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Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers
- Curichi Las Garzas is a natural refuge where thousands of wood storks (Mycteria americana) arrive each year to reproduce before continuing their journey.
- Land grabbers have destroyed 300 of the protected area’s 1,247 hectares in the municipality of San Carlos, planting rice and soybean crops.
- The encroachers claim to have endorsement from the INRA (Bolivia’s National Institute of Agrarian Reform), but the INRA has denied this and has asked the mayor to intervene. In the last three months, more than 4,500 deforestation alerts have been recorded along with a peak of 42 fire alerts, the highest number for the last 10 years.
Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation
- Amboró National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area is located in the Santa Cruz department of central Bolivia, at the confluence of three different ecosystems: the Amazon, the northern Bolivian Chaco and the Andes.
- Amboró has been losing forest cover to illicit activities such as the cultivation of coca crops for the production of cocaine.
- National and departmental officials say Amboró authorities aren’t doing enough to keep encroachers out of the park.
- But rangers in Amboró say they don’t have enough resources to effectively enforce regulation.
In Brazil’s Amazon, a clandestine road threatens a pristine reserve
- Terra do Meio Ecological Station, a pristine reserve under federal protection, has suffered invasions amid efforts to open up an illegal road cutting through the rainforest.
- Much of the deforestation is spilling over from APA Triunfo do Xingu, a sustainable use reserve that has become one of the most deforested corners of the Amazon in recent years.
- Federal and state authorities have cracked down on environmental crime in the region, but experts say this has not been enough to halt the advance of the road or stop outsiders from turning forest into pasture.
- Environmentalists worry that, if invaders succeed in fully opening up the road, it would splinter an important ecological corridor meant to protect the region’s rich biodiversity and its Indigenous residents.
For Caatinga’s last jaguars and pumas, wind farms are the newest threat
- In 2013, it was estimated there were 250 jaguars and 2,500 pumas in the entire Caatinga biome in northeastern Brazil, but the numbers today are likely lower, conservation experts say.
- A growing threat to the big cats is the rapid growth of wind farms in this semiarid biome, with four operating in the Boqueirão da Onça protected area complex, the stronghold for both species in the Caatinga.
- The development of these installations comes with noise, deforestation, and loss of access for the big cats to water sources, which pushes them into closer proximity to human settlements, placing them in conflict with ranchers.
- Experts say there’s a general lack of public policies aimed at preserving the Caatinga, where less than 10% of the biome is protected yet hosts 85% of the country’s wind farms.
Researchers detect two of Suriname’s most powerful jaguar trafficking networks
- The findings of an investigation called “Operation Jaguar” shed light on the connections between the illegal trafficking of jaguar parts and other crimes, like human trafficking, drug trafficking, money laundering and illegal mining.
- The investigation also revealed how the illegal trade of jaguars has been integrated into international organized crime by involving several routes from Suriname to China.
- The investigation team recommends that authorities from different domains and different ministries support each other and work together to tackle this “convergence of crimes.”
Years of pioneering work make Brazil the model for reintroduction of jaguars
- The first male jaguar is set to be reintroduced into the Amazon in 2024, marking the latest in a list of the big cats who have returned to nature as a result of the pioneering work of the Onçafari organization.
- The project started in 2014, when two orphaned females were reintroduced into the Pantanal biome; within a few years, both gave birth to offspring, and these, in turn, had their own cubs.
- However, challenges are greater in the Amazon, such as the closed forest, which makes monitoring more difficult; the Onçafari team hopes to make the region a laboratory for reintroduction in even more complex biomes such as the Atlantic Forest.
- The Brazilian model for reintroducing jaguars is already being exported to other countries such as Argentina and Mexico.
Counting dead cats on Costa Rica’s highways: Q&A with Daniela Araya Gamboa
- In Costa Rica, biologist Daniela Araya Gamboa is working to protect wild cats from becoming victims of the highways.
- In 10 years of working, she has registered the highway deaths of almost 500 cats of six different species.
- Her team provides decision-makers with concrete evidence so they can find solutions.
Most of ‘top ten’ hotspots for jaguar conservation are in Brazil’s Indigenous territories
- Jaguars are essential to healthy ecosystems but have been eradicated from almost 50% of their historical range, and by some estimates, only 64,000 individuals remain.
- Brazil is home to half of the world’s jaguars, and a group of researchers has identified the highest-priority protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon for jaguar conservation.
- The top 10 highest-priority protected areas fall primarily across the arc of deforestation in southern and western Brazil, and eight of these are Indigenous territories.
- Researchers say conservation efforts must include strengthened participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities, increased funding and support for protected areas and environmental agencies, and the implementation of more robust environmental policies.
When nature gives them a chance to collab, jaguars aren’t so solitary after all
- A collaborative study has documented male jaguars engaging in cooperative behavior and forming multiyear partnerships in prey-rich areas in Venezuala’s Llanos and Brazil’s Pantanal.
- Though these partnerships remain rare, evidence of this and other cooperative behaviors challenges the notion that all felids, except for lions and cheetahs, are strictly solitary.
- The research reinforces the value of long-term studies using data from multiple sources to give a fuller understanding of a species’ ecology and behavior.
The illegal jaguar trade is thriving online. Why aren’t governments stopping it?
- A new report from the Wildlife Conservation Society analyzes the buying and selling of trafficked jaguar parts online, revealing that most of the activity is happening in Latin America with little or no response from law enforcement.
- Researchers reviewed online archives of popular social media sites and online marketplaces for posts related to jaguar sales between 2009 and 2019.
- Teeth and skins were the most traded parts, and were commonly destined for China and other Asian countries.
Ecotourism and education: Win-win solution for Pantanal jaguars and ranchers
- Conflicts between cattle ranchers and jaguars are among the biggest threats to the big cat population in the Brazilian Pantanal, experts warn.
- Studies reveal that nearly a third of jaguars’ diets are cattle, causing economic losses to ranchers and consequent retaliatory killings.
- Conservationists are using new solutions, such as ecotourism, tourism fees and education, to protect both jaguars and the livelihoods of cattle ranchers.
- Empirical evidence suggests that jaguar populations in the Pantanal are now recovering, thanks to shifting perceptions of the wetland’s famous big cat.
Conservationists play matchmaker to boost Argentina’s jaguar gene pool
- Conservationists arranged a complex operation to mate two jaguars living in two different parks in Argentina and to prepare their offspring for release into Iberá Park in the country’s Corrientes province.
