocene. As a final note, while rare, jaguars do in fact hunt and kill humans.

Finally, the jaguar is a top predator in all the ecosystems it inhabits. Not only do they play a crucial ecological role as the top predator (culling the weak and the sick), but some scientists maintain that they are in fact keystone predators, meaning their ecological importance outweighs their numbers or biomass. Many of the tropical food webs containing the jaguar go hopelessly out of balance when the cat is removed, having negative impacts on many other native species.

Taxonomy

Family: Felidae Subfamily: Pantherinae Genus: Panthera Species: onca There are several subspecies of jaguar, some no longer extant. These subspecies are: P. o. onca, P. o. arizonensis, P. o. centralis, P. o. goldmani, P. o. hernandesii, P. o. palustris, P. o. peruvianus, and P. o. veracucis. Some scientists, however, believe that there may be only two subspecies, and as is the case with subspecies classifications, modifications occur regularly. The above list represents the closest thing to a consensus, at present.

Their closest relatives are the other members of the genus Panthera: the lion, the leopard and the tiger.

Conservation status

The jaguar's range was, historically, from Texas and Arizona to Argentina. Their range has been reduced by over 50 percent in the past 500 years due to hunting and habitat destruction. However, the species was devastated in the 20th century as a result of a very active trade in jaguar pelts1. However, anti-fur campaigns in the 1970s dramatically reduced the value of these pelts, and thus the hunting of the species. At present, there are an estimated 15 000 jaguars living in the wild. However, high deforestation rates in the species' native range continues to place heavy pressure on the jaguar, and they are often shot on sight by cattle ranchers who fear for their livestock. Particularly concerning is that translocation of problem individuals does not seem to alleviate the problem; jaguars return to hunt the cattle in their original range. As such, many cattle ranchers in Venezuela and Brazil go so far as to hire hunting parties to pursue all jaguars local to the grazing lands of their cattle, whether the cattle are preyed upon or not. Finally, the jaguar is also pressured, although only slightly so, by competition for resources with indigenous populations.

The numbers of this species have become so reduced that they are classified as endangered (Appendix 1) by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), by the Mexico and US Fish and Wildlife Service, and as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Importance to humans

The jaguar is also known as El tigre, Frijolillo and Tigre leon across South America. They are venerated by indigenous peoples as gods, and some tribes believe that they not only devour the bodies of the living, but also the souls of the dead. The ruins in the Yucatan peninsula contain great deals of iconography, and the jaguar plays a particularly prominent role. The Mayans believed that the jaguar was a supernatural being who rose each day and prowled, like the sun, from east to west. Then, during the evening the jaguar sun fought with the lords of the underworld all night. Each evening, the jaguar won using its strength and cunning, thus ensuring that the sun rose each day. There are countless other stories and fables involving the jaguar, often with contrary messages.

1 I know I shouldn't, but I really can't help myself: Fuckers!


Information culled from
* http://lynx.uio.no/catfolk/onca-02.htm
* http://www.felidtag.org/pages/Educational/FactSheets/jaguar.htm
* http://greennature.com/article138.html
* http://www.gf.state.az.us/frames/fishwild/jaguar.htm
* http://www.oneworldjourneys.com/jaguar/jaguar.html

The Jaguar is a strike fighter similar to the MiG-27 Flogger and F-4 Phantom. It was jointly developed by Breguet and the British Aircraft Corporation, and currently serves in the Royal Air Force and Armée de l’Air, as well as in the air forces of India, Nigeria, Oman, and Ecuador. India also produces Jaguar copies called Shamshers.

The Jaguar program began in 1965, when both Britain and France's air forces needed an advanced training aircraft. Breguet and BAC founded a joint company called SEPECAT (Société européenne de production de l’avion d’école de combat and d’appui tactique, or European Company for the Production of Aircraft for the School of Combat and Tactical Support). Dassault later acquired Breguet, and BAC became British Aerospace, but SEPECAT remained intact for the duration of the program.

While the first Jaguar prototype took to the sky in September 1968, the aircraft didn't enter service until 1972, owing to disagreements between the two countries over whose contractors should make the parts. In the end, British Jaguars were built with British parts, and French Jaguars were built with French parts, making them subtly different but more or less identical to the untrained eye. During those four years, the Jaguar evolved from a simple jet trainer into an advanced close air support war machine.

France and Britain each ordered two hundred Jaguars. While the RAF still operates a large portion of its original Jaguar fleet alongside its Panavia Tornadoes, the French have replaced most of their Jaguars with Mirages and Dassault Rafales. India imported forty Jaguars and built 110 more under license.

Specifications

Powerplant: 2x Turbomeca/Rolls-Royce Adour 104 turbofans, 7,305 lb of thrust with afterburner
Wingspan: 28'6" (8,69m)
Length: 55'2.5" (16,83m)
Height: 15'9" (4,8m)
Empty Weight: 7.5 tons
Max Weight: 15 tons
Fuel capacity : 4,200 liters (7,800 with drop tanks) plus in-flight refuelling
Top speed: Mach 1.35 (990 mph, 1.593 kph) at 36,000ft (11 km)
Ceiling: 40,000 ft (12.2 km)

Ja*guar" (?), n. [Braz. yago�xa0;ra: cf. & Pg. jaguar.] Zool.

A large and powerful feline animal (Felis onca), ranging from Texas and Mexico to Patagonia. It is usually brownish yellow, with large, dark, somewhat angular rings, each generally inclosing one or two dark spots. It is chiefly arboreal in its habits. Called also the American tiger.

<-- now Panthera onca; also called panther -->

 

© Webster 1913.

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