More than 25 years of experience illustrate how to live successfully in a landscape with jaguars, just as they’re starting to return to the United States.
Humans and jaguars can coexist, even in areas where livestock is a priority.
As a biologist, I’ve spent the past 25 years working on issues related to jaguar conservation in South and Central America. I’ve seen how people and big cats can share the same land, to the benefit of both species.
Now that jaguars (Panthera onca) have started returning to the United States, with three documented big cats since 2015, the same thing can happen here.
It seems there are a lot of “what if” concerns about living with jaguars in the United States — questions that stem, in many ways, from one important fact: Jaguars have been gone from the American landscape for so long that we’ve forgotten they were ever here.
In fact, we have solid evidence of jaguars all around areas like central New Mexico, the Gila Wilderness complex, the rugged Mogollon rim in Arizona and the adjacent forests. Not that many records, but enough, and trustworthy examples.
Humans and Jaguars Can Live Together — Here’s How • The Revelator
Humans and jaguars can coexist, even in areas where livestock is a priority.
As a biologist, I’ve spent the past 25 years working on issues related to jaguar conservation in South and Central America. I’ve seen how people and big cats can share the same land, to the benefit of both species.
Now that jaguars (Panthera onca) have started returning to the United States, with three documented big cats since 2015, the same thing can happen here.
It seems there are a lot of “what if” concerns about living with jaguars in the United States — questions that stem, in many ways, from one important fact: Jaguars have been gone from the American landscape for so long that we’ve forgotten they were ever here.
In fact, we have solid evidence of jaguars all around areas like central New Mexico, the Gila Wilderness complex, the rugged Mogollon rim in Arizona and the adjacent forests. Not that many records, but enough, and trustworthy examples.
Humans and Jaguars Can Live Together — Here’s How • The Revelator