- The jaguar cubs will bring genetic diversity to the small but growing population of jaguars in Iberá.
- For about 70 years, jaguars were absent from Iberá, but conservationists have been reintroducing them for the past two years.
- It’s estimated that only 200 to 300 jaguars live across Argentina.
A fast-growing pipeline: The Amazon-to-Southeast Asia wildlife trade
- The legal and illegal wildlife trade continues to escalate in tandem with increasing Chinese investment in South America’s Amazon region, mirroring a similar China trafficking trend that devastated elephants, rhinos and pangolins in Africa.
- Hundreds of Amazon species are being shipped to Asia, principally China, in unsustainable numbers, ranging from jaguars to reptiles, turtles and parrots to songbirds, poison dart frogs and tropical fish. The damage to the Amazon biome could be profound, researchers say.
- These species are sought out as ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine, used in the fashion industry, and sold live as pets. Online commerce is booming, too.
- The growing crisis is galvanizing efforts to build regional coordination, with agreements to strengthen laws, enforcement, and share intelligence. Banks and transport companies have committed to help prevent trafficking. With strong intervention now, experts say, it’s still early enough to turn the tide.
Community study sheds light on wild cat killings in Brazil’s central Amazon
- Alongside other threats such as deforestation, poaching places wild felids in the Amazon at risk.
- A long-running community-based monitoring program in Brazil’s central Amazonia region identified the number of wild felids killed, motivations for hunting and more.
- Of 71 felids, jaguars were killed the most. Wild cats were predominantly killed opportunistically in flooded forests in areas where human population is highest.
Wild cats threatened by ‘underrecognized’ risk of spillover disease
- Researchers warn that disease spillover from livestock and domestic animals represents a serious conservation threat to wildlife, including felids in tropical areas around the world. Spillover is most likely to occur on rapidly advancing forest-agricultural frontiers or within fragmented habitats.
- Tracking the spillover and spread of diseases from humans and domestic animals to wildlife is extremely challenging, particularly among wild felid species, which tend to be secretive and solitary, making ongoing observation difficult.
- Possible cases of disease spillover have been documented in wild cats in India, Malaysian Borneo, Thailand, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Russia and Nepal. These are likely the tip of the iceberg, say scientists, who believe much disease among wild species is going undetected, with case numbers and outbreaks unknown.
- Scientists stress the need for greater health monitoring of wildlife to reduce this “invisible threat.” But funding for health testing is often scant, and treatment difficult. One researcher sees disease transmission from domestic animals to wildlife as perhaps the most “underrecognized conservation threat today.”
Room to roam: Biologists and communities create corridors for jaguars in Mexico
- A group of biologists is working with communities to improve habitat for jaguars, pumas, jaguarundis, ocelots and margays in forested areas of Guerrero, in southern Mexico.
- Three communities in Costa Grande de Guerrero joined the project and created corridor for jaguar conservation.
- Now they want to strengthen this conservation area so that the cats can thrive and so that communities can create sustainable development projects.
A jaguar refuge in Mexico is an ecological island in the midst of threats
- The Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve is home to one of the most studied dry tropical forests in Mexico, with work being carried out at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s biological station.
- The natural protected area was founded in the 1970s after a French-British billionaire purchased land along the Jalisco coast for conservation projects.
- The reserve is a refuge for jaguars, pumas and other species of wildlife.
- However, they’re under constant pressure from deforestation and the expansion of tourist projects.
Meet the fishing jaguars that have made this patch of the Pantanal their own
- The big cats here feed mostly on fish and caimans, a small crocodilian, unlike jaguars elsewhere that prey on land mammals.
- The abundance of aquatic and semi-aquatic animals in the Taiamã Ecological Station in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands has enabled jaguars here to thrive in surprising ways, a new study shows.
- Camera trap images and movement data also show that the Taiamã jaguars are highly social, hunting and even playing together, with no territorial disputes despite the area having the highest jaguar density in the world.
- In addition to the abundant food supply, the small variation in water levels at the reserve also contributes to the large jaguar population, since it allows them to live in the area during the wet and dry seasons.
Tigers, jaguars under threat from tropical hydropower projects: Study
- A new study reveals that more than one-fifth of the world’s tigers and one in 200 jaguars have been affected by habitat loss linked to hydropower projects.
- Land flooded for hydroelectric reservoirs has resulted in the substantial loss of habitat for both top predators, and future hydropower projects planned within the species’ ranges fail to consider the big cats’ long-term survival, the study says.
- Scientists struggle to track the fate of tigers and jaguars displaced by hydropower reservoirs, but their chances of survival are very low, according to the study’s authors.
- The researchers recommend that policymakers minimize the impacts of future hydropower projects by avoiding landscapes deemed high priority for conservation.
Jaguars in Mexico are growing in number, a promising sign that national conservation strategies are working
- The first surveys to count jaguars in Mexico revealed a 20% increase in the population from 2010 to 2018, up to 4,800 animals.
- Conservation strategies targeted the most urgent threats to jaguars, and prioritized protecting wildlife preserves and natural corridors.
- Mexico’s National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation united the government, people living near protected areas, and the private sector in plans to conserve the iconic species.
An unlikely safari in Brazil is helping save the Pantanal’s jaguars
- A pioneer in wildlife safaris in Brazil, the Onçafari Project combines jaguar sightseeing with conservation of the species and its reintroduction into nature.
- Thanks to the strategy of getting jaguars habituated to safari vehicles, the Pantanal has become the best place in Brazil to spot the feline; the number of tourists at the project’s host farm has tripled in a decade.
- The presence of tourists has changed farmers’ mentality, from previously seeing jaguars as a pest to kill, to now even working as Onçafari tour guides.
- In 2015, Onçafari recorded the world’s first successful case of reintroduction of captive jaguars into nature; the two females have since given birth to five offspring and even four grandcubs.
Fire and forest loss ignite concern for Brazilian Amazon’s jaguars
- More than 1,400 jaguars died or were displaced in the Brazilian Amazon due to deforestation and fires over a recent three-year period, according to a recent study.
- The authors recommend “real-time satellite monitoring” of the Brazilian Amazon jaguar population to enable experts to monitor jaguar displacement due to habitat loss and help them to better target conservation efforts on the ground and to prioritize areas for enforcement action.
- Spatial monitoring will also enable identification of wildlife corridors to keep jaguar populations connected to ensure their long-term survival.
