Jaguar Earrings

The jaguar is currently valued by academics and the general public alike for its ecological role as a focal species and as a symbol of biodiversity conservation.

As a spotted being, the jaguar resembles the moon to the Embera (Rocha 2010); it is a creature with stealthy eyes and the protector of the Uriana clan in Wayúu culture (Arocha and Friedemann 1982); a central element of the Newuju Monowi—or "jaguar clan"—of the Sikuani people (Suárez 1996; Guzmán 2004); and a figure associated with thunder and the creation of fertility and fecundity among the Páez, Ette, Barí, and Yukpa peoples (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1970; Guzmán 2004; Rocha 2010).