Another Arizona Jaguar!

DavidBrown said:
@Ian: This article addresses your question. The conclusion of the article is that if jaguars aren't eliminated that they may recolonize on their own.

Are Wild Jaguars Moving Back Into the U.S.?
Click to expand...

It's an 8-year old article, so we can't be sure how valid the conclusions are. Well, that's my opinion anyway, and I'll tell you why: Isn't the Mexico-USA border heavily patrolled by border security and nationalists? Surely there should be more documented sightings?
 
nanoboy said:
It's an 8-year old article, so we can't be sure how valid the conclusions are. Well, that's my opinion anyway, and I'll tell you why: Isn't the Mexico-USA border heavily patrolled by border security and nationalists? Surely there should be more documented sightings?
Click to expand...

@nanoboy: much of the border area is rugged wilderness and jaguars are very elusive critters. The border is 3,169 km (1,969 mi) long. It is entirely possible that there have been several jaguars popping back and forth between the US and Mexico without being detected. In California there are at least dozens, if not hundreds, of mountain lions living in relatively close proximity to major cities and they are hardly ever seen.
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/lion/lion_faq.html
 
It is strange that there is aura of uncertainity about such a big animal in such a populated region as Arizona and neighboring Mexico. Jaguars are easily detected by footprints. The problems are: lack of searches of biologists, access to the border is difficult due to security (and soldiers and drug smugglers are uninterested in jaguars) and unofficial policy in some U.S. government agencies to prevent Endangered Species Act kicking in.

I wouldn't be surprised if breeding group of Jaguars were living in the U.S. for some time.
 
DavidBrown said:
@nanoboy: much of the border area is rugged wilderness and jaguars are very elusive critters. The border is 3,169 km (1,969 mi) long. It is entirely possible that there have been several jaguars popping back and forth between the US and Mexico without being detected. In California there are at least dozens, if not hundreds, of mountain lions living in relatively close proximity to major cities and they are hardly ever seen.
Commonly Asked Questions about Mountain Lions
Click to expand...

Fair points. I did not realise that the border was so porous. New articles and movies gave me the impression that border was heavily patrolled. I didn't even realise it was that long a border! In the absence of a fence along the entire border, then it seems logical that jaguars could move back and forth.
 
Chlidonias said:
been watching Machete have we? :D
Click to expand...

Top movie! :D

But I was thinking of 'Heartbreak Kid' with Ben Stiller, who had to try many many times to cross the border; I was also thinking of an episode of South Park from a few weeks ago about border patrol guards now working to keep illegal Mexicans IN America, because the cheap labour was trying to flee America's crappy economy. :D
 
The UA Wild Cat Center just received a US Fish and Wildlife grant to do a MAJOR camera trap study along a huge swath of mountain ranges from south-central Arizona east to New Mexico. This is just about to get underway, so hopefully in a year or so we will have a better idea of how many jaguars are out here in America.
 
Arizona Docent said:
The UA Wild Cat Center just received a US Fish and Wildlife grant to do a MAJOR camera trap study along a huge swath of mountain ranges from south-central Arizona east to New Mexico. This is just about to get underway, so hopefully in a year or so we will have a better idea of how many jaguars are out here in America.
Click to expand...

This sounds really great. If you have access to how this project goes as data comes in it would be great if you could update us (assuming that the data is for public knowledge which I assume that it should be if being paid for with federal taxpayer $$$).
 
DavidBrown said:
Great find Saro. Thanks for posting the link.
Click to expand...

I would say only the camera trap survey may determine without a doubt whether or not the transient population in the southern US consists only of transient males. As has been observed before there are huge swathes of scrub forests and ... the Border Police at any one time has a huge issue patrolling it ..., so missing an elusive cat species like jaguar is MORE than a LITTLE possible.
 
Good Information on the Jaguar Norteño project can be found on the site of Naturalia at Naturalia. It is in spanish, but perhaps google translation can help. Go to the conservacion link and there go to jaguar norteño link. It is something to remember that it was only in 2001 when the jaguar s in Sonora state were actually registered scientifically and the largest protected area for the jaguar norteño was only established in 2004. The jaguars that reach Arizona are from the Sonora population, of course.
As members of a global site, fellow zoochaters do remember that America is from the Yukon to Patagonia.
 
Yes, good info. Naturalia has a U.S. fundraising partner based in my city of Tucson, a group called Northern Jaguar Project. Here is their website, which likely has much of the Naturalia info but in English.

Northern Jaguar Project – A binational effort to save the northernmost jaguar population

Here is another article about the new camera trap project; this article is from the University of Arizona newspaper. The UA Wild Cat Center is leading this new camera trap project. I have worked with them in supplying photos for an exhibition on campus and the director (a friend of mine) asked if she could use a couple of my photos for this article. The top photo of the jaguar stalking was taken at Chester Zoo (England) and the bottom photo of the jaguar in the tree was taken at the old (Fountain Hills) location of Out Of Africa (Arizona, USA).

UA to Study Jaguar Presence in the Southwest | UANews.org
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top