Small cats should be a conservation priority, says Panthera’s new board chair Jonathan Ayers
- Most people are familiar with the world’s “big cats”: Lions, tigers, leopards, jaguar, puma, and cheetah. But far fewer people know about the much larger number of small cat species, which range from the ancestors of domesticated house cats to the flat-headed cat to the ocelot.
- Small cats’ lack of visibility has meant that haven’t received big cats’ level of conservation funding. But small cat conservation efforts may have just gotten a significant boost with Panthera — the world’s largest organization devoted exclusively to wild cat conservation — announcing Jonathan Ayers as its new Chair of its Board of Directors.
- Ayers — the former Chairman, President and CEO of IDEXX Laboratories, a publicly-traded company that develops veterinary products and technologies — in March pledged $20 million to Panthera. A significant portion of that commitment is for small cat conservation.
- Ayers pledged the funds after a cycling accident in June 2019 left him a quadriplegic. Ayers says the experience, which prompted him to step down as CEO of IDEXX, gave him a purpose: saving wild cats through conservation efforts. Ayers spoke about his background, his love of cats, and conservation broadly during a recent conservation with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler.
Jaguar stronghold in Brazil’s Iguaçu Park threatened by road reopening plan
- A bill introduced in Brazil’s Congress calls for reopening a closed road that cuts through Iguaçu National Park.
- The proposal poses a serious threat to jaguars, whose numbers have been growing steadily there; the area is home to one-third of the big cat’s remaining population in the Atlantic Forest.
- Reopening the road, closed since 2001, will not only increase the animals’ risk of being hit by vehicles but also make it easier for poachers to hunt them — the main threat to jaguars.
- It can also cause impacts such as noise and air pollution, soil degradation, and changes in local microclimate, experts warn.
Is it time to rethink jaguar recovery in the U.S.? (commentary)
- Lands in central Arizona and New Mexico provide a huge potential for jaguar habitat: stretching as far north as the Grand Canyon, the area contains vast expanses of forests and an abundance of whitetail deer, one of their favorite prey.
- The co-authors of two recent jaguar studies found that the 20-million-acre area is 27 times larger than the critical habitat designated by the U.S. government and provides habitat that could support 100 or more jaguars.
- Yet, this area was overlooked by a 2018 jaguar recovery plan by the U.S. government. Scientists are now calling for the U.S. government to rethink their jaguar recovery policy.
- The views expressed are of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Huge wildlife corridor in Belize sees progress, boosting hope for jaguars and more (commentary)
- Conservationists are working hard to create the Maya Forest Corridor, connecting the massive Belize Maya Forest in the country’s northwest with the Maya Mountains Massif network of protected areas in southern Belize.
- Frequented by tapirs, opossums, armadillos, agoutis, jaguars, and other big cat species, the network of reserves and corridors could prove to be critical conservation infrastructure for the region.
- A biologist who was just there shares news of some major land purchases and plans for wildlife underpasses for the Coastal Road, which is now in development along the corridor’s route.
- The views expressed are of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
In Colombia, a successful jaguar conservation program has a whiff of coffee
- In the first such initiative in Colombia, and one of the first in South America, just over 93,500 hectares (231,000 acres) have been prioritized for jaguar conservation through a zoning plan.
- Following a rise in conflicts between humans and the big cats in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in 2013, a management plan was put in place and priority areas for jaguar conservation were recognized by local authorities.
- Coffee growers, whose farms overlap onto jaguar habitat, were also engaged in conservation through a certification scheme.
- Under the Jaguar Friendly label, for which they can sell their coffee at a premium, the farmers allocate a hectare of protected forest as jaguar corridor for every hectare of coffee they cultivate.
Rare black jaguars caught on camera in Panama
- Two melanistic jaguars have been documented by camera traps in Panama’s Mamoní Valley.
- Researcher Kimberly Craighead with the Kaminando—Habitat Connectivity Initiative working there says they have identified 15 individual jaguars in the area, which is covered in primary and secondary forest.
- In addition to the two melanistic animals there, the team knows of three others elsewhere in Panama.
- Melanism is thought to be caused by habitat characteristics, particularly humidity: studies indicate that it occurs more frequently in humid forests.
Rewilding public lands in Patagonia and beyond: Q&A with Kris Tompkins
- In the early 1990s, Kris and Doug Tompkins began buying up vast amounts of land in Chile and Argentina and setting it aside for conservation.
- Since the early 2000s, their non-profit Tompkins Conservation has donated over 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) of wilderness in Chile and Argentina, which spurred the permanent protection of nearly 6 million hectares (15 million acres) and the establishment of 13 new national parks.
- The Tompkins had performed “a kind of capitalist jujitsu move” as Kris Tompkins put it in her 2020 TED talk: “We deployed private wealth from our business lives and deployed it to protect nature from being devoured by the hand of the global economy.”
- Kris Tompkins spoke about her organization’s conservation work, rewilding, and the costs of our current industrial model during a February 2021 conversation with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler.
Chinese triads target Bolivia’s jaguars in search of ‘American tiger’ parts
- An intelligence-gathering investigation by Earth League International and the Dutch national committee to the IUCN has revealed that Chinese-controlled trafficking syndicates are responsible for smuggling jaguar body parts out of Bolivia.
- These groups hide behind legitimate businesses like restaurants and shops, which also serve as fronts for the transit of other wildlife and illegal drugs, the investigation found.
- An influx of Chinese investment into infrastructure projects in Bolivia in recent years has coincided with a rise in poaching, with traffickers targeting jaguars as a replacement for nearly depleted tiger populations back in Asia.
- Some Bolivian officials are pushing for legal reforms that will impose heavier sentences for wildlife, but the country’s political crises has held up those efforts for now.
Jaguars in Suriname’s protected parks remain vulnerable to poaching
- Brownsberg Nature Park and Central Suriname Nature Reserve are protected areas in the South American nation of Suriname where poaching of jaguars is rife.
- Poachers and opportunistic actors such as illegal miners and loggers kill the animals, strip them of their skin, bones and teeth, and boil the rest of the carcass down into a paste that’s then trafficked to Chinese buyers.
- The poachers have long acted with impunity amid a general lack of monitoring and law enforcement by authorities, but conservationists say the COVID-19 pandemic has made this situation worse.
- Conservationists are working with other NGOs, universities and Chinese representatives on an awareness campaign to end the poaching and trafficking.
