Cougar and jaguar are often used to refer to the same animal, Panthera onca. The jaguar is a large cat in the Americas, so named because it lives in the Americas. In different regions it may be called a cougar, a jaguar or, in the northwest, a leopard. In China, it is also known as the Jaguar.
Lions, tigers and leopards are all big cats, but they are all different species. Jaguars are a separate species from African lions and Asian tigers.
Generally speaking, the terms cougar and jaguar are more colloquial terms that actually refer to the same animal, the jaguar.
