Plants | NORTHERN JAGUAR PROJECT

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Plant 1

by NJP | Jul 17, 2021

In 1958, an archaeologist uncovered a carved conch shell pendant in a rock-and-earth mound in Missouri. This gorget revealed unmistakable features of a jaguar: the nature of its spots, body shape, head, ears, and tail. Although no one knows the exact age or origin, it parallels important religious motifs seen throughout Mesoamerica, where the jaguar is a powerful symbol of the underworld and figured in countless Mayan glyphs. NJP received permission from the University of Missouri to use the image as our logo.

The Northern Jaguar Reserve is on the traditional lands of the Ópata people. At the Northern Jaguar Project, we recognize and respect the long history of this land and the connections that the Ópata and other Indigenous peoples have to this place.