Electronic ears listen to poachers in a key Central American jaguar habitat
- The international NGO Panthera has been using acoustical monitoring systems to support their anti-poaching patrols in Guatemala and Honduras since 2017.
- The acoustical recorders can pick up gunshots, conversations and wildlife sounds, and help rangers plan their patrols to be more effective in combating illegal activities.
- Panthera is particularly concerned about protecting the jaguar, which is threatened by poaching, wildlife trafficking and habitat loss in this region.
Cat corridors between protected areas is key to survival of Cerrado’s jaguars
- Only 4% of the jaguar’s critical habitat is effectively protected across the Americas, and in Brazil’s Cerrado biome it’s just 2%.
- A survey in Emas National Park in the Cerrado biome concludes that the protected area isn’t large enough to sustain a viable jaguar population, and that jaguars moving in and out could be exposed to substantial extinction risk in the future.
- The study suggests that improving net immigration may be more important than increasing population sizes in small isolated populations, including by creating dispersal corridors.
- To ensure the corridors’ effectiveness, conservation efforts should focus on resolving the conflict between the jaguars and human communities.
How are jaguars different from leopards? Candid Animal Cam is in the Americas
- Every Tuesday, Mongabay brings you a new episode of Candid Animal Cam, our show featuring animals caught on camera traps around the world and hosted by Romi Castagnino, our writer and conservation scientist.
Fire burns Pantanal’s upland heart and threatens nature’s fragile balance
- After spreading for 9 months across the biodiverse Brazilian Pantanal wetlands, fires have reached the Amolar Mountains. This upland area is at the heart of the ecosystem and shelters traditional communities like Barra de São Lourenço.
- Humans and animals, who thrive on the Pantanal’s seasonal cycle of rising and ebbing floods, now see their way of life menaced by an unprecedented wave of drought and fire.
- The region’s inhabitants are already suffering from air and water contamination due to smoke and soot, and dread the fires’ aftermath. With the uplands devastated by the blazes, jaguars, other mammals and birds won’t have anywhere to flee during the next cycle of annual floods.
- “For me, being a ‘pantaneira’ is loving each stick, each tree, each bird. Is feeling part of it,” says resident Leonida Aires de Souza. But now that much of this remote area has burned, the future is uncertain.
For the Pantanal’s jaguars, fires bring ‘death by a thousand needle wounds’
- The Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland region, is experiencing catastrophic fires, with current estimates stating that approximately 3.3 million hectares (8.1 million acres), or 22% of the region, have gone up in flames.
- There are approximately 2,000 jaguars living in the Pantanal’s jaguar corridor, and conservationists estimate that about 600 jaguars have had their habitat impacted by the fires, as well as many injured or killed.
- Jaguars are having trouble escaping the situation due to the fires burning underground, which makes them difficult to visually detect.
- While it’s not entirely clear how the fires will affect jaguar populations into the future, the fires could lead to food insecurity issues and genetic instability, according to experts.
Bolivia’s jaguar seizures down as suspicions rise over new mafia
- Since January 2019 there have been no seizures of jaguar parts in Bolivia. What could be behind the trend and how is the country responding?
Poaching pressure mounts on jaguars, the Americas’ iconic big cat
- In the past seven years, trafficking of jaguars and their body parts has become a major threat to the species, with China the main destination.
- In Peru, researchers found 102 jaguar parts being sold publicly in just four months, while in Bolivia, the number of jaguar parts seizures since 2014 totals 700.
- Efforts to protect these animals range from national governments forming new protected areas, to transboundary projects such as the Jaguar 2030 Plan.
- Scientists are keen to raise the big cat’s conservation status on the IUCN Red List from near threatened to vulnerable.
Qaramta: Chronicle of a jaguar in love
- For the last ten months, the first jaguar in Argentina’s Chaco province to be fitted with a tracking collar has been moving freely around El Impenetrable National Park.
- The big male’s days are spent walking, hunting, and patrolling the area where an enclosure containing a captive female jaguar is located.
- Park officials and allied conservationists hope to entice the pair to mate when the time is right, to increase the region’s jaguar population, but plans have been delayed due to the pandemic.
Is Chinese investment driving a sharp increase in jaguar poaching?
- A 200-fold increase in the number of trafficked dead jaguars seized by authorities in Central and South America between 2012 and 2018 has been reported in a new study.
- Researchers suggest the major surge in the trade may be facilitated by Chinese investment networks in Latin America.
- Corruption and low incomes in source countries also are likely a significant factor boosting trafficking.
- Acting on the paper’s findings, initiatives organized by nations, states, municipalities, NGOs, universities and research institutes could help improve collaborative regional efforts to combat the illicit trade.
A jaguar nicknamed “Short-Tail” the first known to cross between Belize and Guatemala
- A jaguar nicknamed “Short-Tail” was caught on camera in both Belize and Guatemala, making him the first individual confirmed to cross the international boundary between the two countries.
- This finding highlights the importance of international, transboundary collaboration to study and protect jaguars.
- Jaguars are threatened by habitat loss, deforestation, loss of prey, and illegal hunting.
Pac-Man: The jaguar hunted for parts in Mexico
- Local wildlife protectors cannot stop the trafficking of jaguars linked to demand for traditional Chinese medicine.
On the prowl: Jaguar population rises in Iguazú Falls region
- After almost losing its jaguar population in the early 2000s, the Atlantic Forest area between Brazil and Argentina has seen the number of the big cats more than double to 105.
- It’s the only place in South America that has registered an increase in the jaguar population, thanks to joint law enforcement by Brazil and Argentina to tackle poaching, and planting of camera traps by researchers, which deter would-be poachers.
- Changing agricultural trends have also helped: livestock ranching used to be the predominant farming activity in the area, but the jaguars would prey on the cattle and sheep, prompting ranchers to kill them in retaliation.
- In the past decade, soybean and corn crops have taken the place of ranching, reducing conflicts between jaguars and farmers.
Ayahuasca tourism an overlooked driver of trade in jaguar body parts, researchers say
- According to research published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice earlier this month, the booming ayahuasca tourism industry may be an overlooked threat facing jaguars, a most iconic species that is listed as Nearly Threatened on the IUCN Red List.
- Through discussions with street vendors, shamans, and individuals working in the tourism industry, researchers found that jaguar canine pendants, jaguar skin bracelets, and other jaguar products are being sold to tourists under the pretense that they somehow enhance the ayahuasca experience.
