Jaguars in the United States

Luke ReaganExplorer and independent anthropologist known online as Luke Caverns; YouTuber and History Channel guest expert focused on the ancient Americas

• Reagan argues that the mound builders' underwater panther myth depicts a jaguar, not an eastern cougar.

  “which is this panther that would go and be under the water and then come up and be on the upper world, that's not a cougar”

  Danny Jones Podcast: #448 - Lost 6,000 Year Old 'Pyramid City' Just Found in North America | Luke Reagan (Nov 13, 2026) · Listen from 2:51:47

• Reagan rejects the conventional reading of jaguar gorgets found in Missouri and says jaguars lived there around 250 BC.

  “There were fucking jaguars in Missouri in 250 BC, absolutely for sure”

  Danny Jones Podcast: #448 - Lost 6,000 Year Old 'Pyramid City' Just Found in North America | Luke Reagan (Nov 13, 2026) · Listen from 2:51:31

• Reagan concludes that jaguars ranged from North Carolina to Florida.

  “And so without a doubt, dude, Jaguars were all the way up in North Carolina, all the way down in Florida”

  Danny Jones Podcast: #448 - Lost 6,000 Year Old 'Pyramid City' Just Found in North America | Luke Reagan (Nov 13, 2026) · Listen from 24:09

• Reagan argues that John Lawson's account of a large cat makes it indisputable that jaguars lived in the Carolinas.

  “I don't even know why this is disputed among wildlife biologists. Like it should be basically printed in a textbook that this is a fact”

  Danny Jones Podcast: #448 - Lost 6,000 Year Old 'Pyramid City' Just Found in North America | Luke Reagan (Nov 13, 2026) · Listen from 23:55