- The researchers suggest that one way to effectively halt this growing illicit trade is to more formally regulate ayahuasca tourism and educate both tourists and tour operators.
Finally, Latin America is tackling wildlife trafficking (commentary)
- On October 3-4, a High Level International Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade in the Americas will take place in Lima, Peru. This is the first-ever such conference organized exclusively around wildlife trafficking in the Americas, with particular focus on South and Central America. Why has it taken so long, and why is it so important?
- Latin America is the single most biologically diverse region in the world, and trade in its wildlife, including illegal trade, is not a new issue. Latin America’s unique and precious wildlife has endured threats from illegal and unsustainable commercial trade, both domestic and international, for decades—and in some cases, even longer.
- There are still large intact forest and grassland habitats across the region, and populations of species that can either be maintained or restored, if strong action is taken today. Preventive measures can and must be taken now, to ensure that Latin America’s wildlife thrives, from Mexico to the tip of Patagonia.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Panthera: At least 500 jaguars lost their lives or habitat in Amazon fires
- The fires in the Amazon forest in Brazil and Bolivia this year have burned key habitats of at least 500 adult, resident jaguars as of September 17, experts at Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, estimate. The numbers will continue to increase until the rains come, researchers say.
- In Bolivia in particular, the fires have so far destroyed over 2 million hectares of forest in one of South America’s key “catscape”, a region that Panthera has identified as having the highest predicted density of cat species on the continent.
- Panthera researchers also predict that many more jaguars will also likely starve or turn to killing livestock in neighboring ranches as a consequence of the fires, likely increasing conflict with the ranchers.
Belize to protect critical wildlife corridor that’s home to jaguars and more
- The government of Belize has approved a proposal to protect the Maya Forest Corridor, a key stretch of jungle linking some of the region’s largest wilderness areas.
- Once the corridor is secured, it will create the largest contiguous block of forest in Central America, experts say.
- The Maya Forest Corridor is home to iconic animals like the jaguar; the critically endangered Central American river turtle; the endangered Central American spider monkey or Geoffroy’s spider monkey; and the endangered Baird’s tapir.
- There is, however, a lot of work to be done before the Maya Forest Corridor gains official legal protection, including securing key privately owned patches of forest in the area.
Ñembi Guasu: Huge new conservation area in Bolivia’s Gran Chaco
- The new protected area spans more than 12,000 square kilometers (4,650 square miles) of well-conserved forests and is home to a massive number of animal and plant species.
- Among the area’s 300 species of birds and 100 species of mammals are jaguars, pumas and night monkeys.
- The protected zone is also home to the Ayoreo indigenous community, which is in a state of voluntary isolation.
Latam Eco Review: Scandal rocks famed Easter Island park and a freshwater crab discovery
Scandal surrounds indigenous management of a major Easter Island protected area, a newly described freshwater crab species in Colombia, declines in Central America’s peccaries, and a man who can recognize more than 3,000 birdsongs were among the recent top stories from our Spanish-language service, Mongabay Latam. Nepotism in Easter Island: Fraud scandal rocks famous park […]
Can jaguar tourism save Bolivia’s fast dwindling forests?
- Few countries in the tropics have seen trees chopped down as quickly as Bolivia did between 2001 and 2017.
- Within Bolivia, nearly two-thirds of that loss occurred in just a single state—Santa Cruz—as agribusiness activity, namely cattle ranching and soy farming, ramped up.
- This loss has greatly reduced the extent of habitat for some of Bolivia’s best known species, including the largest land predator in the Americas, the jaguar. On top of habitat loss, jaguars in Santa Cruz are both persecuted by landowners who see them as a danger to livestock, and targeted in a lucrative new trade in their parts, including teeth and bones.
- Duston Larsen, the owner of San Miguelito Ranch, is working to reverse that trend by upending the perception that jaguars necessarily need be the enemy of ranchers.
Latam Eco Review: Icon status for jaguars and fears over lithium mining
The environmental impact of the global demand for lithium and more jaguar protection in South America, plus profiles of five pioneering women in conservation science, and a newly discovered tree frog in Ecuador — these are among the recent top stories from our Spanish-language service, Mongabay Latam. Peru wants jaguar named Latin America’s flagship animal […]
Latam Eco Review: Jaguar protection plan signed by 14 Latin countries
A 14-country jaguar conservation plan, efforts to protect the last 7 female southern right whales in Peru and Chile, and unexpected biodiversity discovered along Chile’s north coast were among the top stories last week by our Spanish-language service, Mongabay Latam. Jaguar protection plan signed by 14 Latin countries Fourteen countries launched a plan to secure […]
A monitoring network in the Amazon captures a flood of data
- Cameras and microphones are capturing images and sounds of the world’s largest rainforest to monitor the Amazon’s species and environmental dynamics in an unprecedented way.
- The Providence Project’s series of networked sensors is aimed at complementing remote-sensing data on forest cover change by revealing ecological interactions beneath the forest canopy.
- Capable of continuously recording, processing and transmitting information to a database in real time, this high-tech experiment involves research institutions from three countries and the skills of biologists, engineers, computer scientists and other experts.
- The monitoring system will connect to a website to disseminate the forest biodiversity data interactively, which the researchers hope will contribute to more effective biodiversity conservation strategies.
Latam Eco Review: Jail time for jaguar traffickers
The top stories from our Spanish-language service, Mongabay Latam, looked at jail sentences for wildlife traffickers in Bolivia; conserving river dolphins in Venezuela and culling lionfish in Colombia; and shark bycatch in Chile. Jaguar-tooth traffickers get up to four years’ prison in Bolivia A Bolivian court has set a legal precedent by sentencing traffickers in […]
Progress on jaguar conservation in Suriname
- Dr. Mark J. Plotkin is the Co‑Founder & President of the Amazon Conservation Team, which partners with indigenous peoples to conserve forests and wildlife in Suriname, Colombia, and Brazil.
- In this post, Plotkin writes about a recent meeting in Suriname to discuss an emerging threat to jaguars across Latin America: poaching for traditional Chinese medicine.
- He notes that representatives who attended the meeting are now deeply engaged in designing an action plan for jaguar conservation in Suriname.
Honduras aims to save vital wildlife corridor from deforestation
- Honduras has pledged to remove livestock from the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site that’s home to jaguars, tapirs and macaws.
- The reserve is found in the Moskitia region’s rainforests, around 30 percent of which have been cleared in the past 15 years, largely due to cattle and livestock ranching.
- Conservation groups hailed the move as one that would benefit both Honduras and the world because of the region’s biodiversity and carbon stocks.
Latam Eco Review: Killing jaguars for arthritis creams and wine
The top stories last week from our Spanish-language service, Mongabay Latam, followed the fate of Suriname’s hunted jaguars, Bogota’s urban forest preserve, and Chile’s Humboldt Archipelago. Suriname’s jaguars killed for arthritis creams and wine Suriname’s jaguar population is being decimated for the Asian market in arthritis cream, soap, aphrodisiacs and even wine, according to an […]
Hunting, agriculture driving rapid decline of jaguars in South America’s Gran Chaco
- New research finds that one-third of critical jaguar habitat in the Gran Chaco, South America’s largest tropical dry forest, has been lost since the mid-1980s.
- According to the study, led by researchers at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin) and published in the journal Diversity and Distributions this week, deforestation driven by agricultural expansion — mainly for soy and cattle production — has caused the steep decline of jaguar habitat in the region.
- Meanwhile, the conversion of jaguar habitat into cropland and pastureland gives hunters easier access to the forest. Thus overhunting and persecution by cattle ranchers has also become one of the chief causes of the big cat’s shrinking numbers, the study found.
Latam Eco Review: Black market jaguars, freed green macaws
- Here are the recent top stories from Mongabay’s Latin America bureau, Mongabay Latam.
Alan Rabinowitz, big cat evangelist and voice of the wild, dies at 64
- Alan Rabinowitz, a U.S. zoologist dubbed the “Indiana Jones of wildlife protection” by Time Magazine, died of cancer on Aug. 5 at the age of 64. He leaves behind a legacy of more than three decades of unceasing efforts to protect big cats and other wildlife at risk of extinction.
- Rabinowitz was instrumental in the creation the world’s first jaguar sanctuary, the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve in Belize, as well the creation of protected areas in Thailand and Myanmar, and the discovery of new species.
- In 2006, Rabinowitz co-founded Panthera, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation the world’s 40 wild cat species and the vast landscapes that hold them, along with his close friend Thomas S. Kaplan, a U.S. entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Latam Eco Review: Ecuadoran court demands Chevron pay $9.5 billion in damages
Among the most read stories at our Spanish-language service, Mongabay-Latam, this past week were articles about the legal victory of communities in Ecuador’s Amazon against Chevron; the animals in a dry forest on a private protected area in Peru; discoveries by camera traps in a jaguar refuge in Bolivia; the threat of extinction to the […]
As Colombia expands its palm oil sector, scientists worry about wildlife
- Colombia aims to overtake Thailand to become the world’s third largest supplier of palm oil, a popular plant-based oil used in many products around the world.
- Studies have shown that oil palm plantations provide poor habitat for wildlife, supporting a fraction of the species as neighboring forest.
- Researchers say Colombia’s palm oil expansion could have minimal impacts on the country’s biodiversity if it takes places on already-degraded land, such as cattle pasture. They caution that development should not happen in areas that provide habitat for threatened species, or regions that are ecologically important. They say smaller plantations will have less of an impact, and recommend planting understory vegetation.
- Biologists are also concerned the most common species of oil palm, called African oil palm, could hybridize with native palm plants and degrade the species’ genetic integrity.
Audio: Exploring humanity’s deep connection to water, plus the sounds of the Sandhill crane migration
- On today’s episode, we discuss humanity’s deep connection to water and hear sounds of one of the most ancient animal migrations on Earth, that of the Sandhill crane.
- Our first guest today is marine biologist and conservationist Wallace J. Nichols, the author of Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, & Better at What You Do.
- Our second guests are Ben Gottesman and Emma Brinley Buckley, researchers who are using bioacoustics to document Sandhill cranes on the Platte River in the U.S. state of Nebraska as the birds make a stopover during their annual migration. We’ll hear recordings of the cranes and other important species in this Field Notes segment.
Jaguar numbers rising at field sites, WCS says
- WCS reports that jaguar numbers have risen by almost 8 percent a year between 2002 and 2016 at study sites in Central and South America.
- The sites cover around 400,000 square kilometers (154,440 square miles) of jaguar habitat.
- Despite the promising findings, WCS scientists caution that habitat destruction, hunting in response to livestock killings, and poaching for their body parts remain critical threats to jaguars.
Tropical forest fragmentation nearing ‘critical point,’ study finds
- In addition to having severe repercussions for animals like jaguars and tigers that require vast tracts of connected habitat, forest fragmentation has a big carbon footprint.
- A new physics-based study finds fragmentation of tropical forests may be reaching a threshold past which fragmentation will shoot up sharply. At this threshold, even a relatively small amount of deforestation could lead to dramatic fragmentation – and significant habitat loss and greenhouse gas emissions.
- The team calculated that at current deforestation rates, the number of fragments will increase 33-fold in Central and South America by 2050, and their average size will drop from 17 hectares to 0.25 hectares.
Films celebrate big cats on World Wildlife Day
- Big cats is the theme of the global celebration of this year’s World Wildlife Day on March 3.
- A big cats film festival hosted by CITES and Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival at the UN headquarters in New York City will screen 16 films selected as finalists.
- Big cats are key apex predators that keep ecosystems healthy, and eight species are being celebrated for the event: the clouded leopard, jaguar, cheetah, leopard, lion, snow leopard, tiger and puma.
Fang trafficking to China is putting Bolivia’s jaguars in jeopardy
- Residents in Bolivia’s Sena community say that they can sell a jaguar canine for about $215 on the Chinese market.
- According to Bolivian authorities, the fangs are valued in the Asian market at prices as high as cocaine.
- Between 2013 and 2016, 380 jaguar canines were seized by Bolivian authorities, which correlates to 95 jaguars killed.
- Residents say an influx of Chinese companies to build roads and bridges in Bolivia is contributing to increased trafficking of jaguar parts. However, authorities deny these claims.
Camera traps reveal surprises in Peru
- Scientists set 72 camera traps and audio recorders to compare biodiversity across certified forested areas and forests that are not certified for sustainable use.
- The first few images reveal the presence of jaguars, pumas, jaguarundis, tapirs, red deer, tufted capuchins and even bush dogs, which are elusive and difficult to find.
Life and death and the jaguars of the mind (commentary)
- The jaguar is the largest predator in the lands it roams. It once thrived across much of South America, all of Central America, and into the southwestern United States, but hunting and deforestation have slashed its numbers and range.
- For a species being nudged to the edge of extinction, the way people think matters. But the jaguars of the mind are always evolving. And, as new research shows, when money enters the picture, opinions can soon shift.
- Whether cast as violent killers or noble beasts, as ghosts or money-makers, jaguars are always shifting into new forms, reflecting changes in how we think about the world about us.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Curiosity saves the cat: Tourism helps reinvent the jaguar
- Retaliatory killings of jaguar by cattle ranchers currently threaten the recovery of the species and the long-term viability of tour operators dependent on their presence.
- A recent study found that the value of jaguars to tourism (US$6,827,392) was far in excess of the cost to ranchers from depredation of their cattle (US$121,500).
- Tourists were overwhelmingly receptive to the idea of donating to a compensation fund for ranchers that live harmoniously with jaguars.
Saving the Serranía de San Lucas, a vital link in the ‘jaguar corridor’
- The Serranía de San Lucas in Colombia’s department of Bolivar is an area of renowned biodiversity. Due to the country’s long-running conflict the region has not yet been fully explored and scientists believe a “treasure trove” of undiscovered species may be lying in wait.
- The mountain massif is also key to the “jaguar corridor,” a habitat link that connects Central American jaguar populations to those in South America.
- But San Lucas is also home to some of Latin America’s richest deposits of gold. Mining for gold has damaged the region’s lowlands, releasing mercury into the surrounding environment. In 2014, two jaguar canines were found to contain mercury.
- The race is on to protect the area through establishing it as a national park. Proponents of the initiative say doing to would help maintain its rich biodiversity and ensure it retains viable habitat for jaguars and other wildlife.
Deforestation from gold mining in Peru continues, despite gov’t crackdowns
- A team of scientists from the Carnegie Institution for Science found that, between 1999 and 2016, gold mining expansion cost the region 4,437 hectares (10,964 acres) of forest loss per year.
- Miners were working an area in 2016 that was 40 percent larger than it was in 2012.
- The findings, along analyses by ecologists at the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project, indicate that increased enforcement by the Peruvian government has slowed the rate of deforestation.
Charcoal and cattle ranching tearing apart the Gran Chaco
- The year-long probe of Paraguay’s charcoal exports by the NGO Earthsight revealed that much of the product was coming from the Chaco, the world’s fastest-disappearing tropical forest.
- Suppliers appear to have reassured international supermarket chains that it was sustainable and that they had certification from international groups such as FSC and PEFC.
- But further digging by Earthsight revealed that the charcoal production methods used may not fit with the intent of certification.
- Several grocery store chains mentioned in the report have said they’ll take a closer look at their supply chains, and the certification body PEFC is reexamining how its own standards are applied.
13,000 acres of cloud forest now protected in Colombia
- Cacica Noría Regional Protected Area safeguards one of the most biodiverse places on the planet.
- The reserve will be managed by CorAntioquia, the Anorí Environmental Working Group and Proaves.
- Despite protection, the new park remains threatened by climate change.
Nicaragua Canal would threaten endangered species says study
- Construction on the Nicaraguan Canal is slated to begin this autumn, but scientists and conservationists contend that biodiversity studies for the project have been inadequate.
- A new study has found that the jaguar, white-lipped peccary and Baird’s tapir — all endangered in Nicaragua — would be significantly threatened by the canal.
- An artificial lake created for the project would flood most of the habitat for the three endangered species, while the canal itself would create a barrier separating mammal populations in the southern part of Central America from those in the north.
- While some conservationists argue that wildlife studies and mitigation for the canal have been inadequate, others say that deforestation across the region has become so severe that the canal project (if done right), could actually benefit biodiversity, with its profits used to fund wildlife protection and reforestation.
New fund helps groups buy land quickly to protect threatened wildlife
A view of the 5,000-acre Bábaco ranch, the purchase of which was supported by the Quick Response Biodiversity Fund to expand the Northern Jaguar Reserve in Sonora, Mexico. Photo by Miguel Gomez. The benefits of land acquisition as a conservation strategy are obvious enough. If you own the land, you get to decide what happens […]
Brazilian Amazon nears deforestation threshold past which wildlife may crash, says study
Clearing of Brazilian Amazon rainforest for soy. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. A study on the impact of forest loss on biodiversity, recently published in the journal Conservation Biology, shows that one-third of the Brazilian Amazon is headed toward or has just passed a threshold of forest cover beyond which species loss accelerates and is […]
Brazilian farmers urge return of big cats to Cerrado to protect crops from rampaging peccaries
Cerrado corn crop with peccaries. Photo by Brendan Borrell. Margie Peixoto was driving her pickup across her farm in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul one February afternoon when she spotted some broken corn stalks and a trio of white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) ambling along the red-clay road as if they owned it. […]
Video: camera trap catches jaguar hunting peccaries
Catching a jaguar on a remote camera trap in the Amazon is a rare, happy sight. But catching a jaguar attempting to ambush a herd of peccaries is quite simply astonishing. “A research assistant, who was coding the videos sent me an email to have a look,” said primatologist, Mark Bowler, a postdoctoral fellow at […]
An impossible balancing act? Forests benefit from isolation, but at cost to local communities
The indigenous people of the Amazon live in areas that house many of the Amazon’s diverse species. The Rupununi region of Guyana is one such area, with approximately 20,000 Makushi and Wapishana people living in isolation. According to a recent study published in Environmental Modelling & Software, a simulation model revealed a link between growing […]
What makes the jaguar the ultimate survivor? New books highlights mega-predator’s remarkable past and precarious future
An interview with Alan Rabinowitz, author of the new book, An Indomitable Beast: the Journey of the Jaguar Female jaguar (staring into camera) with subadult male offspring moving through an old oil palm plantation in the jaguar corridor of Colombia. Photo by: Esteban Payan, Panthera. For thousands of years the jaguar was a God, then […]
The Gran Canal: will Nicaragua’s big bet create prosperity or environmental ruin?
Chinese consortium pushes new canal through Nicaragua, threatening indigenous people, environment. A stealthy jaguar moves across a camera trap in Bankukuk, Nicaragua along the path of the Gran Canal. Conservationists fear the impact of the canal on Nicaragua’s already-imperiled wildlife, including far-roving jaguars. Photo by: Christopher Jordan. A hundred years ago, the Panama Canal reshaped […]
Seeking justice for Corazón: jaguar killings test the conservation movement in Mexico
Female jaguar with radio collar and cub found burned near reserve in Northern Mexico Corazón in 2009. This jaguar, living near the U.S.-Mexican border, was killed and burned in February, sparking calls for conservation reform. Photo courtesy of the Northern Jaguar Project/Naturalia. Eight years ago, a female jaguar cub was caught on film by a […]
Camera trap captures first ever video of rarely-seen bird in the Amazon…and much more
- Nocturnal curassow filmed in the wild for the first time: A camera trap program in Ecuador’s embattled Yasuni National Program has struck gold, taking what researchers believe is the first ever film of a wild nocturnal curassow.
- The only member of the genus, Nothocrax, the nocturnal curassow is the smallest curassow, a group of birds in the Cracidae family and distantly related to mound-building birds in Australasia.
- The nocturnal curassow is known for its booming singing at night.
Four donors pledge $80 million for big cats
Four donors from around the world have pledged $80 million to cat conservation group, Panthera. The money will fund projects working to preserve tigers, lions, jaguars, cheetahs, leopards, snow leopards, and cougars over ten years. “Today marks a turning point for global cat conservation,” said Panthera Founder and Chairman of the Board, Thomas Kaplan, who […]
Jaguars in Argentine Chaco on verge of local extinction
The majestic jaguar (Panthera onca), the largest of the New World cats, is found as far north as the southern states of the US, and as far south as northern Argentina. In the past jaguars ranged 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) further south, but their range has shrunk as habitat loss and human disturbance have increased. […]
60 big cats killed in Brazilian parks in last two years
At least 60 big cats have been killed within national protected areas in Brazil during the past two years according to a recent survey published in mongabay.com’s open access journal Tropical Conservation Science (TCS). The report, which focuses on jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) populations, within Brazilian protected areas shows that reserve management […]
Crazy cat numbers: unusually high jaguar densities discovered in the Amazon rainforest
Jaguars (Panthera onca) are the biggest cat in the Americas and the only member of the Panthera genus in the New World; an animal most people recognize, the jaguar is also the third largest cat in the world with an intoxicatingly dangerous beauty. The feline ranges from the harsh deserts of southern Arizona to the […]
Jaguars, tapirs, oh my!: Amazon explorer films shocking wildlife bonanza in threatened forest
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Watching a new video by Amazon explorer, Paul Rosolie, one feels transported into a hidden world of stalking jaguars, heavyweight tapirs, and daylight-wandering giant armadillos. This is the Amazon as one imagines it as a child: still full of wild things. In just four weeks at a single colpa (or clay lick where mammals and […]
Chasing down ‘quest species’: new book travels the world in search of rarity in nature
A poster-child for rare species: the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) captured on camera trap in its last stand: Ujung Kulon National Park Java, Indonesia. Photo by: © Mike Griffiths / WWF-Canon. In his new book, The Kingdom of Rarities, Eric Dinerstein chases after rare animals around the world, from the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) in […]
Can ranchers co-exist with jaguars?
The 3rd Annual New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (WFCC.org) runs from January 30 – February 2, 2013. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with filmmakers and presenters. For more interviews, please see our WCFF feed. Jaguar in the Pantanal. Photo by Steve Winter / Panthera. Jaguar once roamed from […]
Jaguar conservation gets a boost in North and Central America
First camera trap photo of a jaguar taken by Panthera in a deforested area of Costa Rica’s Barbilla-Destierro SubCorridor. Photo by: Panthera. Jaguar conservation has received a huge boost in the past few months both in Latin America and in the U.S. An historic agreement singed between the world’s leading wild cat conservation organization Panthera […]
Key mammals dying off in rainforest fragments
New research shows that the lowland tapir is nearly extinct in the Atlantic Forest. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. When the Portuguese first arrived on the shores of what is now Brazil, a massive forest waited for them. Not the Amazon, but the Atlantic Forest, stretching for over 1.2 million kilometers. Here jaguars, the continent’s apex […]
Jaguars photographed in palm oil plantation
Jaguar cub approaches camera trap in palm oil plantation in Colombia. Mother looks on from behind. Photo by: Panthera. As the highly-lucrative palm oil plantation moves from Southeast Asia to Africa and Latin America, it brings with it concerns of deforestation and wildlife loss. But an ongoing study in Colombia is finding that small palm […]
Herp paradise preserved in Guatemala
Giant Palm Footed Salamander (Bolitoglossa dofleini). Photo by Robin Moore/robindmoore.com. Fifteen conservation groups have banded together to save around 2,400 hectares (6,000 acres) of primary rainforest in Guatemala, home to a dozen imperiled amphibians as well as the recently discovered Merendon palm pit viper (Bothriechis thalassinus). The new park, dubbed the Sierra Caral Amphibian Reserve, […]
Jaguar v. sea turtle: when land and marine conservation icons collide
Jaguar with its marine turtle prey. Photo by: Benjamin Barca. At first, an encounter between a jaguar (Panthera onca) and a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) seems improbable, even ridiculous, but the two species do come into fatal contact when a female turtle, every two to four years, crawls up a jungle beach to lay […]
Animal picture of the day: rare photo of mother jaguar and cubs
Kaaiyana, a female jaguar photographed recently with two cubs near the Isoso Station of the Santa Cruz-Puerto Suarez Gas Pipeline in Kaa Iya National Park in Bolivia. Photo by: Daniel Alarcon. Click to enlarge. A mother jaguar, named Kaaiyana by scientists, and cubs were recently photographed in Kaa Iya National Park in Bolivia. “Kaaiyana’s tolerance […]
Picture of the day: jaguars take self-portraits in Bolivia
Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have identified 19 individual jaguars—each with a unique spot pattern—in Bolivia’s Madidi National Park. Photo courtesy of WCS. A study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Bolivia’s Madidi National Park has produced 19 jaguar ‘self-portraits’ via digital cameras that snap photos of wildlife when they cross an […]
How to save the Pantanal and increase profits for the cattle industry
Continuous versus rotational grazing. Photo courtesy of: Eaton, D. P., Santos, S. A., Santos, M. C. A., Lima, J. V. B. and Keuroghlian, A. 2011. Rotational Grazing of Native Pasturelands in the Pantanal: an effective conservation tool. Tropical Conservation Science. Vol. 4 (1):39-52. The Pantanal spanning Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay is the world’s largest wetland—the […]
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